AQA · A-Level · Psychology

    Course version: 7182-2025 · Exams from 2027

    Media influences on aggression, including the effects of computer games.…

    Full specification wording

    Aggression: Media influences on aggression, including the effects of computer games. The role of desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming.

    Does watching or playing violence make people aggressive?

    Checked against the AQA 7182-2025 specification (opens in a new tab) on .

    • Point 5 of 5
    • 4 key terms

    Study notes

    From the checked teaching notes for this specification point.

    The idea

    Does watching or playing violence make people aggressive? Experiments say a little: Bartholow and Anderson had students play a violent or a non-violent game and then blast an opponent with noise, and the violent-game group chose louder, longer bursts; Anderson's meta-analysis found a small but consistent effect. Three mechanisms are named. Desensitisation is the loss of physiological arousal, measured as heart rate, after repeated exposure, so violence stops shocking. Disinhibition is media showing aggression as normal and justified, which loosens learned social restraint. Cognitive priming occurs when violent media provides cues that activate existing aggressive thoughts and scripts in memory, explaining a sudden outburst.

    What earns the marks

    • Desensitisation: repeated exposure lowers physiological arousal to violence and reduces sympathy for victims, as in Weisz and Earls's mock trial.
    • Disinhibition: media presents aggression as normative, justified and free of consequence, weakening the social norms that usually restrain it.
    • Cognitive priming: violent media provides cues that activate existing aggressive thoughts and scripts in memory, which is why the effect can be immediate and short-lived.

    Common mistakes and how to put them right

    • Treating desensitisation, disinhibition and priming as three names for one idea.

      Put it right: The first is reduced arousal, the second is changed norms, the third is memory activation.

    • Reading a correlation between hours of violent gaming and aggression as proof that gaming caused it.

    • Claiming media violence causes real-world atrocities such as shootings, which no study shows and which examiners read as uncritical.

    • Ignoring the timescale: desensitisation builds over long exposure while priming is immediate and cue-driven, so an outburst straight after play is priming.

    Exam tips

    • Match the mechanism to the scenario: an immediate reaction after playing suggests priming or disinhibition, while a person unmoved by real violence suggests desensitisation.
    • Name the method as you cite the study, for example in a meta-analysis of published experiments, because the methodological comment is where the evaluation marks are.
    • Build the evaluation around what each method can and cannot establish rather than listing generic criticisms about ecological validity.

    Try the lesson

    The start of the Aggression: Media influences on aggression, including the effects of computer games. The role of desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming. lesson, made from checked teaching notes for this specification point.

    Have a go first

    Which of the following best describes the process of desensitisation in the context of media influences on aggression?

    Listen

    Does watching or playing violence make people aggressive? Experiments say a little: Bartholow and Anderson had students play a violent or a non-violent game and then blast an opponent with noise, and the violent-game group chose louder, longer bursts; Anderson's meta-analysis found a small but consistent effect. Three mechanisms are named. Desensitisation is the loss of physiological arousal, measured as heart rate, after repeated exposure, so violence stops shocking. Disinhibition is media showing aggression as normal and justified, which loosens learned social restraint. Cognitive priming occurs when violent media provides cues that activate existing aggressive thoughts and scripts in memory, explaining a sudden outburst. A strong answer earns marks for these points. What each type of evidence can show: experiments such as Bartholow and Anderson's noise blasts establish causation but measure proxies, correlations such as DeLisi's juvenile offenders cannot establish it, and longitudinal cohort studies track real outcomes over years. Desensitisation: repeated exposure lowers physiological arousal to violence and reduces sympathy for victims, as in Weisz and Earls's mock trial. Disinhibition: media presents aggression as normative, justified and free of consequence, weakening the social norms that usually restrain it. Cognitive priming: violent media provides cues that activate existing aggressive thoughts and scripts in memory, which is why the effect can be immediate and short-lived. Exam tip: Match the mechanism to the scenario: an immediate reaction after playing suggests priming or disinhibition, while a person unmoved by real violence suggests desensitisation.

    See it

    A top-down flowchart. At the top, a single node reads 'Media violence exposure'. Three arrows lead from it to three separate mechanism nodes: 'Desensitisation', 'Disinhibition' and 'Cognitive priming'. Each mechanism then leads to its own outcome. Desensitisation leads to 'Loss of physiological arousal', which leads to 'Violence stops shocking'. Disinhibition leads to 'Aggression shown as normal and justified', which leads to 'Learned social restraint loosened'. Cognitive priming leads to 'Cues activate aggressive thoughts and scripts', which leads to 'Sudden outburst'.
    It shows three distinct routes from media violence to aggression: desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming.

    Key words

    Say what each word means before you turn the card.

    Desensitisation

    Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.

    Disinhibition

    Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.

    Cognitive priming

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    Meta-analysis

    Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.

    See every definition
    Desensitisation
    The loss of physiological arousal, measured as heart rate, after repeated exposure, so violence stops shocking.
    Disinhibition
    Media showing aggression as normal and justified, which loosens learned social restraint.
    Cognitive priming
    When violent media provides cues that activate existing aggressive thoughts and scripts in memory, explaining a sudden outburst.
    Meta-analysis
    A method in which Anderson found a small but consistent effect across published experiments.

    Label the diagram

    Some boxes have lost their names. Pick the right name for each number.

    The diagram again, with 3 boxes numbered instead of named. A top-down flowchart. At the top, a single node reads 'Media violence exposure'. Three arrows lead from it to three separate mechanism nodes: 'Desensitisation', 'Disinhibition' and 'Cognitive priming'. Each mechanism then leads to its own outcome. Desensitisation leads to 'Loss of physiological arousal', which leads to 'Violence stops shocking'. Disinhibition leads to 'Aggression shown as normal and justified', which leads to 'Learned social restraint loosened'. Cognitive priming leads to 'Cues activate aggressive thoughts and scripts', which leads to 'Sudden outburst'.

    • 1Box 1

    • 2Box 2

    • 3Box 3

    0 of 3 labelled

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