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Psychological Processes Promoting the Relation Between Exposure to Media Violence and Aggressive Behavior by the Viewer
Author(s) -
Huesmann L. Rowell
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1986.tb00246.x
Subject(s) - aggression , psychology , developmental psychology , juvenile delinquency , poison control , injury prevention , human factors and ergonomics , social psychology , psychological intervention , medical emergency , medicine , psychiatry
A developmental theory is presented to account for the relation between increased exposure to media violence and increased aggressive behavior. It is argued that the effect of media violence on individual differences in aggression is primarily the result of a cumulative learning process during childhood. Aggressive scripts for behavior are acquired from observation of media violence and aggressive behavior itself stimulates the observation of media violence. In both childhood and adulthood, certain cues in the media may trigger the activation of aggressive scripts acquired in any manner and thus stimulate aggressive behavior. A number of intervening variables may either mitigate or exacerbate these reciprocal effects. If undampened, this cumulative learning process can build enduring schemas for aggressive behavior that persist into adulthood. Thus, early childhood television habits are correlated with adult criminality independently of other likely causal factors. It is concluded that interventions directed at mitigating the effects of media violence on delinquency and criminality should focus on the preadolescent years.