Violence and Aggression

The extensive literature on gender differences in aggression and violence in media examines these differences both in media portrayals and in potential impact on audiences. These broad areas have been developed using a wide diversity of methods and theoretical perspectives and have examined a number of media formats and industries, including film, television, video games, magazines, Websites, advertising, entertainment programming, and journalism. Research into the effects of media violence and aggression has most often drawn on the following theoretical paradigms; the general aggression model (GAM), cultivation theory, uses and gratifications, priming, social learning theory, presumed influence theory, and third-person effects. Specifically in regard to gender issues in media effects, scholars have also used masculine ideology theory. A good deal of this research has focused on violent media's effects on children and adolescents due to evidence of their developmental vulnerability and the increased likelihood that they will seek out such media, particularly in the case of adolescent males and video gamers. Content analyses of gender differences in media portrayals of violence and aggression often draw on cultivation theory. In qualitative studies of gender and media portrayals of violence and aggression, theoretical frameworks used range from feminist backlash theory to masculinity ideology theory, Julia Kristeva's work on horror and the abject, Laura Mulvey's “male gaze” in cinema, Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis, and feminist film theory generally. Analyses of media portrayals have focused on gender differences in violence and aggressive behaviors and attitudes, as well as the gender of the victim and victimizer with special attention paid to violence against women, rape, the linking of sex and violence, and, more recently, scenarios of revenge upon or punishment of aggressive, violent, and/or sexual women.

The media effects literature related to violence has demonstrated that exposure to violent media influences aggression and violent behavior as well as aggressive thoughts, while increasing viewers' desensitization to violence. Research also shows that aggressive and violent individuals are more likely to seek out violent media and that viewers selectively expose themselves to violent and aggressive media. The research in this area has focused on both short-term and long-term effects. Short-term effects studies have examined (separately and together) the impact of priming (prior exposure to media violence and aggression) and the level of arousal (physiological response to stimulus media) on both imitation of aggressive behavior in post exposure settings and self-reported desensitization to violence. Research indicates that priming increases the short-term effects and that level of arousal from the stimulus media also impacts short-term effects, with more highly engaging or arousing violent or aggressive media increasing effects (as indicated in postexposure imitation and in postexposure self-reports). In the area of long-term exposure, effects have been demonstrated in the areas of desensitization and observational learning. Research indicates that repeated observational learning, where the media role models are rewarded for violent or aggressive behavior, results in self-reported aggressive imitation, behavioral intention, or attitudes that indicate that violence and/or aggression are effective for problem solving and conflict management. Research also indicates that heavy (as opposed to light) viewing of media violence also increases self-reported desensitization to violence and the overestimation of both [Page 415]real-life violence and the likelihood of becoming a victim of violence.

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