Direction for [ Question No: 1 To 1 ] :
Read the following passage and answer the questions.
Priming refers to the effect of some preceding stimulus or event on how we react, broadly defined, to some subsequent stimulus. As applied to the media, priming refers to the effects of the content of the media on people's later behaviour of judgments related to the content. The ubiquitous nature of the media in our lives makes it a powerful tool for priming how we think and behave. Perhaps because of its nature, few media scholars have questioned whether media priming exists. However, there are few direct, empirical studies of its existence or of the conditions under which it occurs. For a study to be a direct test of media priming, a control condition must be included in the design. A control condition could be as simple as a condition in which no media prime is presented before measuring relevant thoughts or behaviours. A recent metaanalysis of the media priming literature, using a loose definition of media, found only 42 published studies with sufficient control conditions. Representative studies from these domains are described below to verify the existence of media priming and to highlight the kinds of results that need to be explained by theories of media priming. Josephson in 1987 investigated the priming effects of violent media on children's behaviour. In this study, Josephson gathered measures of young boys' trait aggression from their teachers. The boys saw either a violent or a non-violent television program, each of comparable excitement, likeability and enjoyment value. The violent segment contained recurring images of walkie-talkies, whereas the nonviolent program contained no walkietalkies. The walkie-talkies served as a cue for the violent television program, but not for the non-violent program. Either before or after the television program, half the boys saw a 30 second non-violent cartoon segment that had been edited to become increasingly static-ridden, eventually worsening to "snow". This cartoon segment was meant to frustrate the young viewers with its apparent technical malfunction. After viewing their assigned programs, the boys were mock interviewed and then sent to the school gymnasium to play floor hockey. For the mock interview, either a walkie-talkie or a microphone was used. In this way, half of the boys were exposed to the violence-related cue and half were not. The boys then took turns playing hockey and were observed both on and off the court for signs of aggressive behaviour, such as pushing other boys down, hitting other players with the hockey stick, or calling other boys abusive names. After three periods, each for 3 minutes to play, the boys were returned to the teachers. Josephson found that violent television viewing primed boys who were high in trait aggressiveness to act more violently during initial sports activity (i.e. During the first period of play). This effect was heightened both when violent programming was coupled with the violence-related cue and when violent programming was followed by frustration. However, this priming effect appeared to lessen with time, because violent programming and cues did not influence aggression in the later periods of play as strongly as in the initial period of play.
