Class-based effects of media violence: a multi-level approach investigating individual and group differences

SummaryThis article sets the debate about the effects of media violence in the context of broader media research. A direct and simple ‘cause and effect’ model between media violence and violence in society does not stand up to scrutiny. It relies on an obsolete model of media influence which stands outside current, theoretical developments in mass communication research. It has diverted attention away from more relevant accounts which see the media as having ‘a primary function’ of ‘legitimation and maintenance of authority’. These suggest a no less powerful but infinitely more subtle model of media influence which finds wide support in other areas of mass communication research. Ironically, since popular debate about media violence has been – and still is – based almost exclusively upon experimental research, it too seems to serve this same legitimation process.

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Longitudinal effects of media violence on aggression and empathy among German adolescents

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology ◽

10.1016/j.appdev.2010.07.003 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 31 (5) ◽

pp. 401-409 ◽

Cited By ~ 86

Author(s):

Barbara Krahé ◽

Ingrid Möller

Keyword(s):

Media Violence ◽

Longitudinal Effects ◽

Effects Of Media

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The Disempowering Effects of Media Violence Against Women on College Women

Psychology of Women Quarterly ◽

10.1111/j.1471-6402.1995.tb00082.x ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 397-411 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Penny Reid ◽

Gillian Finchilescu

Keyword(s):

Experimental Design ◽

College Women ◽

Violence Against Women ◽

Initial Study ◽

Media Violence ◽

Female Students ◽

Male Victims ◽

Female Victim ◽

Video Clips ◽

Effects Of Media

This study investigated the disempowering effect of exposure to media violence against women on female students. An initial study involving 284 female students described the development and evaluation of two forms of a scale measuring disempowerment. The second study investigated the effect of media violence using a Solomon Four-Group experimental design. Fifty-seven female students were divided into four groups that were shown video clips depicting scenes of violence directed either toward female or male victims. Half the groups completed the first form of the disempowerment scale prior to the viewing. All groups completed the second form of the scale after the viewing. Analysis confirmed that completion of the pretest scale did not differentially affect the participants viewing the female-victim clips. The results of the main analysis revealed that exposure to media aggression against women heightens feelings of disempowerment in female viewers.

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