PSYA-4 Unit 4
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[Type text]
Media psychology
Media influences on social
behaviour
Media and persuasion
The psychology of
‘celebrity’
• Explanations of media influences on pro- and anti-social
behaviour
• The positive and negative effects of computers and video games
on behaviour
• The application of Hovland-Yale and Elaboration Likelihood
models in
explaining the persuasive effects of media
• Explanations for the persuasiveness of television advertising
• The attraction of ‘celebrity’, including social psychological and
evolutionary explanations
• Research into intense fandom, including, celebrity worship and
celebrity stalking
Contents
Explanations of media influences on pro- and anti-social behaviour ........................................... 3
Explanations of media influences on Pro-social behaviour ....................................................... 3
Explanations of media influences on Anti-social behaviour ...................................................... 5
The positive and negative effects of computers and video games on behaviour ...................... 9
Media and persuasion ....................................................................................................................... 13
Hovland-Yale Model.......................................................................................................................... 13
The Elaboration-Likelihood Model (ELM) ......................................................................................... 14
Explanations for the persuasiveness of television advertising ................................................ 16
The psychology of ‘celebrity’ ............................................................................................................ 18
The attraction of ‘celebrity’, including social psychological explanations .............................. 18
Absorption-addiction model ......................................................................................................... 18
Attachment styles and Parasocial Relationships .......................................................................... 19
Evolutionary explanations ............................................................................................................. 19
Stalking .............................................................................................................................................. 20
This module is about application so you must revise/ learn the theories but when
you answer a question make sure you LINK the theory to the scenario you are given.
I have placed past exam question at the end of each part of the module for you to
practice. You can find the marking schemes on
http://web.aqa.org.uk/qual/gce/science/psychology-a-materials.php
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Explanations of media influences on pro- and anti-social
behaviour
The influence of media on pro- and antisocial behaviour can be explained by four main factors:
1. Cognitive priming: refers to a phenomenon in which the presentation of cues previously
associated with pro- or anti-social behaviour can cause someone to behave in a pro- or antisocial way.
2. Arousal: being alert, physically and mentally. Various body systems and hormones are
involved and contribute to alertness and readiness to move. Some signs of arousal are
increased heart rate and blood pressure and quick responses.
3. Sponsor effect: pro-social behaviour shown in the media is somehow portrayed as desired
behaviour. Viewers are more likely to accept a message if it is sponsored or condoned by
someone they respect and admire.
4. Social learning theory: After watching pro- or anti-social acts, the viewer might be more
likely to imitate pro-or anti-social behaviours e.g. Bandura and Bobo dolls study. Bandura is
currently researching whether positive modelling can result in co-operation, empathy,
sharing and so forth.
Explanations of media influences on Pro-social behaviour
Cognitive priming
Holloway et al (1977) produced support for the cognitive priming effect of the impact of
good news. They invited participants into the lab for an experiment and while they sat in the
waiting room, played them a news programme over the radio. They were then asked to
participate in a study involving bargaining with a fellow participant (actually a confederate).
Those who had heard the pro-social news story were more likely to be cooperative in their
bargaining, particularly if the news story involved an account of someone who had
intentionally given help.
This study was replicated by Blackman & Hornstein, 1977 but also asked the participants to
rate their beliefs about human nature at the end of the study. Participants who had listened
to the pro-social news report anticipated other people would be more cooperative, and
generally reported a higher proportion of decent and honest people in the world.
However these studies looked only at the short-term effect on behaviour so we do not know
whether this effect is durable. Furthermore they were carried out in a lab, an artificial
environment we cannot generalise the results to real-life situations as people might react
differently in their everyday lives.
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Social learning theory
The learning and imitation of the behaviour modelled takes place in four stages
1. Attention – is paid to the behaviour and its consequences. We are more likely to pay
attention to models we identify with e.g. attractive, high status, similar gender etc
2. Retention – we need to memorise the behaviours observed
3. Reproduction – reproduction of the observed behaviour only occurs if the person has the
skills
4. Motivation - direct and indirect (vicarious) reinforcement acts as motivation to imitate.
For each stage give an example of pro-social behaviour.
Sprafkin et al (1975) – 6 years olds watched an episode of Lassie. One group watched puppy
rescue scene, a second group watched a scene with no rescue the third group watched The
Brady Bunch. Then all children then played a game where a prize could be won. All came across
some seemingly distressed pups. Children in group 1 spent more time comforting the puppies
than the other groups – even at the cost of not winning the prize. This suggests that watching a
helpful model can create a social norm which encourages pro-social behaviour.
However this study ecological validity as the children were watching TV in a controlled
environment without their parents so there was no parent mediation, and the children might
have been influenced by demand characteristics as they know they were taking part in an
experiment. Furthermore it might also lack temporal validity as it was carried out 35 years ago
and television programmes have changed since then and TV is now in colour which was not the
case at the time so the impact might be different.
Acquisition of pro-social behaviours and norms – The main claim by SLT is that we learn by
observation. We may then imitate those behaviours, and the consequences will determine the
likelihood of that behaviour being repeated. Pro-social acts on television are more likely to
represent established social norms. Therefore watching pro-social media is more likely to
reinforce our social norms and we are more likely to be rewarded for imitating them than for
anti-social acts.
Research has found that children are most affected by pro-social media when they are shown
the exact steps for positive behaviour as opposed to one-shot exposures, possibly because they
can remember concrete acts better than abstract ones.
Learning pro-social norms from the media may be less common, except when viewing is
accompanied by follow-up discussion. e.g. Johnston et al found the largest effects were when
the programme was viewed in the classroom and accompanied by teacher-led discussions.
However, this isn’t always the case. In a study of adolescents hospitalised for psychiatric
problems, found that post-viewing discussion led to decreased altruism. This could possibly be
due to adolescents rebelling against adult-held views.
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Developmental factors – Research suggests many of the skills synonymous with pro-social
behaviour (perspective taking, empathy, moral reasoning) develop throughout childhood and
adolescence = different ages are capable of different levels of pro-social behaviour/affected by
media portrayals of pro-social behaviour
Mares (1996) – meta analysis found that the weakest effect was for adolescents and the
strongest effect for primary school children. Effects for pre-school children were intermediate.
The expectation that media may have an effect at all on the development of pros-social
reasoning may be unrealistic, not just because children might not be ready to absorb info, but
because they are likely to be more strongly affected by home experience than media exposure
Self-control – Mares found that when exposed to a TV model demonstrating self-control,
children subsequently showed higher levels of self-control:
Friedrich & Stein: found that 4 year old children who watched Mister Roger’s Neighbourhood
over 4 weeks subsequently showed more task persistence and obedience to rules than those
who watched aggressive cartoons like Batman or neutral programmes over the same period.
Positive interaction (friendly, peaceable conflict resolution) – Frederick & Stein observed
children at play. They counted the number of aggressive acts, friendly behaviours, expressions of
affection etc. Those who had watched the pro-social programme behaved more positively
towards each other than those who had seen a neutral programme.
Evaluation of explanations of pro-social behaviour
Ability to generalise the pro-social message – Mares found that children are more likely to
generalise after watching anti-social acts. Pro-social acts tend to be imitated directly, with little
evidence of generalisation to other forms of pro-social behaviour. This lack of generalisation
therefore limits overall effectiveness of pro-social messages in the media.
Usefulness of ‘effects’ research – only looks at immediate effects after watching. It may be that
pro-social has longer reaching effect that is missed.
Pro-social effects of other media? Research focuses almost exclusively on effects of TV; however
it could be that other forms of media could have important pro-social effects e.g. children’s
stories have traditionally carried pro-social messages (Snow White looks after 7 dwarves and
triumphs over evil stepmother). Young children love re-reading such stories which reinforces the
message.
Amount of research – very little focus on the pro-social effects so importance of this area is not
deeply studied.
Explanations of media influences on Anti-social behaviour
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Priming- Cognitive priming refers to a phenomenon in which the presentation of cues previously
associated with antisocial behaviour can cause someone to behave in an antisocial way.
Huesmann et al - explains why some people may go on to behave aggressively. Once a child has
learned a script, it’s used to define situations and to guide how to behave if similar situations arise.
Violent scripts are accessible because they are seen so often on TV
Josephson – hockey players were deliberately frustrated then shown violent or non-violent films
where an actor held a walkie-talkie – in subsequent hockey game boys who saw violent films and
had a ref holding a walkie-talkie behaved the most violently – walkie-talkie acted as a cue for
aggression?
Murray – Functioning Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to compare brain areas active when
sample of 8children watched both violent and non-violent programmes. Both cases area which
process visual motion were active (as expected). However, when watching violence – part of righthemisphere was activate which regulate emotion, arousal and attention as well as areas responsible
for storing episodic memories implying violence is stored as scripts for later use.
Arousal- Bandura (1973) suggested that arousal increases the dominant behaviour in any situation.
If the feeling of arousal is attributed to anger, then aggression is likely to result. Research has shown
that the arousal produced by (violent) pornography facilitates aggressive behaviour (Zillmann,
1989)
Zillman’s excitation transfer theory – arousal produced by watching is transferred to real-life to reallife situations which involve conflict. E.g. – if an individual who has watched violence is provoked by
someone else, their already high level of arousal will be misinterpreted as anger from the
provocation and an aggressive response may be produced
Huesmann and Moise – reported that boys who are heavy television watchers show lower –thanaverage physiological arousal in response to new scenes of violence. The arousal stimulated by
viewing violence is unpleasant at first, but children who constantly watch violent TV become used to
it, and their emotional and physiological responses decline. As a result they do not react in the same
way to violent behaviour, and so are less inhibited in using it.
Imitation- Social-Learning-Theory
SLT (Bandura)- describe the four stages (if appropriate) but this time illustrate each stage with an
example of antisocial behaviour. It is argued that TV can shape behaviour through imitative learning.
Watching role models perform violently may increase violent behaviour in those viewers already
motivated to aggress. TV may also teach viewers the negative or positive consequences of their
violence. Paik & Comstock (1994) found the effect on anti-social behaviour was greater if the actor
was rewarded for her/his actions. ( Operant conditioning – positive reinforcement). SLT argues that
children can therefore learn in 2 ways (direct or vicarious experience)
The Bobo doll experiment – children were exposed to a film adult models beating up a bobo doll.
(Make sure you mention that the children saw a film or you will get no mark... the topic is
media!)The children’s play immediately after watching the acts were then observed. It was
consistently found that children exposed to a violent adult model would play more aggressively than
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a non-exposed group. Imitation was found to be more likely if the violent model received a reward
for their actions rather than a punishment – though if asked to replicate behaviour all children could
showing all had learned and could replicate the behaviour through mere observation
Desensitisation- Repeated exposure to violence in the media reduces the impact of the violence.
People become ‘desensitised’ to the violence and it has less impact on them (habituation). They
become less anxious about violence per se and may, therefore, engage in more violent behaviour.
Hagell & Newburn – in a study of juvenile offenders, found that they watched less TV if anything, and
no more screen violence than their non-offending counterparts.
Belson (1978) conducted a study of 1500 teenage boys and found no evidence that high exposure to
TV violence would desensitise them into becoming more violent. Indeed, he found no evidence that
watching violence on television even reduced boys’ consideration for other people or respect for
authority.
People might get ‘used’ to screen violence but that this does not mean a person will also get used to
violence in the real world. Screen violence is more likely to make children ‘frightened’ than
‘frightening’. However, it could be argued that desensitised individuals might be less aroused by
violence and therefore not be so easily provoked by real-life violence (see Huesmann & Moise
above)
Other factors affecting social behaviour
Meaning and context of communication – Berkowitz & Alioto (1973) found that viewing American
football produced an aggressive reaction in viewers only if they thought players were trying to hurt
each other, rather than just being professionals trying to win a game. Aggression is in the eye of the
beholder, this means viewers impart different meanings to behaviour they view.
Identification – Viewers who show a high degree of identification with violent TV characters tend to
be more highly aggressive themselves
Sponsor effect - Wood et al (1991) suggests that demand characteristics are a type of ‘sponsor
effect’. This means that aggressive behaviour shown in the media is somehow portrayed as
acceptable behaviour. Viewers are more likely to accept a message if it is sponsored or condoned by
someone they respect and admire. Watching a very violent film may suggest to young children that
this sort of violence is acceptable behaviour within society, especially if it involves movie stars who
are thought of as role models.
Social environment- People learn from their environment if the social norms are anti-social they
learn to be anti-social. Aggressive behaviour could also be a way to survive in a violent environment.
Evaluation of explanations of anti-social behaviour
 Research difficulties: this area of research has been unduly influenced by political desires to
blame TV for all kinds of social problems. It is easier to blame ‘video nasties’ than attribute blame
to other factors, such as education or poverty.
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 Research is too simplistic: involving counting up (quantitative/normative) the acts of aggression
to assess what type of programme is under consideration. This criticism is still valid today and
sophisticated methodologies remain difficult to design and elusive in practice.
 Somewhat deterministic: seems to assume that watching media violence will lead to antisocial
behaviour
 Often viewers do other things while watching TV so full attention may not be given,
comprehension differs, arousal differs etc
 Methodological issues (effects research, demand characteristics, reliability, validity) effects
research shows violent media then measures immediate effect – does this give realistic view? Lab
exp are prone to demand characteristics due to setting so results gained may not be reliable.
Validity (generalisability) – often different results in gender, do lab settings really represent real
world effects? Based in US
 Publication bias: Cumberbatch (89) argues that media effects are filtered & selected before the
public gets a chance to read them. He argues that many academic journals are more interested in
publishing ‘significant’ research findings that demonstrate that violent media cause violent
effects in people. Thus there is a research bias in favour of ‘positive’ findings. It is questionable
how many pieces of research that have found no link between media violence and real-life
violence have been excluded from publication. Furthermore, if academics know that ‘no effect’
research doesn’t get published, academics will inevitably not choose to research such areas.
 Gender bias: Effects research has primarily focused on acts of male-on-male physical violence,
often viewed in lab setting. There is no conception of how this focus may affect male and female
viewers’ responses to the characters and situations depicted.
 Researchers also has frequently used unrepresentative samples (male students) and then made
generalisations about all viewers. This gender bias is often hidden through gender-neutral terms
such as ‘college students’ or ‘viewers’. (Links to VALIDITY)
 Does media violence actually lead to violent behaviour? Belson interviewed over 1500 adolescent
boys, and found that those who watched least television when they were younger were least
aggressive in adolescence. However, boys who watched the most television were less aggressive
(by about 50%) than boys who watched moderate amounts. This suggests that the link between
watching television and aggression is unpredictable
 The third variable: Watching TV and acting aggressively is only a correlation – a fairly large
number of characteristics relating to family background, social environment and personality also
correlate to watching violence and acting aggressively.
 There is not agreed definition of antisocial behaviour so what counts as antisocial to one
researcher might not be viewed as such by another researcher, therefore the results are biased.
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The positive and negative effects of computers and video games on behaviour
You do not need all these studies as a question on video games would only be for
10 marks so choose two showing positive effects and two showing negative effects
POSITIVE EFFECTS
NEGATIVE EFFECTS
Empower learners – GEE (2003) believes some games
Physical effects – A research report from 2006 suggested
can empower learners, develop problem solving and help
that video games can have a short-term effect on the
understanding. Games offer a chance of control and
functioning of different areas of the brain. (Matthews et al,
mastery, and often reward non-linear thinking and the
06). The study randomly assigned 44 adolescents to play
resetting of goals as the game progresses. Many games
either a violent video game (Medal of Honor) or a non-violent
encourage the player to reflect on their choices, to
but equally fun & exciting video game (Need for Speed) for 30
review earlier decisions and then learn from their
minutes. Then brain scans (fMRI) were used to measure brain
mistakes. They encourage independent thinking,
function immediately following the play time.
perseverance and commitment.
Those who played the violent game showed increased activity
Calming effect – KESTENBAUM & WEINSTEIN
in amygdala – this stimulates emotions, & decreased activity in
(1985) conducted a study into heavy computer game
the prefrontal lobe, which regulates inhibition, self-control &
use in adolescent male participants & personality &
concentration. These responses were not present in non-
psychopathological factors. They argue that playing
violent game players. Involved a carefully controlled
computer games has a calming effect in that they can
laboratory study – measurements were objective/unbiased.
help manage conflict and can discharge aggression by
allowing the open expression of competition.
Desensitisation - Carnagey et al examined the effect of
Positive correlation with intelligence - Van Schie and
violence. A sample of participants were asked about their
Wiegman have carried out studies using samples of
normal playing habits and was then randomly allocated to one
children living in the Netherlands. In 1997, a group of
of two conditions. The experimental condition involved playing
346 children from yr7 and 8 were studied to assess
a randomly selected violent game for 20 minutes and the
their playing habits and observed in free play after
control condition involved playing a non-violent computer game
game playing. They found no relationship between the
for 20 minutes. Following this, both groups watched a film
amount of time a child spent playing computer games
which depicted graphic realistic violence. Whilst watching,
and levels of aggressive behaviour. They also found
they were wired up to measure physiological response including
that time spent gaming was positively correlated with
heart rate, and galvanic skin response. Those who had played
intelligence.
the violent game immediately before watching had lower heart
playing violent computer games on later responses to real life
A study by Bavelier found that attentional capacity
was higher in gamers than in non-gamers using the
Stroop test.
rates and galvanic skin response. Carnagey et al concluded
that they had a reduced physiological response to real
violence implying that game playing leads to desensitisation of
physiological responses.
Changes in the brain support this as she also found
that the parietal and frontal lobes and the anterior
cingulated involved in the control of attention and
problem solving are more efficient in people who play
action games. She also found that they were better at
multitasking.
Social effects – Sheese & Graziano (2005) studied the
relationship between playing violent video games and later
helping/cooperative behaviour. 48pps played either a violent
or doctored version of Doom in pairs. They were then given
the option of cooperating with or exploiting each other or
withdrawing from the game.
Bavelier and Green (2007)showed that visual acuity is
improved by 20% in people who play action video games
Found that those who had played the violent versions were
more likely to exploit – It was concluded that playing violent
games may undermine pro-social behaviours
HOWEVER...
In a second study in 1998, 278 young people aged 10-
Behavioural effects –correlation between exposure /playing
violent video games & aggression: Anderson & Bushman (01) did
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14 yrs were studied. Separate analyses of girls and
a meta-analysis & measured effects of exposure on 5
boys showed that more time spent playing in boys
variables. (Aggressive behaviour, Aggressive thoughts, Pro-
correlated with higher levels of aggressive behaviour
social behaviour, Aggressive mood, Physiological arousal). They
and lower intelligence.
found that short term exposure to video game violence was
Behavioural - Unsworth et al (2007) argue there isn’t
necessarily a link between playing video games and
significantly associated with temporary increases in
aggression in all participants.
aggressive behaviour. They measured players for
Lin & Lepper (87) found that impulsiveness & aggression was
feelings before, during and after playing Quake II and
related to frequency of computer game use. Study involved
found feelings did not change in most players – only
male & female youngsters in Florida, participants were asked
those who were already aggressive before the game
about their computer game use & perceptions of their own
became more angry after playing
aggressiveness ratings. These were then compared to various
Psychosocial - Shotton (89) conducted a study in the
UK, surveying 127 people (50% of them children) who
teacher aggression rating scales. The aggressive effect from
the use of computer games was evident only in boys.
reported being addicted to home computer games for
Psychosocial effects – Grüsser et al (07) surveyed 7,000
at least 5 years. Findings were that, compared to a
gamers & found that approx. 12% of these could be classified
control group, those in the addicted group were highly
as addicted using the WHO criteria.
intelligent, motivated and high-achieving people.
Furthermore, a 5-year longitudinal study of the
younger participants found that a proportionately high
number had done well educationally, gone on to
University & secured high-ranking jobs. Conclusion was
addiction to games was usually harmless.
Prosocial behaviour effects
In 2009 Gentile conducted three studies in three
countries with three age groups and found in the US
part of the study (161 college students) that those
who played prosocial games behaved more helpfully
towards another student in a later task. In a Japanese
sample prosocial behaviour was related to prosocial
game playing over a four month period. (NB it is up to
parents to ensure games with maximum benefits are
played)
Arousal – violent video games increase physiological arousal (heart rate, bp) higher arousal may lead to
aggression
Cognitions – violent games may lead to priming of aggressive thoughts
Affective – violent games may increase aggressive/hostile feelings
Bushman & Anderson:244pps played either violent or non-violent game then given vignettes. Those who
played violent game completed the story with more aggressive endings suggesting they had developed ‘hostile
expectancy bias’.
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Evaluation of the effects of video games
Effects of long-term exposure: Although there does appear to be a fair body of research evidence
that suggests there are some potential short-term negative effects of computer game use on
subsequent behaviour, there is less research in the effects of long term exposure. Therefore the longterm negative effects appear to be somewhat speculative. Given that there is also research which
suggests that there are potential benefits associated with computer game use, the widespread concern
surrounding computer game use may be a little misplaced. Further laboratory or longitudinal research is
required to investigate further. Such research should also involve larger, more randomly selected
samples involving children from different socio-economic backgrounds
Causation problem: correlations are often use which show a relationship but can’t show cause and
effect. Do young people exhibit more negative behaviour as a result of playing these violent games or do
aggressive individuals play these sorts of games because they appeal to their inherent nature? Research
suggests that people with more aggressive personalities engage more in aggressive style game-playing,
but the same game can present different content to different players (eg activation of more gore etc)
Distinguishing between ‘violent’ and ‘non-violent’ games: many studies use ‘violent’ and ‘nonviolent’ games that aren’t particularly different to each other. Is violence considered when there is
aggression towards a person or blowing up a lamppost? Also many studies don’t match violent and nonviolent games on dimensions such as frustration and excitement = violence may not be the sole factor
leading to effects
Methodology: Longitudinal studies – can observe patterns of behaviour over time so can document ST
and LT effects. However, pps may be exposed to other forms of media violence (e.g. TV) in this time so
isolating effects to video games is hard.
Experiments – can identify cause and effect, however tend to only study ST effects. Researchers can’t
measure real life aggression.
Limited research on video games: The vast majority of this research has focused on media other than
video games (i.e. TV, music, movies & arcade games). With the increasing focus on the amounts of time
spent on video games by youth, and recognition of the tendency towards high-levels of violence
depicted in the games marketed to youth, researchers need to spend more time and effort
concentrating on this area of the media in order to better determine the precise relationship of video
game violence and aggressive behaviours. Due to the active and repetitive learning aspects of violent
video games there is a real worry that violent video game effects may be larger than violent film & TV
effects.
Not all video games have the same effect so we cannot draw conclusions about their overall
effects.
Many of the questions are about application. Make sure you link the theory to the
scenario you are given. For example in this question you would have got only 4 marks if
you did not link the answer to the question. I have highlighted the links to the scenario in
green.
June 2011
0 5 A local school head teacher wants to produce a leaflet for parents about the possible
effects of video games and computers on young people. Suggest what information should be
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included in the leaflet. Use your knowledge of psychological research in this area to
justify your advice. (10 marks)
The areas which usually concern the parents are the effects of video games and computer use on the
children’s social skills and academic achievement.
The evidence on the effects of computer games on social skills is mixed. Durkin and Barber (2002)
found in 16 yr olds more family closeness, school engagement, good mental health, lack of
substance misuse and friendship networks were superior in game players than their non-playing
peers showing that video games enhance social skills. // However there is also evidence that it can
lead to an increase in aggressive behaviour. Carnagey et al (2007) studied the effect of playing
violent computer games on later responses to real-life violence. He found that the participants had
a lower physiological response to real violence. This shows that violent games had desensitised the
participants therefore making them less sensitive to violence in real-life so increasing the risk of
behaving in an aggressive way. // However it was a laboratory experiment and it might be that if
the participants had been in a more natural environment they might have reacted differently.
Furthermore we do not know how long this effect lasted // . Anderson et al (2007) supported these
findings as he showed that children who had high exposure to violent video games became more
verbally and physically aggressive and less prosocial (as rated by themselves, teachers and peers). //
This study was a longitudinal study which lasted a year, used a large sample:430, 7-9 years old
children and took place in a natural environment, therefore it has ecological and population validity
so we can generalise the findings to the wider population and to real life settings// Peng et al, 2008
suggested that children who have an existing aggressive predisposition are more likely to be
adversely influenced.
The use of social networks such as Facebook can help shy children to develop and nurture
friendships. This is supported by Gonzales and Hancock found that Facebook walls have a positive
influence on self-esteem as the feedback posted is mostly positive. //
Based on these studies, the leaflet should therefore advise the parents that playing computer
games can help their children develop social skills but that they have to monitor the types of
games they play and avoid violent games especially if their child has a pre-existing tendency to
behave aggressively. Furthermore the parents should be advised to encourage a supervised use of
social networks especially if their child is shy as it can help develop confidence and social skills. //
Video games can also have positive cognitive effects as computer gaming has been found to improve
a range of cognitive skills, such as visuo-spatial and attention skills. Karni et al (2003) showed that
such cognitive experiences can lead to long term changes in the brain. // Gaming can also be helpful
in developing hand-eye coordination. Gee (2003) believes we can benefit from specific games. They
can empower learners, develop problem solving and help understanding. They can make us creative
and allow us to express individualism. Many games encourage independent thinking, perseverance
and commitment. Van Schie & Wiegman (1997/8) also found that time spent gaming positively
correlated with intelligence. // However there has been concerns about whether the skills
developed while gaming transfer to other areas of the child’s life.Based on these studies the leaflet
should advise parents to choose the games according to the areas their child might need to
develop and to provide their child with opportunities to practice these skills in a real life setting. //
587 words
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Media and persuasion
Change of behaviour (i.e. to adopt a healthy lifestyle or buy a new product) cannot occur without a
change in attitude the Hovland-Yale Model and the Elalaboration-likelihood Model aim at changing
people’s attitude.
Hovland-Yale Model
The Hovland-Yale Model of persuasion focuses on four factors:
1. The source: the person delivering the message:
a. Experts are more effective than non-experts: Baron & Byrne (1997) suggest that this is
why TV adverts often put their experts in white coats, to emphasise the scientific status
of the message, for example toothpaste is often advertised by dentists.
b. Attractive and popular sources are more effective than non-attractive sources (Petty and
Cacioppo, 1986) for example Cheryl Cole advertises hair products. However celebrities
can overshadow the product as the audience might remember the celeb. And forget the
product.
2. The message
a. Fear: the fear inducing message can create a change in attitude only if:
i.
creates a substantial fear in people,
ii.
provides a simple way of coping with the fear
iii.
if the recipients believe that the dire warnings will definitely affect them.
If a message simply frightens people & these 3 criteria are not met then the
message is more likely to be ignored, rejected or denied.
Evidence:
Putwain and Symes (2001) research carried out on secondary school students
warning about exams were positively correlated to exam performance if they were
accompanied by recommendations on how to revise.
Australian campaign on the use of “ice” 2008 changed 13-24 years old attitude to
amphetamines as it induced fear but also emphasized choice and change.
b. Presents a two-sided balanced argument
McGuire (1964) suggested that 2-sided arguments mean that people become
‘inoculated’ against later conflicting arguments. He suggested that messages that weakly
attack their arguments should be put forward in order to make the favoured message
more resistant to conflicting arguments.
This is particularly the case for more intelligent audience.
c. Messages are more effective if we think they are not intended to persuade.
3. The audience
a. Intelligence
Intelligence may increase people’s understanding of a message, but decrease their
agreement with it since they might spot weak points in the message. Less intelligent
members of the audience may not fully comprehend the message but still agree with it.
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Generally, studies suggest that people of moderate intelligence and moderate self-esteem
are more readily persuaded by messages than those at either end of the continuum. (Wood
& Stagner, 94)
b. Gender
Research suggests that women are more easily persuaded than men however Eagly and
Carli (1981) suggests that these findings were due to the fact that the products
advertised in the research were traditionally associated with men. Karabenick (1983)
found that men were more influenced than women for feminine content and women
more influenced with masculine content.
4. Channel
It depends on the content of the message, simple messages are better displayed visually but
more complicated messages are better in written form as it gives the audience the time to
understand the content.
 Influential research – Dominated our understanding of persuasion for 30 years and led to lots of
research which is still relevant today
 Support by Meyerowitz & Chaiken – Role of fear demonstrated by Meyerowitz et al (1987) who
tested leaflets relating to breast self-examination. However study used potentially fearful
messages to influence attitudes, so ppts were exposed to some degree of psychological stress
 Arbitrary nature of factors – Although this model suggests important factors in persuasion and
attitude change, it doesn’t detail or determine the relative importance of each of these factors –
which is most important? The message? The audience? The communicator? etc
 How does persuasion occur? This model concentrates on the steps in the persuasion process, and
doesn’t adequately deal with how persuasion occurs – it assumes that attitude change only
occurs when a message is fully understood
The Elaboration-Likelihood Model (ELM)
Petty and cacioppo (1981) suggests that there are two different routes depending on whether the
audience is likely to focus on the message or on other factors.
1. Central route: the audience is motivated to think about the message itself, focuses on the
quality of the argument. This is likely to lead to a long-lasting change of attitude.
2. Peripheral route: the audience is not motivated to think about the content of the message,
focuses on other factors such as the attractiveness of the communicator. This is likely to lead
to a temporary change of attitude.
People with high need for cognition are more likely to be persuaded by the arguments
presented using the central route than people with low need for cognition. However the
need for cognition changes depending on the product advertised i.e. health messages or
financial products might cause more need for cognition so it might be more effective to use
the central route than a washing powder so the peripheral route might be more
appropriate.
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Evidence
Vidrine et al. (1997) – measured the need for cognition (NC) among 227 college students, who were
required to evaluate a fact based (central route) or emotion based (peripheral route) smoking risk
pamphlet. Among participants with higher NC, the fact based message produced the greatest
increase in risk perception, whereas among participants with lower NC, the emotion-based message
produced the greatest change.
Ito (2002)
Aim: assess the effect of heuristic and systematic processing.
Sample: Japanese university students
Ito varied the strength of persuasive messages and the delivery.
 Strong message-high credibility source
 Weak message-high credibility source
 Strong message-low credibility source
 Weak message-low credibility source
When Ps were interested in the issue they were influenced by the message (using central route),
however when they were not interested in the issue they were influenced by the source rather than
the strength of the message (Ps were using peripheral route)
These two experiments were lab experiments so the Ps might have been influenced by demand
characteristics, they might have paid more attention to the material than they would in real life
when they might have had a conversation or use their mobile phone while watching the advert (lack
of ecological validity), also we do not know whether the attitude change was long-lasting and
whether it lead to a change in behaviour outside the lab.

Suggests an element of free-will – takes the view that individuals choose one of two routes when
exposed to a persuasive message

Importance of Need for cognition was demonstrated in smokers by Vidrine et al (2007) –
responded best to fact-based leaflets, whereas people with low NC were most persuaded by emotionbased leaflets

Real-life application – Need for cognition has not only been demonstrated under lab conditions.
Vidrine at al showed how it is a relevant factor in real-life health campaigns such as smoking

Are people really only capable of processing via one route? This model gives the impression that
processing of a message can only occur one way or another – the 2 ‘routes’ cannot occur concurrently
however, Petty and Cacioppo suggest that the 2 routes can be processed at the same time and overlap
with one another – when evaluating a message you may be thinking deeply about the content and at the
same time think the speaker is an expert in their field and appears likeable.
Gender bias in research – A number of studies have concluded that women are more susceptible to
persuasive communications than men are. Psychologists have attempted to explain this in terms of
socialisation differences – women are socialised to conform and therefore are more open to social
influence. However, studies have it has been claimed that studies find women more easily
persuaded because in most cases the topic used was one with which men were more familiar. Men
would therefore have greater motivation and/or ability to counter-argue than women. Women
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would not be so susceptible to persuasive communications if the topic was one which they were
familiar (and men were not). This has been supported by research which found that influence varied
with item content: males were more influenced by feminine content; females were more by
masculine content. Therefore are gender differences actually more due to methodological bias due
to the materials used.
Explanations for the persuasiveness of television advertising
You can use the Hovland-Yale model or the Elaboration-likelihood model but
make sure you adapt them to television or you will not get the marks.
1. Hard sell (central route) versus soft-sell (peripheral route)
Snyder and DeBono (1985) People who are high on self-monitoring (adjust their behaviour in order
to create a favourable impression on others) are more influenced by soft-sell than the people who
are low on self-monitoring.
2. Product endorsement
Products are sometimes endorsed by personality (i.e. Cheryl Cole advertising hair products).
Celebrities are seen as familiar faces, and might be seen as a reliable source of information for those
who have developed a parasocial relationship with that particular celebrity. However, Martin et al.
(2008) found that students were more convinced by a fictional student than by a celebrity because
the students want ot be fashionable amongst their peers rather than approved by celebrities.
3. Congruence
Bushman suggest that the product advertised will be better remember if there is a congruence
between the product and the content of the programme in which it is advertised (i.e. advertisement
of food product embedded in a cooking programme).
Embedding advert is programmes with sexual or violent programmes seem ineffective as the
memory of the adverts seem to be impaired in this types of programmes according to Bushman
(2005).
Adverts with sexual content are based on the assumption that people will remember the sexual
content therefore the product linked with the content however this does not seem to be the case,
recall for the product seems to be poorer.
TV advertising relies on people watching the adverts as part of the programme but a lot of people do
other things during the breaks i.e. make a coffee therefore not watching the adverts and also people
might jump channel or mobile phones …
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Word of mouth and on line reviews of products are also an important factors in shaping the public’s
buying habits.
June 2010
02A group of students has been asked to produce a short film to encourage more
school leavers to apply for science degree courses at university instead of arts-based
courses.
Using your knowledge of psychological research into persuasion and attitude change,
identify some of the factors which the film-makers might take into account.
(4 marks)
03Explain how factors such as those you identified in your answer to 02 might
help to persuade young people to apply for particular courses.
(10 marks)
January 2011
1 0 Discuss one or more explanations for the effectiveness of television in persuasion.
(5 marks + 8 marks)
June 2011
0 6 Outline the Hovland-Yale model of persuasion. (5 marks)
January 2012
0 6 Outline the Elaboration Likelihood model of persuasion. Explain how a mobile phone
company might use knowledge of this model in a campaign to market a new phone.
(4 marks + 6 marks)
June 2012
0 7 A company is about to launch a new perfume aimed at young career women and
wants to devise a television advertising campaign to promote the perfume.
Using your knowledge of the persuasive effects of television, what advice would you
give to the company so that it could make the television advertising campaign as
effective as possible? Refer to psychological research to justify your advice.
(10 marks)
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The psychology of ‘celebrity’
The attraction of ‘celebrity’, including social psychological explanations
A celebrity is a famous, widely-recognised person who commands a high degree of public and media
attention.
According to Ashe and Mc Cutcheon a parasocial relationship is:
•
Relationship with a celebrity which is usually entirely one-sided.
•
The target individual is unaware of the existence of the person who created the relationship.
•
These relationship may be appealing because they make few demands, and the individual
does not run the risk of criticism or rejection as might be the case in a real relationship.
Schiappa et al. (2007) carried out a meta-analysis of studies of parasocial relationships (PSRs) , they
found that PSRs were more likely to form with TV celebrities who were seen as attractive and similar
in some ways to the viewer and who were perceived as real.
Why do PSRs develop?
Absorption-addiction model
Most of the people like/admire a celebrity because of their talents or their entertainment value,
however some people become absorbed and even addicted to the celebrity leading in a few cases to
delusional behaviour. According to Giles and Maltby this happens in three stages:
1. Entertainment-Social: talk with friends about celebrities/gossip. i.e. “learning the life story of
my favourite celebrity is a lot of fun”
2. Intense-Personal: intensity of feelings for celebrities. Can become an obsession. i.e. “ I
consider my favourite celebrity as my soul-mate”
3. Borderline-Pathological: potentially harmful aspects of feelings for celebrities. Can lead to
uncontrollable behaviours e.g. stalking. i.e. “ if I walked through the door of my favourite
celebrity’s house she or he would be happy to see me”.
McCutcheon: PSR’s compensate for ‘defects or lacks’ within their own lives. However Schiappa did
not find that loneliness was a good predictor of the formation of PRSs. PSRs allows an escape from
reality.
Most fans stay at level 1. Fans with a weaker sense of personal identity or poor adjustment may
“absorb” themselves in a celebrity’s life to gain a stronger sense of identity. PSR are addictive so
increasing sense of involvement with the celebrity is needed.
The model predict that there will be an association between poor mental health and the strength of
the PRSs and this is supported by Malby (2001) who found that participants on level 1 had some
degree of social dysfunction, experienced loneliness in real life. Participants on level 2 scored highly
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on anxiety and depression. They could not test for level 3 as mental health questionnaire did not
include items on serious problems with adjustment.
However this study was based on questionnaires therefore the participants could have been
influenced by social desirability (explain).
Attachment styles and Parasocial Relationships
This theory proposes insecure attachment leads to an increased interest in celebrities because PSRs,
unlike real relationships, make no demands, and do not involve criticism or the risk of rejection.
It is thought that those who can be needy and clingy in relationships may be more likely to develop
PSRs. This type of attachment style is known as insecure-resistant. Cole and Leets 1999 : Those with
an insecure resistant attachment style turn to TV characters as a means of satisfying their ‘unrealistic
and often unmet’ relational demands.
This is not supported by McCutcheon (2006) who found no relationship between insecure
attachment and the tendency to form PSRs with celebrities, however they found that those with
insecure attachment types were more likely to think that stalking was acceptable and there was a
relationship between pathological attachment and the tendency to stalking.
Evolutionary explanations
Physical attractiveness and status as fitness indicators –celebrities usually possess higher levels of
both these indicators of reproductive success, confirmed by Buss’s (1989) cross-cultural data from
10000 respondents in 37 countries on the preferred characteristics of potential mates.
Talent and sexual selection – celebrities often come from sports or entertainment industries and so
have the chance to show displays of skill that distinguish themselves from their same-sex
competitors (e.g. Miller, 2000) in the eyes of potential mates. This is supported by the fact that most
of the gossip is about reproduction and child-rearing. However this explanation cannot account for
modern celebrity fame based on no particular achievement or quality.
Celebrity gossip- the exchange of information about member of a social group might have had an
adaptive role in the past, especially when humans started to live in larger groups. De Backer suggests
that gossip bonds group together. It probably was used to find out about potential mates and keep
the group safe. It is suggested that because of the media coverage of the celebrities we have come
to think of them as part of our social group therefore as legitimate target for gossip.
Neophilia- Before the arrival of TV and other forms of media, our ancestors would have had to
amuse each other; neophilia would have led to evermore creative displays from potential mates.
Supporting this notion is the difference between natural and sexual selection. When choosing a
mate, natural selection refers to survival of the fittest, whereas sexual selection refers to survival of
the sexiest, this is where we may become attracted to creative individuals as potential mates.
Evidence to support this explanation exists from investigating bird songs; the more complex a bird
song the more attractive a bird is seen to be. Despite this the research used non-human animals and
therefore the results should not be generalised to human behaviour. In addition to this research by
Duck has suggested boredom is the most common reason for relationship dissolution, this therefore
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supports the explanation as it suggests creativity is adaptive and beneficial for relationship survival
and thereby increasing the chances of our genes being passed on.
Evolutionary explanations are based on our ancestors’ behaviour and therefore are based on
ultimate causes; it can be questioned if the evolutionary explanations apply to today’s modern
society as it fails to take into account proximate causes.
Arbitrary nature of sexual selection explanations – suggesting love of novelty and therefore creative
people in mates tells us nothing about why they would be preferred. Sexual selection explanations
are arbitrary as they argue that traits are preferred simply because they would have been ‘attractive’
but why would these traits have been attractive to ancestral members of the opposite sex?
Experiments vs. self reports – Most research on PSR has simply involved asking people about their
attitudes to celebrities. However, Tsao (1996) argues that experimental manipulations may be more
effective in determining the causes of identification with a celebrity. E.g. Noble (1975) created 2
viewing conditions – a cinema environment and television. He found that identification with media
characters arose more readily in a darkened cinema environment where viewers were isolated from
everyday reality. Television viewing did not invite identification as readily because the ‘lights-on’
environment made viewers more aware of their own identities, thus preventing them from ‘merging’
with the character(s) seen on screen.
Stalking
Stalking is repeated and persistent attempts to impose unwanted communication/contact on
another person.
Kampus & Emmelkamp (2006) found that 25% stalking cases ended up in violence, and 2% to
murder. Therefore understanding this phenomena is useful as it will help prevent violent crimes.
Attachment types and stalking – Kienlan (98)
PREOCCUPIED STALKER
Insecure resistant
FEARFUL STALKER
Insecure resistant
DISMISSING STALKER
Insecure avoidant
Poor self-image; constantly seeking approval from others’
Stalking results from real or imagined rejection and is an
attempt to restore a positive sense of self
Poor self-image, but sees others as unsupportive and unreliable.
Stalking is a result wanting someone to boost self-image but
rejecting them because of a lack of trust. Stalking is a way of
boosting self-image.
Is distant and aloof from others in order to maintain an inflated
self-image. When relationships fail this person may stalk out of
revenge
Lewis et al (2001) found that stalkers have traits typical of insecure attachment such as ambivalent
attitudes to those they have relationships with and emotional instability.
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McCutcheon et al (2006) also found that those (of the 300 students questioned) who had insecure
attachments as children were more likely to say that celebrity stalking behaviour was acceptable.
In 1997 Kienlan et al also found that in a small sample of imprisoned US stalkers a majority had lost
their primary caregiver in childhood and had a major loss in the 6 months prior to the onset of
stalking.
Mullen (2008) looked at 20,000 cases of stalking the royal family. 80% involved people with serious
mental illnesses, like schizophrenia.
Definition of stalking is problematic as there is no agreed definition which makes this behaviour
difficult to research and treat. We need an agreed diagnosis criteria of classification
Obsessive, rejected stalkers respond favourably to psychotherapies whereas psychotic stalkers who
prey on celebrities are highly resistant to treatment, implying that stalking is not a unitary behaviour
that varies in degree, but instead consists of different behaviours.
Legal interventions, like trespassing orders, are the most effective way of dealing with celebrity
stalkers, but can make even more obsessive and persecutory towards their targets.
Cyberstalking –sending unwanted texts and e-mails, ‘spamming’ and even sending electronic viruses to the
target individual. Cyberstalking has the advantage of anonymity, and so increases opportunities for antisocial
behaviour. Text and instant messaging (IM) are also attractive to stalkers as there is no face-to-face contact
with the target, therefore more risks can be taken with less fear of reprisal.
Impact of stalking – in a postal survey in Germany, researchers discovered that 11.5% of respondents had
been the victims of a stalker. Most victims = women, most stalkers = men. The effects on psychological health
appeared significant. Most victims reported that they had changed their lifestyles after being stalked, and
agitation (56%), anxiety symptoms (44%), sleep disturbances (41%) and depression (28%). suggest that
stalking, and victims of stalking, deserve more attention in mental health research.
Explaining stalking through insecure attachment – Tonin (2004) investigated whether stalking behaviour
might be attributed to insecure attachment as a child. She measured stalkers’ retrospective childhood
attachment styles and their current attachment using 2 self-report measures. It was found that the stalkers
had significantly more evidence of insecure adult attachment styles than the control group
Tolerance and perception of cyberstalking – Cyberstalkers may develop a tolerance of internet-based
harassment with the result that they need more and more extreme activities to experience the same thrill.
Cyberstalking may not be taken as seriously as other forms of stalking.
January 2011
0 9 In a study, researchers investigated celebrity worship in young people. They sent
two questionnaires to several hundred university students. One questionnaire measured
attitudes to celebrity and the other questionnaire measured self-esteem. The
researchers analysed the completed questionnaires and found a significant correlation
between low self-esteem and high levels of celebrity worship.
Explain one methodological and one ethical issue that might have arisen in this study.
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(2 marks + 2 marks)
June 2011
0 7 Outline and evaluate findings of research into intense fandom. (4 marks + 6 marks)
January 2012
0 8 Outline and evaluate research into celebrity stalking. (4 marks + 6 marks)
June 2012
0 8 Outline one or more evolutionary explanations of the attraction of ‘celebrity’. (4
marks)
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