Priming

Learning about priming theory has helped me to better understand how and why people react to events in life because I now realize that media has the possibility to impact a viewers actions.

Priming theory is described as when the activation of one thought triggers related thoughts. Basically, the theory argues that by viewing something, the viewer will "store" that event in their mind and will be more likely to use that action as a response to something happening in their own life. Priming can occur semantically, through repetition, or through association.

For example, say a research study is being conducted and there are two groups. One group is primed with politeness-related words, while the second group is primed with rude, aggressive words. According to priming theory if the two groups were to be interviewed, the group primed with the aggressive/rude words would be more likely to interrupt the interviewer than the group primed with polite words.

Recent examples in the news have been relating priming with video games and violence. Some critics say that the violence in video games causes those that play them to mimic, or commit acts of violence that they otherwise would not have. On the other side of that argument though, some say that video games are a way of releasing the violence through the game, as a sort of therapeutic practice.
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/adventure/grandtheftauto3/news_6077161.html