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Vincent, hi
>"so the notion of people seeing acts as more legitimate because
>others are seen to perform them is problematised."
yes it is problematised - and as with anything in a complex multifaceted
social world in which one or many events can have one or many outcomes,
there can be no irrefutable evidence - the best we can do is produced
narratives with internal and external consistency.
TO this end there IS a wealth of laboratory experimental evidence that
demonstrates disinhibition via media. You can dismiss such laboratory
experiments of course because they are conducted in artificial conditions
There IS also a wealth of natural experimental evidence that demonstrates
effects expected by disinhibition - which you can also dismiss because not
all variables are controlled for - precisely because they are conducted in
the real world.
So Heads I lose, Tails I lose - You can dismiss natural experiments for not
isolating Ind Variable and Dep Variable, and you can dismiss laboratory
experiments becasue they do the opposite. But on the balance of imprecise
evidence available - media contagion is the best explanation I have come
accross for unexpected rises in events following mediate exposure to similar
events.
>You only have to look at
>the complex range of suggested effects of violence in the theoretical
>literature, as witnessed in media, from catharsis to desensitisation, to
>disinhibition (not unlike the social facilitation idea).
Disinhibition differs, by the way, according to standard teminology in soc
pys from social facilitation by the presence a prior approach-avoidance
conflict.
Hi Robin,
<You might try looking up "social facilitation".>
There's a difference between observing people directly and observing
them through media, which the psychology discipline rountinely forgets or
ignores, so the notion of people seeing acts as more legitimate because
others are seen to perform them is problematised. You only have to look at
the complex range of suggested effects of violence in the theoretical
literature, as witnessed in media, from catharsis to desensitisation, to
disinhibition (not unlike the social facilitation idea).
Vincent
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