Domains of Media Desensitization: A Model of the Relationships Among Cognitive, Emotional, Physiological, and Behavioral Response Systems

• In Event: Media Models and Theories

Abstract

The model explicated in this paper proposes that media desensitization involves two paths of response. The first path leads from heavy media exposure to a reduction in emotional reactivity and then to cognition that demonstrates increased tolerance of aggression. The second leads from heavy media exposure to decreased physiological reactivity and then to reduced probability of behavioral intervention in situations involving threat to the welfare of others.

Authors

• Rena Rudy, Univ of California, Santa Barbara

• Daniel Linz