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Screen Size and Violent Content, Effects of
Since the 1930s, media violence has appeared on screens of increasingly varying shapes and sizes. Violent content can now be seen in formats ranging from a gigantic IMAX movie to a tiny mobile smartphone game. Consuming violent content in these diverse forms has the potential to differentially shape audience responses. This entry presents a brief overview of screen size as a media technology variable. It then reviews research findings on the effects of screen size and concludes with theoretical considerations for media violence effects as a function of screen size.
Screen Size as a Media Technology Variable
The early 1930s Payne Fund studies on the content of motion pictures called attention to the amount of violence in big-screen movies. Since that time, screen sizes have gotten both smaller and larger. The wide diffusion of television in the 1950s brought smaller-screen violent content into homes, and the motion picture industry responded by introducing larger-screen formats such as Cinerama and, more recently, IMAX, which has a standard screen size of 72 × 52.8 feet. The increase in movie screen sizes has been paralleled by a steady increase in television screen sizes, with Japanese electronics manufacturer Sharp predicting the average television to be 60 inches by 2015. At the same time, screens are also getting smaller. Violent content is now being consumed on handheld gaming systems and mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone, which has a 3.5-inch screen.
Screen sizes clearly vary more than ever, but a consideration of screen size must also factor in other aspects of screen technology. First, the width of screens has changed over time. The classic movie and television aspect ratio was 4:3 (meaning 4 units wide by 3 units high). Now, most movies have an aspect ratio of either 1.85:1 or 2.35:1, and high-definition television (HDTV) sets have an aspect ratio of 16:9. In both cases, the result is a wider screen than in the past. Second, viewing distance affects how screen size is perceived. A small screen placed directly in front of a viewer’s eyes, as it might be when the viewer wears a head-mounted display (HMD), may appear to be enormous, while a large screen viewed from far away may appear small. Viewing distance calculators, accessible online, exist to help determine the optimal viewing distance for various sizes of screens. A third consideration is screen resolution. As screen size increases, image quality may appear worse, especially when viewed at close distance. This has become less of an issue, however, with newer high-definition formats than it was with standard-definition television.
Research on the Effects of Screen Size
Screen size effects have been the subject of numerous investigations. In a review of the literature on television screen size, Cheryl Campanella Bracken and Renee Botta (2010) noted that it is the most commonly studied television form variable, with experiments dating back to the early 1970s and peaking in the 1990s. Generally, larger screen sizes have been shown to intensify reactions to content. Specific outcomes of large-screen viewing identified by Bracken and Botta include increased attention, arousal, dizziness, enjoyment, and telepresence (the sense of “being there” in the media environment). Research also has shown that screen size affects receiver perceptions of objects on the screen, with mixed findings. Larger screens have been shown to lead to both more and less favorable evaluations of people on the screen, for example.
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- Aggression and Affect
- Aggression and Anger
- Aggression and Attachment
- Aggression and Brain Functioning
- Aggression and Culture
- Aggression in Youth
- Aggression, Definition and Assessment of
- Aggression, Risk Factors for
- Aggressive Behavior
- Aggressive Personality
- Bullying, Definition and Laws of
- Cognition: Schemas and Scripts
- Cognitive Psychology of Violence
- Cognitive Script Theory and the Dynamics of Cognitive Scripting
- Cyberbullying, Definition and Effects of
- Gender and Aggression
- Genetics of Aggressive Behavior
- Group Aggression
- Memory and Violence
- Priming Theory
- Psychobiology of Violence
- Psychopathology and Susceptibility to Violence
- Reasons for Consuming Violent Entertainment
- Relational Aggression
- Trait Aggression
- Media Content
- Grand Theft Auto
- Advertising, Violent Content in
- Arousal and Aggressive Content, Theory and Psychology of
- Character Development Within Violent Content
- Competition, Sports, and Video Games
- Cultivating Content and Social Representation of Violence
- Cyberbullying, Violent Content in
- Drench Hypothesis
- Fantasy Genre, Violence and Aggression in
- Films, Representation of Violence and Its Effects in
- Media Violence, Definitions and Context of
- Music Videos and Lyrics, Violent Content in
- National Television Violence Study
- Pornography, Violent Content in
- Realism of Violence Content, Real-World Violence on Television, and Their Effects
- Sexualized Aggression
- Sports, Violence and Aggression in
- Stereotyping in Violent Media Content
- Television Violence
- Violence, Definition of
- Violent Artistic Expression
- Virtual Reality, Violent Content in
- Media Effects
- Attitude, Effects of Media Violence on
- Audience Interpretation of Media Violence, Effects of
- Bobo Doll Studies
- Comedic Violence, Effects of
- Demographic Effects
- Desensitization Effects on Society
- Developmental Effects
- Effect Size in Media Violence, Research and Effects of
- Effects From Violent Content, Short- and Long-Term
- Effects of Media Violence on Relational Aggression
- Emergent Public Health Issue: Effects of Violence
- Ethical Development, Effects on
- Ethical Issues in Researching Media Violence Effects
- Fear Reactions to Violent Content
- First-Person Perspective, Violent Content From
- Gender, Effects of Violent Content on
- General Aggression Model
- Identity, Media Violence and Its Effects on
- Interactive Media, Aggressive Outcomes of
- Internet Content, Effects of Violent
- Media Effects Perspectives of Violence
- Media Rating Systems
- Moral Development, Effects of Media Violence on
- Narrative, Effects of Violent
- News, the Presentation and Effects of Violent Content in
- Parasocial Relationships
- Pediatricians and Media Violence
- Peer Influence on Violent Content Effects
- Pornography, Violent Content in: Effects of
- Rap Lyrics, Effects of Violent Content in
- Rape Perceptions
- Screen Size and Violent Content, Effects of
- Sex in Media, Effects on Society
- Situational Influences on Aggressive Reactions to Media Violence
- Social Isolation
- Socialization of Violence in Media and Its Effects
- User Involvement in Violent Content, Effects of
- User Trends Toward Aggressive Games
- Uses and Gratifications Perspective of Media Effects
- Video Game Platforms, Effects of
- Video Games, User Motivation
- Violence in Media, Effects on Aggression and Violent Crime
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- Weapons in Violent Media Content: Use, Policy, and Effects
- Media Policy
- Advertising Laws Regarding Violent and Aggressive Content
- Bullying, Definition and Laws of
- Censorship of Violent Content
- Cyberbullying Laws
- Federal Communications Commission
- First Amendment Protections and Freedom of Expression
- International Perspective on Media Violence
- Internet Blocking
- Internet Violence Laws
- Legislating Media Violence: Law and Policy
- Marketing of Violence
- Media Education and Media Literacy
- Rating Systems, Film
- Rating Systems, Television
- Rating Systems, Video Games
- Regulating Systems, Internet
- Video Game Industry, Regulation Within the
- Research Process
- Society and Media
- Grand Theft Auto, Social Representations in
- Advertising, Influence on Society
- African Americans in Media, Character Depictions and Social Representation of
- Asians in Media, Character Depictions and Social Representation of
- Cross-Cultural Perspectives
- Cultivating Content and Social Representation of Violence
- Cultural Voyeurism
- Culture of Violence
- Effect Size in Media Violence, Research and Effects of
- Exposure to Violent Content, Effects on Child Development
- Gender Stereotypes, Societal Influence on
- Internet Violence, Influence on Society
- Latinos in Media, Character Depictions and Social Representation of
- Media as a Reflection of Society
- Race-Based Attributes in Video Games, Influence on Hostility
- Social Learning From Media
- Theories of Media Influence
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