Violence, Aggression REFERENCES

prevalence of TV violence has increased in the last 20 years, more significantly, the number of programmes/films containing violence has increased

Riddle and Martins, 2022

much of the violent content is targeted at children

- childrens/adolescents TV contains 10% more violence than TV targeted at adults 76% vs 66%

Martins and Riddle, 2022

estimated that by the time a child reaches 18 they will have watched 40,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence on TV

Grossman, 2014

noted coder bias in content analyses - male coders tended to code gore more conservatively than female coders

Monk-Turner et al., 2004

longitudinal study. watching relational aggression on TV (gossip, exclusion, manipulation) leads to more relational aggression later

- how aggressive a person already is does not predict patterns in watching that content HOWEVER, watching TV violence and physical aggression do show a bidirectional relationship overtime

Coyne, 2015

the more violent video game content you're exposed to, the more likely you are to show aggressive thoughts and hostile appraisals, less likely to help or emphasise

Anderson et al., 2017

meta-analysis of video game research. Concluded they have minimal influence on aggression

Ferguson, 2015 (videogames)

personality - people who had higher levels of traits like impulsivity react more strongly to violent content

Devilly et al., 2023

argued that realistic studies (not lab tasks) are better for predicting real-life violence

- compared movie violence and US homicide rates over 85 year period and found no consistent relationship

suggested that other factors e.g. gun availability are more influential

Ferguson, 2015

explored longitudinal association between listening to aggressive and prosocial behaviour in music and behavioural outcomes across 1 year period

- listening to aggression in music associated with increased aggression and decreased prosocial behaviour over time (even when controlling for initial behaviour)

Coyne and Walker, 2015

men who listened to misogynous song lyrics = more aggressive towards female confederate compared to those who listened to neutral lyrics - behaviour towards male confederate didnt change

this was also the case for females listening to the songs and aggression towards male confederate

Fischer, 2006

we are shaped by what the media glorifies -

factors influencing selection of news stories = dramatization, risk, violence, graphic imagery

Jewkes, 2004

suggested that heavy exposure to crime heavy TV content can make viewers overestimate danger and fear for their safety

Weaver, 1986

Exposure to primetime crime dramas associated with participant intentions to intervene in sexual assault

Hust et al., 2013

meta analysis

- found that porn use was linked to higher likelihood of sexual aggression, regardless of gender, study design or internet era

Wright et al., 2016

exposure to mainstream pornographic content in TV/magazines that objectified women predicted attitudes supportive of violence against women

Wright and Tokunaga, 2016

3 year study. found that violent video game use increased aggressive behaviour, mediated by aggressive cognitions

- effects seen both in younger and older children, and for those high and low in baseline aggressiveness

Gentile et al., 2014

exposure to surveillance reality TV featuring relational and verbal aggression increased physical aggression in college students

Gibson et al., 2014

exposure to media violence predicted self reported and teacher reported aggression over 2 year period

Krahe et al., 2012

gun movie experiment - children watched a PG rated movie either with or without guns.

after played in a room where a real (disabled) gun was hidden

- children who saw the gun film showed more trigger pulls and held the gun for longer (53 vs. 11 seconds)

Dillon and Bushman, 2017

meta-analysis of parental mediation techniques

Active linked to lower aggression

Co-viewing can normalise violence if not challenged and associated with higher aggression and greater media use

Restrictive had no effect on aggression

Collier et al., 2016

Restrictive mediation can backfire - limits were positively associated with adolescents favourable attitudes towards forbidden content, and to viewing the content with friends

Nathanson, 2002

desensitisation - age ratings suggested by parents decrease from 16.9 to 13.9 for violence after watching repeated movie clips

Romer et al., 2014

One of the largest issues with media research is that the findings are rarely causal, we can correlate media exposure to behavioural findings but we are unable to confirm that is the exact cause. A reason why this is the case is due to ethical constraints, we cannot purposely assign a child to an experimental condition that may effect them longitudinally.

Rawcliffe et al., 2024

Media affects different groups differently, but most of media psychology research has historically focused on WEIRD populations (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic)researchers assume there is little variation across populations, usually use WEIRD standards to represent all populations

(Henrich et al., 2010)

However, although self-report measures are not perfectly reliable, they are generally seen as valid and more reliable than official records

Gomes, 2025

made an important point that many studies use single items measures for the source of violence, when in reality, exposure to violence may come in different forms, on different platforms and with different frequencies.

Molenaar et al., 2025