Violent Films, Anxiety and Aggression
Experimental studies of the effect of violent films
on the level of anxiety and aggressiveness in children
Kaj Björkqvist
Helsinki, Finland: Commentationes Scientiarium Socialium, 30, 1985
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Ever since the advent of TV in the 1950s, the effect of violent programs on viewers has been a question of major social concern. The present monograph presents a series of laboratory experiments investigating negative consequences - anxiety as well as aggression - of violent film viewing in children, and the relationship between these two negative consequences. Factors which may affect the outcome are further investigated, such as differences in film type, way of presenting violence, length of viewing time, absence/presence of an adult in the viewing situation, gender of the viewer, and level of aggressiveness of the viewer.
Although the monograph is 14 years old, it may still have something to offer to experts and other interested in the field.
Table of Contents:
Preface
1. Purpose of the study
2. Definitions and operationalizations of basic concepts
3. Theoretical background
4. Measuring anxiety reactions of children viewing violent films: a comparison of four methods
5. The effect of a co-observer on preschool children's level of anxiety during violence viewing, and on cognitive interpretations of the films
6. Physiological reactions to violent films in two extreme groups of aggressive and nonaggressive boys
7. Desensitization to film violence in aggresive and nonaggressive boys
8. Violent films of different types and their effect on subsequent aggression with gender, aggressiveness, and autonomic response as mediating variables
9. General discussion
10. Summary
Reference notes and bibliography
