Full Text

Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that observation of media violence elicits thoughts and emotional responses related to aggression. In Experiment 1, highly violent videotapes elicited more aggressive cognitions than did a less violent tape. This effect was moderated by the trait of stimulus screening. In Experiment 2, aggressive cognitions increased with the level of violence in the videotape, and physical assaultiveness influenced this effect. Hostility and systolic blood pressure were higher in response to the most violent video than in response to the other two. Hostility was influenced by emotional susceptibility and dissipation–rumination, and systolic blood pressure was influenced by emotional susceptibility and assaultiveness.

The study of violence in the mass media, especially with regard to the effects that viewing such violence may have on behavior, continues to generate interest among psychologists after almost three decades (e.g., Huesmann & Malamuth, 1986). Despite considerable evidence that viewing violence may, under some circumstances, facilitate the emission of aggression, theoretical explanations for such findings have tended to be limited and inconclusive (Geen & Thomas, 1986). For example, the most popular theory at present appears to be based on disinhibitory processes: Observation of stimuli associated with violence somehow reduces inhibitions against the aggression that would otherwise be elicited by other features of the situation, such as interpersonal provocation or conflict. Although this explanation probably accounts for some media-related aggression, it fails to stipulate exactly what constitutes “disinhibition.” At any rate, explaining the...