Developmental Effects

Cognitive development can be especially important for those researchers interested in effects of media violence, because different developmental stages can lead to diverging perceptions and outcomes depending on the mental maturity of the audience. Theoretically, cognitive-developmental factors influence how depictions of violence are interpreted and perceived, and consequences of exposure depend on these perceptions. This entry discusses development’s role in shaping children’s perceptions of violent media and their ability to alter fear reactions, enjoyment of violent portrayals, acceptance of aggression, and perceptions of whether violence is justified. Theoretical mechanisms thought to explain these different effects on younger versus older audiences are also presented.

A number of studies have provided evidence that exposure to media violence can evoke fright reactions in both the short and long term. For example, research shows that exposure to media violence can lead to acute stress responses and anxiety. It is also thought that repeated exposure to media violence can cultivate a fear of victimization over time. However, only a handful of studies have specifically addressed development’s role in shaping such reactions.

Research suggested that children’s fear of violence depicted in news and other realistic content seems to increase with age. By contrast, children’s fear of unrealistic violence in fantasy portrayals seems to decrease with age. Other research suggested that older children are more likely than younger children to react with fear to “implied violence” when it is not directly depicted. Younger children generally react only when stimuli seem to be directly threatening or violent. For example, younger children are more likely than older children to be fearful of nonviolent, benign, or beneficent characters that are portrayed in a grotesque or threatening manner, whereas older children can see past this type of portrayal. Children’s cognitive development has been offered as an explanation for these different [Page 119]outcomes. Specifically, their abilities to distinguish reality from fiction, to engage in perspective taking, and to inhibit emotional responses to media violence are mechanisms that explain why these differences are observed. However, more research is needed to understand how these developmental factors change fear reactions to media violence, especially in the long term.

As with fear reactions, cognitive-developmental theory has also been central to understanding differences in story enjoyment between younger and older children. Early research in entertainment theory demonstrated that development plays an important role in enjoyment of violent punishment for a villain in a story. Audiences enjoy violence when the character being punished deserves it but find it abhorrent when the character is undeserving. Thus, as moral development leads to different perceptions of whether violence is justified versus unjustified, diverging outcomes in enjoyment of violence are observed. Specifically, whereas older children enjoy “equitable punishment,” younger children often prefer seeing overly harsh, even violent retribution in story endings.

In addition to enhancing enjoyment, perceptions that media violence is justified may increase acceptance of aggression as a solution to social conflict. For example, an experiment showed that children over the age of 7 years were more likely to prefer a violent story ending after exposure to depictions of provoked (versus unprovoked) violence. However, it was predicted that children younger than 7 years of age would prefer harsh, violent punishment to a nonviolent outcome (regardless of provocation), because they generally see harsher retribution as more justified. Both of these observations have been explained in terms of moral development, which allows older children to see the provoked violence as more justified than unprovoked violence. In turn, this perception leads to enhanced enjoyment and acceptance of aggression. A number of studies have suggested this link. It is thought that justified portrayals minimize the pain and suffering of the victim and are perceived to morally condone violent behavior.

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