Date of Award
2011
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Psychology
Abstract
One critical dimension of self-control is attention control, the ability to willfully determine the content of conscious thought. It is argued here that the amount of effort required to exercise attention control while critically engaging in different media, specifically text and television, is significantly different. It is hypothesized that the amount of self-control exerted while reading will be significantly greater than while watching television. An experiment comparing a film clip with its screen play demonstrates that participants' self-control is more depleted after 30 minutes of reading than 30 minutes of viewing. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that differential habitual exposure to media will predict trait levels of self-control, respectively. An internet survey testing these relationships is reported in which a small but significant negative relationship between TV exposure and trait self-control is found.
Recommended Citation
House, Julian, "Are media exposure and self-control related?" (2011). Theses and dissertations. Paper 882.
http://digitalcommons.ryerson.ca/dissertations/882