Journal of Adolescent Health
Volume 41, Issue 6, Supplement , Pages S6-S13 , December 2007

The Impact of Electronic Media Violence: Scientific Theory and Research

  • L. Rowell Huesmann, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress correspondence to: L. Rowell Huesmann, Ph.D., Amos N. Tversky Collegiate Professor of Communication Studies and Psychology, and Director, Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106.

Received 28 June 2007 ,Accepted 19 September 2007.

References 

  1. Moffitt TE, Caspi A, Harrington H, Milne BJ. Males on the life-course-persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial pathways: Follow-up at age 26 years. Dev Psychopathol. 2002;14:179–207
  2. Huesmann LR, Eron LD, Lefkowitz MM, Walder LO. The stability of aggression over time and generations. Dev Psych. 1984;20:1120–1134
  3. Bushman BJ, Huesmann LR. Short-term and long-term effects of violent media on aggression in children and adults. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:348–352
  4. Huesmann LR, Kirwil L. Why observing violence increases the risk of violent behavior in the observer. In:  Flannery D editors. The Cambridge Handbook of Violent Behavior and Aggression. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press; 2007;
  5. Berkowitz L, LePage A. Weapons as aggression-eliciting stimuli. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1967;7:202–207
  6. Bryant J, Zillmann D. Effect of intensification of annoyance through unrelated residual excitation on substantially delayed hostile behavior. J Exp Soc Psychol. 1979;15:470–480
  7. Geen RG, O’Neal EC. Activation of cue-elicited aggression by general arousal. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1969;11:289–292
  8. Huesmann LR. Imitation and the effects of observing media violence on behavior. In:  Hurley S,  Chater N editor. Perspectives on Imitation: From Neuroscience to Social Science; Volume 2: Imitation, Human Development, and Culture. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press; 2005;S.
  9. Meltzoff AN, Moore MK. Imitation of facial and manual gestures by human neonates: Resolving the debate about early imitation. In:  Muir D,  Slater A editor. Infant Development: The Essential Readings. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers; 2000;
  10. Rizzolati G, Fadiga L, Gallese V, Fogassi L. Premotor cortex and the recognition of motor actions. Cognitive Brain Res. 1996;3:131–141
  11. Huesmann LR. The role of social information processing and cognitive schema in the acquisition and maintenance of habitual aggressive behavior. In:  Geen RG,  Donnerstein E editor. Human Aggression: Theories, Research, and Implications for Social Policy. New York, New York: Academic Press; 1998;
  12. Dodge KA. Attributional bias in aggressive children. In:  Kendall PC editors. Advances in Cognitive-Behavioral Research and Therapy. San Diego, California: Academic Press; 1985;
  13. Huesmann LR, Guerra NG. Children’s normative beliefs about aggression and aggressive behavior. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1997;72:408–419
  14. Comstock G, Paik H. Television and the American Child. San Diego, California: Academic Press; 1991;
  15. Wilson BJ, Kunkel D, Linz D, et al. Violence in television programming overall: University of California, Santa Barbara study. In:  Seawall M editors. National Television Violence Study. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications; 1997;
  16. Roberts DF, Foehr UG, Rideout VJ. Generation M: Media in the lives of 8–18 year-olds. Menlo Park, California: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation; 2005;
  17. Haninger K, Thompson KM. Content and ratings of teen-rated video games. JAMA. 2004;291:856–865
  18. Paik H, Comstock G. The effects of television violence on antisocial behavior: A meta-analysis. Commun Res. 1994;21:516–546
  19. Anderson CA, Bushman BJ. Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: A meta-analytic review of the scientific literature. Psychol Sci. 2001;12:353–359
  20. Bandura A, Ross D, Ross SA. Imitation of film-mediated aggressive models. J Abnorm Soc Psychol. 1963;67:3–11
  21. Bjorkqvist K. Violent Films, Anxiety, and Aggression. Helsinki, Finland: Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters; 1985;
  22. Josephson WL. Television violence and children’s aggression: Testing the priming, social script, and disinhibition predictions. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1987;53:882–890
  23. Leyens JP, Parke RD, Camino L, Berkowitz L. Effects of movie violence on aggression in a field setting as a function of group dominance and cohesion. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1975;32:346–360
  24. Irwin AR, Gross AM. Cognitive tempo, violent video games, and aggressive behavior in young boys. J Fam Violence. 1995;10:337–350
  25. Bartholow BD, Anderson CA. Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior: Potential sex differences. J Exp Soc Psychol. 2002;38:283–290
  26. Anderson CA. Effects of violent movies and trait irritability on hostile feelings and aggressive thoughts. Aggressive Behav. 1997;23:161–178
  27. Anderson CA, Berkowitz L, Donnerstein E, et al. The influence of media violence on youth. Psychol Sci Public Interest. 2003;4:81–110
  28. Williams D, Skoric M. Internet fantasy violence: A test of aggression in an online game. Commun Monogr. 2005;72:217–233
  29. Milavsky JR. Television and Aggression: A Panel Study (Quantitative Studies in Social Relations). New York, New York: Academic Press; 1982;
  30. Huesmann LR, Lagerspetz K, Eron LD. Intervening variables in the TV violence–aggression relation: Evidence from two countries. Dev Psych. 1984;20:746–775
  31. In:  Huesmann LR,  Eron LD editor. Television and the Aggressive Child: A Cross-National Comparison. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum; 1986;
  32. Eron LD, Huesmann LR, Lefkowitz MM, Walder LO. Does television violence cause aggression?. Am Psychol. 1972;27:253–263
  33. Huesmann LR, Moise-Titus J, Podolski CL, Eron LD. Longitudinal relations between children’s exposure to TV violence and their aggressive and violent behavior in young adulthood: 1977–1992. Dev Psychol. 2003;39:201–221
  34. Huesmann LR, Miller LS. Long-term effects of repeated exposure to media violence in childhood. In:  Huesmann LR editors. Aggressive Behavior: Current Perspectives. New York, New York: Plenum Press; 1994;
  35. Slater MD, Henry KL, Swaim RC, Anderson LL. Violent media content and aggressiveness in adolescents: A downward spiral model. Commun Res. 2003;30:713–736
  36. Bandura A, Ross D, Ross SA. Vicarious reinforcement and imitative learning. J Abnorm Soc Psychol. 1963;67:601–607
  37. Berkowitz L, Powers PC. Effects of timing and justification of witnessed aggression on the observers’ punitiveness. J Res Pers. 1979;13:71–80
  38. Leyens JP, Picus S. Identification with the winner of a fight and name mediation: Their differential effects upon subsequent aggressive behavior. Br J Soc Clin Psychol. 1973;12:374–377
  39. Abelson RP. 1985 (A variance explanation paradox: When a little is a lot). Psychol Bull. 1985;97:129–133
  40. Rosenthal R. Media violence, antisocial behavior, and the social consequences of small effects. J Soc Issues. 1986;42:141–154
  41. Bushman BJ, Huesmann LR. Effects of televised violence on aggression. In:  Singer J editors. Handbook of Children and the Media. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications; 2001;

PII: S1054-139X(07)00391-6

doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.09.005

Journal of Adolescent Health
Volume 41, Issue 6, Supplement , Pages S6-S13 , December 2007