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This study investigated the effects of reading extremely violent versus mildly violent comic books on the interpretation of relational provocation situations. One hundred and seventeen introductory psychology students read either an extremely violent comic book or a mildly violent comic book. After reading the comic books, participants read five hypothetical stories in which a child, caused a relationally aggressive event to occur to another child, but the intent of the provocateur was ambiguous. After each story, participants were asked a series of questions about the provocateur's intent; potential retaliation toward the provocateur; and the provocateur's emotional state. Responses were coded in terms of amount of negative and violent content. Results indicated that participants reading the extremely violent comic books ascribed more hostile intent to the provocateur, suggested more retaliation toward the provocateur, and attributed a more negative emotional state to the provocateur than participants reading the mildly violent comic book. These data suggest that social information processing of relationally aggressive situations is influenced by violent comic books, even if the comic books do not contain themes of relational aggression.
Keywords: violence; comic books; aggression
In the 1950s, concern that violence in comic books might increase aggression in children (Wertham, 1954) led to the development of a Comics Code Authority, a self-censoring agency for comic book content developed and enforced by the producers of comic books (Savage, 1990). However, the top-selling comic books today are laden with aggressive acts, many displaying graphic gore and sexual themes. Despite the current high level of aggression in comic books, little recent research has assessed the impact of violence in comics on aggressive behavior and thoughts (Potenza, Verhoeff, & Weiss, 1996). The research that has been conducted, however, suggests that exposure to violent themes in comic books may have a negative impact on individuals' social information processing. For instance, Kirsh and Olczak (2000) induced a hostile attributional bias (HAB) in adult males, but not females, by having them read violent comic books. Individuals with a HAB infer hostile intent to the actions of another, even though the intent of that individual is unclear (Dill, Anderson, Anderson, & Deuser, 1997; Dodge, 1980). Importantly, one explanation for the link between reading violent comic books and aggression comes from the literature on...