Thoughts on Social Psychology

I have heard in the past that "violent scenes in movies" have been linked to "violent behavior" and in particular violence toward women. In my social psych class an model was made that allowed me to see that this could partially be true.

One of the ways that people use to argue this, is the argument that "Classical Conditioning" takes place in a person. The experiment used to explain classical conditioning most often is Pavlov's Dogs. In short, he trained dogs to salivate by ringing a bell. First he began by ringing a bell, holding the food in front of the dogs, and waiting for them to salivate, then gave them the food. Eventually, food was not needed for the dogs to salivate, instead they would salivate just to the ringing of the bell, and even eventually to the experimenters walking down the hallway prior to ringing the bell.

In the same way, people have used classical conditioning as a way to show the relationship between violent movies and violent behavior toward women. Often times in movies, there is a sensual scene involving a women that precedes a violent scene. Sensual scenes in movies, even mild ones, bring arousal to people that are watching them (especially in men). Proceeding this, in many movies, a violent scene occurs, sometimes even violence toward the woman. In the same way that Pavlov's dogs connected salivating to the sound of a bell, people watching movies may connect sexual feelings to aggression.

Last night I began watching the movie V for Vendetta (a movie to see if you haven't). Sure enough, within the first half an hour of the movie their was a subtle example of what is explained above. Natalie Portman is getting ready in her little black dress to meet her date for the night. The scene centers around her getting dressed for the night, zipping up her dress and looking herself in the mirror. The very next scene is her getting mugged on the street.

Though, watching movies with sexual/violent scenes won't make a person act aggressively alone, it is interesting to think that media can have an impact on our minds that we might not even notice. I guess it's just good to be aware of what a person puts into his or her mind.