SFL 358 Final Exam Study Guide Questions With Complete
Solutions
Aaron, age 9, is obese and watches a significant amount of TV.
His mother knows you have taken a media course as part of your
education at BYU and asks for your insight. Based on what
you've learned:
1. Do you think there is a connection between media exposure
and Aaron's obesity? Support your response with evidence from
research.
2. What are four mechanisms that might explain how media
exposure influences obesity in children? Provide a brief
explanation of each mechanism Correct Answers
According to Misrepresentation, what are some ways the media
portrays women inaccurately or unfairly? Identify and explain at
least 5 examples. Correct Answers
after viewing media with guns, children... Correct Answers -
played in a room that contained a real, but disabled handgun
hidden in a closet
-played a real gun longer, pulled the trigger more times (incl at
self and a partner)
Aggression content analysis of reality TV (Coyne et al., 2008)
Correct Answers -gossip, exclusion, and manipulation prevalent
-aggression framed as acceptable
,AI prevalence Correct Answers -Willoughby and colleagues
(2025) found that almost 1 in 5 participants (18.8%) reported
having chatted with an AI system meant to simulate a romantic
partner
-Young adults were also over twice as likely (26% to 12.2%) to
report chatting with an AI simulating a romantic partner
-Nearly 1/4 young adults are engaging with AI chat technologies
to replicate romantic interactions
-More men than women use it (similar trend patterns as
pornography use)
amount of sexual minorities in media in 2016-2017 season
Correct Answers 6.5%
-0% in children's films
-8% of characters in adult dramas/ sitcoms
Anderson & Bushan (2018): General Aggression Model- long
term effects? Correct Answers -regular engagement with
violent games leads to learning, rehearsal, and reinforcement
-development of aggression-related knowledge structures:
1. Aggression is a normal and acceptable way to handle conflicts
2. Over time individuals become biased toward perceiving social
cues as hostile
3. Individuals come to expect aggression from others,
influencing how they anticipate future interactions
4. Mental templates that guide behavior in situations
5. Repeated exposure reduces emotional sensitivity
,-aggressive beliefs, attitudes, and expectations accumulate over
time leading to more aggressive personality
Anderson & Bushan (2018): General Aggression Model- short
term effects? Correct Answers -situational factors: external
conditions such as being provoked, facing frustration, or
witnessing violence
-violent stimuli activates: affect, cognition, and arousal
- appraisal and decision (individual assesses the situation and
chooses a response, two possible outcomes)
-thoughtful actions (when there is enough cognitive processing
time, the person may engage in controlled reasoned behavior)
-impulsive action (highly aroused or emotionally charged states
leads to aggressive actions)
-social encounter (behavior feeds back into future encounters
and decisions) (aggression = winning = future aggression)
anime and manga Correct Answers -Extremely popular
(literature and film)
-400+ films (e.g., Studio Ghibli)
-Gender stereotypes (Veer & Lee, 2018)
-Used to teach Japanese in many different countries (Payne et
al., 2017)
, are elderly people (grandparents) under/over represented in
media? Correct Answers widely underrepresented
balloon boy story Correct Answers -publicity stunt to get back
on TV (had been on wife swap before)
Black Lives Matter movement Correct Answers -In response to
the death of Trayvon Martin and lack of consequences for the
police after who killed him (2012-13) - #Blacklivesmatter
-Allows individuals to indirectly interact with a social
movement on social media (Jones, 2020)
-Most tweets express solidarity, counter protest uncommon (Ince
et al., 2017)
-George Floyd death - increased support of the movement by
30% (Cohn & Kealey)
Bushman & Anderson, 2009 (helping study) Correct Answers -
participants: 320 university students (50% male)
-played a violent or nonviolent game for 20 minutes
-they heard a staged fight
-research timed how long it took them to help
(played violent video game: 450% slower)
-participants rated how serious they thought the fight was
(played violent video game: thought fight was less serious)
by the time a child graduates elementary school they will have
seen #A? murders and #B? other acts of violence Correct
Answers A: 8,000
B: 100,000
Solutions
Aaron, age 9, is obese and watches a significant amount of TV.
His mother knows you have taken a media course as part of your
education at BYU and asks for your insight. Based on what
you've learned:
1. Do you think there is a connection between media exposure
and Aaron's obesity? Support your response with evidence from
research.
2. What are four mechanisms that might explain how media
exposure influences obesity in children? Provide a brief
explanation of each mechanism Correct Answers
According to Misrepresentation, what are some ways the media
portrays women inaccurately or unfairly? Identify and explain at
least 5 examples. Correct Answers
after viewing media with guns, children... Correct Answers -
played in a room that contained a real, but disabled handgun
hidden in a closet
-played a real gun longer, pulled the trigger more times (incl at
self and a partner)
Aggression content analysis of reality TV (Coyne et al., 2008)
Correct Answers -gossip, exclusion, and manipulation prevalent
-aggression framed as acceptable
,AI prevalence Correct Answers -Willoughby and colleagues
(2025) found that almost 1 in 5 participants (18.8%) reported
having chatted with an AI system meant to simulate a romantic
partner
-Young adults were also over twice as likely (26% to 12.2%) to
report chatting with an AI simulating a romantic partner
-Nearly 1/4 young adults are engaging with AI chat technologies
to replicate romantic interactions
-More men than women use it (similar trend patterns as
pornography use)
amount of sexual minorities in media in 2016-2017 season
Correct Answers 6.5%
-0% in children's films
-8% of characters in adult dramas/ sitcoms
Anderson & Bushan (2018): General Aggression Model- long
term effects? Correct Answers -regular engagement with
violent games leads to learning, rehearsal, and reinforcement
-development of aggression-related knowledge structures:
1. Aggression is a normal and acceptable way to handle conflicts
2. Over time individuals become biased toward perceiving social
cues as hostile
3. Individuals come to expect aggression from others,
influencing how they anticipate future interactions
4. Mental templates that guide behavior in situations
5. Repeated exposure reduces emotional sensitivity
,-aggressive beliefs, attitudes, and expectations accumulate over
time leading to more aggressive personality
Anderson & Bushan (2018): General Aggression Model- short
term effects? Correct Answers -situational factors: external
conditions such as being provoked, facing frustration, or
witnessing violence
-violent stimuli activates: affect, cognition, and arousal
- appraisal and decision (individual assesses the situation and
chooses a response, two possible outcomes)
-thoughtful actions (when there is enough cognitive processing
time, the person may engage in controlled reasoned behavior)
-impulsive action (highly aroused or emotionally charged states
leads to aggressive actions)
-social encounter (behavior feeds back into future encounters
and decisions) (aggression = winning = future aggression)
anime and manga Correct Answers -Extremely popular
(literature and film)
-400+ films (e.g., Studio Ghibli)
-Gender stereotypes (Veer & Lee, 2018)
-Used to teach Japanese in many different countries (Payne et
al., 2017)
, are elderly people (grandparents) under/over represented in
media? Correct Answers widely underrepresented
balloon boy story Correct Answers -publicity stunt to get back
on TV (had been on wife swap before)
Black Lives Matter movement Correct Answers -In response to
the death of Trayvon Martin and lack of consequences for the
police after who killed him (2012-13) - #Blacklivesmatter
-Allows individuals to indirectly interact with a social
movement on social media (Jones, 2020)
-Most tweets express solidarity, counter protest uncommon (Ince
et al., 2017)
-George Floyd death - increased support of the movement by
30% (Cohn & Kealey)
Bushman & Anderson, 2009 (helping study) Correct Answers -
participants: 320 university students (50% male)
-played a violent or nonviolent game for 20 minutes
-they heard a staged fight
-research timed how long it took them to help
(played violent video game: 450% slower)
-participants rated how serious they thought the fight was
(played violent video game: thought fight was less serious)
by the time a child graduates elementary school they will have
seen #A? murders and #B? other acts of violence Correct
Answers A: 8,000
B: 100,000
