NCJ Number
79003
Journal
Journal of Communication Volume: 28 Issue: 3 Dated: (Summer 1978) Pages: 164-171
Date Published
1978
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This paper reports on research which addresses criticisms of results of laboratory tests on the effect of viewing film violence on subsequent aggressive behavior.
Abstract
Commercially available, unedited films were used in the research. The research, which was part of a larger program, was conducted at a minimum security penal institution for juvenile offenders. Inhabitants of four cottages were chosen for the study. The final sample consisted of 74 boys, who ranged in age from 12.1 to 18.9 years, with the mean age being 15.4 years; 60 percent were white, 36 percent were black, two were Mexican, and one was Indian. The boys in two of the four cottages were shown a full-length, commercially available movie each evening of the week, Monday through Friday. One group viewed five aggressive films while the other viewed five nonaggressive movies. The boys in the other two cottages were shown a single film on Friday of the following week. One group watched the same Friday night aggressive film which the five-exposure group had seen, while the other group watched the same Friday night nonaggressive film previously viewed by their counterparts. Each evening after the boys had viewed a movie, they rated it on a number of 5-point scales to indicate their perception of the film's content. Members of the research staff rated the films on a more objective basis. By means of a procedure developed by Mosher, each boy was tested individually for his verbal aggression on the Saturday after the movie treatment. The boys in both exposure groups perceived the aggressive movie(s) as significantly more brutal, violent, aggressive, and cruel than the nonaggressive movie(s). The study's major finding was that those who saw the aggressive movie(s) expressed significantly more intense personal aggression than those who viewed the nonaggressive movie(s). The results may be viewed as consistent with previous findings which have shown that media portrayals of physical aggression increase verbal aggression in the observers. No interaction between type of movie and arousal was obtained in this research. Finally, no firm conclusions regarding the effects of repeated versus single exposures to films of violence can be drawn from this study. One table and 27 references are supplied.