The effects of repeated exposure to explicit music videos

The present study seeks to describe the cognitive effects that occur as a result of repeated exposure to two types of explicit music videos: violent and sexual. It aims to determine if these potential effects are due to the accessibility of personal constructs (activation-frquency) or to the accessibility of situational constructs (activation-recency). Participants (68 male and female undergraduate students) watched a series of five music videos, determined by one of five conditions. Four groups were exposed to explicit videos in counterbalanced order and one was exposed to neutral videos, and all were exposed to a segment of a videotaped scenario depicting images of violence and sexuality. They were then given a recall test for the music videos (distraction task), and a rating test for the scenario. Following a two week delay, they watched and rated a different segment of a videotaped scenario. Significant group differences were found with relation to the type of question - sexual vs violent. Overall, the responses to the violence questions were stronger than those to the sexual questions, yet they decreased at a more drastic rate than did the sexual ones. Social implications for our understanding of these effects are discussed.