CORRELATION EXISTS BETWEEN MEDIA VIOLENCE AND AGGRESSION

1. CORRELATION EXISTS BETWEEN MEDIA VIOLENCE AND AGGRESSION Sara K. Senkbeil

2. CONSTRUCTS • What is a Correlation? • Magnitude of linear relation between 2 variables measured by correlation coefficient r; range from -1 to 1 with 0 indicating no relationship • Small correlation + .1; Medium + .3; Large + .5 (Cohen, 1988) • What is Media Violence ? • Depictions of “acts of physical aggression by one human or human-like character against another”(Huesmann, 2007, p.2) • Includes violence in film, TV, video games, radio(lyrics), internet, etc. • What is Aggression? • Acts intended to harm or irritate another person • E.g. Physical and Verbal Aggression • Hostile or destructive mental attitude • E.g. Aggressive Affect, Aggressive Thoughts

3. RELATIONSHIP OF MEDIA VIOLENCE WITH AGGRESSION • Small to moderate positivecorrelation across different methodologies, media types, and cultures. Experiments • Exposing people to violent media in the laboratory increases likelihood of aggressive behavior and aggressive cognition/affect immediately afterwards. Bushman (1995)-college students • DVs: • Aggressive Behavior (intensity of noise blasts set for opponent in reaction time task) • Aggressive Affect (rating of hostile adjectives) • Findings • Participants who watched violent video gave “opponent” significantly more intense noise blasts on first reaction time trial (unprovoked aggression)and all remaining trials (provoked aggression)and reported higher levels of aggressive affect than participants who viewed the non-violent video. • Significant positive correlation (p<.004; r=.20)between amount of time participants reported watching violent TV programs and intensity of noise blasts given to “opponent”.

5. NOTABLE EXPERIMENT Bartholow et al. (2006) • Collected event-related brain potential data (ERPs) while violent and non-violent video game users rated the valence of violent, non-violent negative, and neutral pictures. • Participants then completed competitive reaction time task (aggression defined as intensity and duration of noise blasts) • Findings: • P300 amplitudes to violent images decreased as a function of VVGE • Smaller P300 amplitudes were significantly associated with higher levels of aggression • Greater VVGE, more aggressed against “opponent”

7. LONGITUDINAL DESIGNS • Eron et al. (1972) [N=427; 8yrs to 19yrs age] • Significant relation (r=.31) b/t boys initial TVVL and peer-rated aggression later • Initial TVVL best predictor of later aggression (r=0.29 standardized) • Huesmann et al. (2003) [N=329; 6-10yrs to adult] • Greater childhood exposure to TVV, greater identification with same-sex aggressive TV characters, and stronger belief that violent shows reflect norms predicted greater adult aggression for both males and females regardless of how aggressive participants were as children. (0.15 < r < 0.21) • Möller & Krahé (2009) [N=149 German adolescents; 30 month period]

8. META-ANALYSES

9. HOW/WHY DO EFFECTS OCCUR? GENERAL AGGRESSION MODEL (ANDERSON & BUSHMAN, 2002)

10. MAIN CRITICISMS • Freedman (1984; 1986) • Admits positive correlation exists, but denies that media violence causesaggression • “It seems clear that children and adolescents who watch more violent programs on television or who prefer violent programs tend to be more aggressive. The bulk of the correlations fall between .10 and .20. Despite, considerable variability, it seems accurate to conclude that the evidence indicates a positive correlation between viewing television violence and aggression” (Freedman, 1984, p. 237). • Publication Bias (Ferguson, 2007) • “File Drawer Phenomenon” –only positive results included in meta-analyses • Anderson et al. (2010) applied “trim and fill” procedure advocated by Ferguson and still found highly significant correlation (.140 < r < .168) mirroring Ferguson’s own findings (r=0.15) between VME and aggressive behavior. • Moderating Third Variables • Vast majority of methodologies reviewed (especially recent) have controlled for/ partialed out a variety of sources of moderating variables (e.g. arousal, content, gender, trait aggressiveness, etc.) and still found significant positive correlation between media violence and aggression.

11. CONCLUSION • Despite media violence being an important factor leading to aggression, it is not the only factor (Bushman & Anderson, 2001) • Overall, research suggests positive correlation between media violence and aggression across methodologies, media types, and cultures.

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