Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Studying media through a cross-cultural lens—that is, from a perspective that allows for comparison among cultures—has advantages for understanding media effects. Cross-cultural research can identify the influence of different cultural norms on content effects such as violent media effects. It also can examine interactions between media violence and real-world violence in different cultures. In addition, it can observe different media effects between countries with well-developed media systems and those with limited media systems. Nonetheless, most media effect studies have been conducted mainly in the Western culture, specifically from an American or Anglo-Saxon perspective.

A few early studies in Brazil, Germany, and Scotland demonstrated that there have been similar incidents when media consumption and aggressive behaviors have been positively correlated. The initial cross-cultural study on global media ...