introduction of television. However, caution must be
taken in the interpretation of these studies, which often
measures total television viewing and not the amount
of violent programming to which children have been
exposed.Violent Video Games and Aggression
Randomized experiments involving violent video
games have also been conducted. Children spend
much time with these games and the process of play-
ing them involves repetition and deep involvement.
These characteristics should theoretically increase the
influence of violent video games on aggressive behav-
ior. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that college
students who played violent video games were more
likely to deliver high-intensity punishments than those
who played a nonviolent video game. There are fewer
cross-sectional surveys of video game use and aggres-
sive behavior and little information that would allow
for strong longitudinal conclusions to be drawn. Meta-
analyses of violent video game effects have revealed
that for studies that have the soundest methodological
designs, the effect size for exposure to violent video
games on aggressive behavior, aggressive attitudes,
and decreases in prosocial or helping behavior is com-
parable with that for televised and movie violence.Theoretical Mechanisms
Researchers in psychology, communications, and
sociology have developed theoretical models that
account well for the relationship between media
violence and aggression. These theories are best
described as social cognitive in nature and focus on
how people learn, think, and behave in their social
world—a world that contains interactions with
humans such as parents and peers and a virtual world
created by the media. Psychologists have generally
distinguished between theoretical mechanisms that
create short-term effects and those responsible for
longer-term outcomes. Short-term effects are thought
to be due to cognitive priming, temporary imitation,
arousal, and excitation.
Priming explanations rely on the concept of an
associative neural network in which ideas are acti-
vated (primed) by stimuli in the social environment.
Exposure to violent scenes may activate related
thoughts, feelings, and scripts involving aggression.
These aggressive thoughts, once activated, become an
interpretational filter so that ambiguous events aremore likely to be interpreted as aggressive and thus
stimulate aggressive behavioral tendencies.
Arousal explanations focus on the fact that violent
media are arousing and exciting for children and ado-
lescents. The residual excitement left from media vio-
lence viewing may serve to fuel dominant response
tendencies after exposure to violence. Placed in a sit-
uation whereby an aggressive response is possible, the
aroused individual may be more likely to be aggres-
sive. Video games may be especially likely to provoke
this form of arousal and the nature of video game
playing, involving repeated and long-term use, may
facilitate aggressive responding.
Both short-term and long-term effects are also
thought to be the result of observational learning.
Learning aggression from media portrayals of vio-
lence is facilitated by several factors. Violent mod-
els performing behavior that is similar to or
attractive to the viewer are likely to increase aggres-
sion in viewers. Aggressive behavior following
exposure to media violence is also more likely when
there is high viewer identification with the model,
the context in which the violence is presented is
realistic, and the violent behavior portrayed in the
media is followed by rewarding rather than punish-
ing consequences. For the effect to become a long-
term outcome, the social environment must
reinforce the behaviors learned in the media.
Furthermore, learning need not be limited to the
specifics of the violent media portrayals. General
scripts for behavior and social interaction that later
guide perceptions and attitude formation may be
learned from violent media.
Priming effects are usually thought of as short-term
effects, but social cognitive research has shown that
such effects can have lasting influences. Frequently
primed aggressive thoughts and emotions may become
chronically accessible in a media-violence-saturated
environment. The impact of this chronic accessibility
of violent thoughts and scripts for action may be
that neutral social interactions are interpreted in an
aggression-biased way.
Long-term exposure to violence in the media may
also result in an emotional desensitization effect that
appears to operate much like the habituation that
occurs through therapeutic processes such as system-
atic desensitization—a procedure successful in treat-
ing phobias. Exposure to violence in the media appears
to reduce the anxiety or fear associated with violence
and causes viewers to be less physiologically aroused
by violence later presented in real-life situations. The484 ———Media Violence and BehaviorM-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:43 PM Page 484