Desensitization

Abstract

As we are exposed to varying kinds of media, we respond in differing ways both physiologically and psychologically. One effect is desensitization , the process by which repeated exposure to a stimulus reduces negative emotional arousal to its presentation later on. Early psychological research saw desensitization manifested primarily in clinical/behavior modification contexts such as exposure therapy (e.g., presenting a snake‐phobic client with pictures of snakes, then videos, then seeing a snake from afar, to eventually holding a snake). As research has progressed, the idea of being desensitized through repeated exposure has raised questions about various types of exposure therapy (e.g., systematic desensitization, flooding, cognitive behavior modification), demonstrating that often (although not always), the more you are exposed to something, the less jarring and arousing that thing becomes mentally, emotionally, and psychophysiologically. Of particular interest in this entry is how electronic media (e.g., TV, movies, video games, social media) can desensitize us to violence. Studies of this have shown that exposure to media violence can make people less empathetic, and less physiologically aroused by portrayals of violence in both the short‐term (experimental studies) and over time (cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies).

Digital risks and adolescents: The relationships between digital game addiction, emotional eating, and aggression

“…2016), emotional eating (Kafali et al . 2020), aggression (Demirtaş Madran & Ferligül Çakılcı 2014), violent tendencies (Göldag 2020; Sari & Camadan 2016), reduced positive social behaviours (Greitemeyer & Mügge 2014), increased hostile feelings (Brockmyer 2014; Miles‐Novelo & Anderson 2020), and desensitization to violence (Brockmyer 2014).…”

Evaluating the efficacy of a vignette-based approach to measuring online/offline discrepancies in moral decision making among social media users

“…Participants tended to find the online variant of this scenario slightly less emotionally confronting. Previous studies have explored the emotional desensitisation of users to depictions of physical violence on social media platforms (Li et al, 2017;Miles-Novelo & Anderson, 2020), and digital media's capacity to dull otherwise emotionally confronting material is widely discussed within the literature (Bushman & Anderson, 2009;Smith et al, 2003). However, this result suggests that this desensitisation effect may in some cases extend to participants' third-person evaluation of a hypothetical actor's exposure to violent content.…”

Racist Hate Speech at School and its Association with Bystanders’ Active Defending – The Protective Role of Immigrant Background

“…Research about the effects of exposure to violence and desensitization is centered on explaining perpetration outcomes (see Prescott et al, 2018, for a meta-analysis). However, the general aggression model poses that exposure to violence can also impact prosociality (Miles-Novelo & Anderson, 2020). For instance, witnessing violent media is associated with decreased bystander prosocial intervention (Bushman & Anderson, 2009;Prot et al, 2015).…”

“…According to the general aggression model, exposure to violence might produce an effect of desensiti-M. Castellanos et al / Racist Hate Speech in Schools zation through a reduction in the "emotion-related physiological reactivity to real violence" (Carnagey et al, 2007, p. 490). Consequently, affective and cognitive outcomes change, such that violence is perceived as less harmful, empathy toward victims is reduced, negative attitudes towards violence also decrease, and individuals perceive violence as normative (Miles-Novelo & Anderson, 2020). Subsequently, bystanders of violence are more likely to perpetrate aggression and decrease or delay their prosocial intervention (Carnagey et al, 2007;Miles-Novelo & Anderson, 2020).…”

“…Consequently, affective and cognitive outcomes change, such that violence is perceived as less harmful, empathy toward victims is reduced, negative attitudes towards violence also decrease, and individuals perceive violence as normative (Miles-Novelo & Anderson, 2020). Subsequently, bystanders of violence are more likely to perpetrate aggression and decrease or delay their prosocial intervention (Carnagey et al, 2007;Miles-Novelo & Anderson, 2020). A phenomenon adolescents are exposed to is hate speech, defined as direct or vicarious derogatory expressions about others based on assigned group features (i.e., nationality, gender, sexual orientation, etc.)…”