NCJ Number
133955
Journal
Psychological Bulletin Volume: 109 Issue: 3 Dated: (May 1991) Pages: 371-383
Date Published
1991
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This article provides a meta-analytic review of the experimental effects of media violence on viewers' aggression in unstructured social interaction.
Abstract
In the reviewed experiments, children or adolescents were exposed to violent or control presentations and their postexposure behavior was coded for aggression during spontaneous social interaction. Exposure to media violence significantly enhanced viewers' aggressive behavior when the findings were aggregated across studies, but the effect was not uniform across investigations. Only suggestive evidence was obtained concerning moderators of the effect; marginally stronger relations were obtained in those studies using a cross-section of the normal population of children (vs. emotionally disturbed children) and in those studies conducted in laboratory settings (vs. other contexts). (Author abstract)