Desensitisation of Violence: Real-life vs Fictional media

Martin, Nicole (2022) Desensitisation of Violence: Real-life vs Fictional media. Undergraduate thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

Aims: The current study aims to understand the effect of prior exposure to violent media on an individual’s emotional reactivity as a response to both real-life and fictional violent content. This study also aims to investigate the individual’s ability to emotionally differentiate between real-life and fictional media violence and if prior exposure to violent media content predicts this difference.

Method: Sixty-four participants completed an online survey containing questionnaires on demographics and The Adjusted Content-Based Media Exposure Scale. Following the presentation of two violent extracts (real-life and fictional) then completed The Emotional Reactions Scale and The Immediate Fear Scale.

Results: Results found that prior exposure to media violence was not correlated to the emotional reaction scores following reading both extracts. Differences in emotional reaction scores were found between both conditions, with the real-life extract inducing higher emotional reaction scores. However, prior exposure did not predict this difference after controlling for the variables of age and sex.

Conclusion: Findings provide additional evidence in understanding the impact of violence presented in media. The results suggest that continual violent media exposure may not have adverse impacts for an older population. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Item Type:	Thesis (Undergraduate)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology > Emotions
Divisions:	School of Business > BA (Honours) in Psychology
Depositing User:	Clara Chan
Date Deposited:	15 Jul 2022 15:07
Last Modified:	15 Jul 2022 15:07
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/5661

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