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General Purpose: To understand the potential effects of media
violence on children and adults.
Unit Outline
I. Foundations of Violence
A. What Is Media Violence: A Definition - Overt expression
of physical force or the compelling of action against
one's will with the threat of force.
B. Exposure to Media Violence - since 1960, 80% of all TV
programs contain violence.
II. Exploring the Link Between Violence and Aggression
A. Bobo Rides Again
1. The Set Up - early 60's
2. Modeling - Bandura found that people model
violence.
B. Natural Experiment Revisited - Williams also looked at
aggression effects.
1. The Design - coded acts of physical aggression on
playground
2. Observing Physical and Verbal AGG
3. Results - no difference in baseline (1973). When
Notel acquired cable TV, there was a large increase
in aggressive behavior. No change in MultiTel
C. Field Studies of Juvenile Delinquents
1. Media Diet and Aggressive Kids - randomly divided
institution into 2 groups. First group observed
standard media violence; other group observed no
media violence. Then brought in trained observers
to watch kids.
2. Outcomes - kids with changed media diet (no
violence) showed reduction. Kids with media
violence showed an increase.
D. The Mean World - see page 175
1. Cultivation Theory - we have been exposed to media
violence all our lives.
2. Measurement and Outcomes - people who watch a lot
of TV believe in the "Mean World"
E. Is There a Link After All?
1. Consider Variety of Studies
2. Consider Consistent Direction - as we are exposed
to media violence, we become more aggressive.
III. Longitudinal Studies (Turner et al., 1986)
A. Methods - see page 76
B. Logic Behind These Studies - measure TVV-AGG link at different
time periods and observe diagonals to see if past TVV predicts future AGG
or if past AGG predicts future TVV (the chicken or the egg).
C. General Results
1. Found that past TVV predicts future AGG - small effect
2. Found that past AGG does not predict future TVV.
D. Criminal Behaviors (Huesmann, 1986) - best predictor of
adult aggression (criminal behavior) is how much violent
TV they watched as a child.
IV. Desensitization Studies (Geen, 1983)
A. Physiological - how does your body react when exposed to
violence
1. Goal and Method
a. Exposed people to 2 different forms of media
messages. Some clips were violent and some
were not.
b. Took place in a lab setting.
2. Results - see page 77
3. Conclusions - predicts that we get hungrier for
more graphic violent films.
B. Playground Studies (Cognitive Desensitization)
1. Participants - third graders were shown a violent
clip. One group of 6th grade guards were exposed
to TV violence, the other group of guards were
shown a prosocial clip.
2. Goal of Study - wanted to demonstrate cognitive
desensitization
3. Design of Study - see page 78
4. Results - guards exposed to the violent clip did
nothing, guards exposed to the prosocial clip
reacted.
5. Conclusions - our exposure to violence not only
desensitizes us physiologically but it also cognitively as
we grow to "accept" violence as normal.
V. Archival Research (Phillips, 1986)
A. General Procedure - Phillips studied death records that
focused on murders and suicides then measured media
coverage and tried to link the two.
B. Suicide Stories: The Werther Effect
1. New York Times, 1948-1967 (r = .15; Box = 43/57;
2.5%+) - correlated Times coverage with national
suicide rate. If there was lots of coverage then
there was an increase in the suicide rate.
2. New York Daily News Coverage - see page 79
C. Heavyweight Prize Fights and Murder (r = .32; Box =
34/66; 10.9%+) - looked at the amount of coverage of
prize fights and the link with murders, found a moderate
relationship. Also looked at the race of murder victims
and tied it back to the heavyweight fight. For example,
if a black man lost then there were more black murder
victims.
D. Executions and Murder
1. London Lessons from the Scaffold (1858-1921)
(36% decrease 2 wks, then 72% increase 3 wks)
2. US Executions (1973-1979) - see page 80
(r = .19; Box = 41/59; 2.8%--) - small effect
VI. Controversies and Inconsistencies
A. A Field Study of Catharsis (Feshbach & Singer, 1971)
1. Process of Catharsis Theory
Arousal --> Behavior --> Purged
Predicts More MV --> Less AGG
2. Research Study - private boys school (8-18).
Randomly assigned one group to no longer watch
violence on TV, others continued to watch standard
TV for 1 week. Brought in trained observers to
watch for acts of aggression.
3. Results - see page 81
4. Conclusions about Catharsis
a. creative, predicts a different outcome
b. never been replicated
c. anomalous study
B. Failed Longitudinal Study (Milavsky et al., 1982)
1. Recall Goals and Design of this Approach - refer to
page 76
2. Results - exposure to violence as a kid led to
aggression as adult - small effect
3. Conclusions - effect was too small to worry about.
C. No-Effects Interpretation (Freedman, 1984, 1986)
1. Inconsistent findings - results are inconsistent
(better, worse, no effect)
2. Weak Effects - concludes that if there is any
effect it is weak.
VII. Paik & Comstock (1996) Summary of TVV and AGG
A. Goal and Methods - found 217 studies looking at TV's
effect on aggression
B. Types of TVV and AGG
C. Results - moderate effect size
1. Strongest Messages - portrayals of real people had
a stronger effect.
2. Age and Sex Differences - young more than old;
male more than female
VIII.Does Media Violence Cause Aggression?
A. Relationship Exists, but What About Direction?
B. Limited Counter-Evidence (Few Reverse Effects)
C. Theoretical Explanations Exist - modeling theory
IX. Concluding Remarks
A. MV Does Cause AGG
B. No MV, No AGG? - no, there are multiple causes of
aggression
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