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Behavioral Effects
One of three types of media effects, along with cognitive and affective. Whereas cognitive and affective effects research tries to determine the impact of media on an individual's perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes, behavioral effects research seeks to detect whether behavior can actually be altered as a result of exposure to some form or forms of mass communication. There are, naturally, inherent problems in studying the latter because, ethically, research that will harm subjects or cause harm to others cannot be conducted. Researchers are more likely to study cognitive and affective effects, suggesting that the research on media effects may be understated. Nevertheless, numer ous studies have tried to assess the mass media effect on social behavior—that is, whether excessive exposure to violent television content increases ...