AGGRESSION II
EFFECTS OF THE MASS MEDIA
THEORIES OF MEDIA AGGRESSION
	THE CATHARSIS THEORY
	SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
WHAT DOES THE DATA TELL US?
	CORRELATIONAL STUDIES
		Longitudinal studies:  Eron et al.
	LABORATORY STUDIES
		Liebert & Baron
	FIELD EXPERIMENTS
		Stein & Friedrich
		Leyens, Parke, Camino & Berkowitz
	MEDIA VIOLENCE AS A DESENSITIZING AGENT
		Drabman & Thomas 

THEORIES OF MEDIA AGGRESSION
THE CATHARSIS THEORY
	Trace back at least to Aristotle: maintained that 
theatrical productions have a beneficial effect on the 
audience: those who witness dramatic tragedies will be 
purged of any feelings of grief, fear, or anger though a 
process he called Katharsis.  [Plato had opposite belief 
-- that drama could be dangerous because of the feelings 
that it stimulated.]
	-- Feshbach and Lorenz are two current adherents of 
the catharsis hypothesis.
Social learning theory (Bandura)
	With his emphasis on effects of exposure to model, 
Bandura would predict that violent TV may
	(1) produce arousal (anger) -- just as exposure to 
sexual content can produce sexual arousal -- that might 
lead to subsequent aggressive displays;
	(2) provide viewers with new or novel responses;
	(3) disinhibiting effect -- behaviors already in the 
individual’s repertoire might be disinhibited (e.g., 
because the media portrays aggressive acts that are 
unpunished);
	(4 exposure to aggression desensitizes the viewers -
- so that they are less likely to take note of subsequent 
real-world aggression.
 

 
 
Psychology 326 (Social & Personality Development:
Hartmann), Sp97, Aggression II, p. 2