'Indirect aggression' in media may influence us

<body leftmargin="0" bgcolor="#000060" text="#FFFFFF" link="#FFFF00" vlink="#FF9900"> <b> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="4">'Indirect aggression' in media may influence us<o:p> </font></b></o:p> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><o:p> </font><font face="Arial" size="1">Posted August 16<br> World Science staff<br> </font><br> <b><font face="Arial" size="2">Intrigue. Betrayal. They have been dominant themes of theater and drama throughout history, but is this sort of entertainment bad for us? While researchers have known for awhile that out-and-out violence in the media encourages more of the same among viewers, they're now finding that softer forms of aggression may have parallel effects. </font></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><font face="Arial" size="2">Researchers in England played a short film for students, a story featuring scenes of "indirect" or behind-the-back aggression such as secretive destruction of property and spreading of nasty rumors. Things happen to turn out well for the aggressor in the film -- as is often the case on television, the authors claim. </font></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><font face="Arial" size="2">Students who watched the video, compared with those who viewed a non-aggression control video, were more likely to perpetrate similar "indirect aggression" shortly afterward, the researchers found. The conclusion was based on students' responses on a subsequent questionnaire in which they were asked to evaluate one of the experimenters, ostensibly to help decide whether he would be re-hired or get a raise. Watchers of the vicious videotape were harsher on the experimenter. </font></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><font face="Arial" size="2">"Viewing violence in the media is not the only form of aggression on television that can influence a viewer's behavior," conclude the authors of the study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.</font></b></p> </body>