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Copyright of Contratexto is the property of Contratexto and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract Background Violent media is the most consumed type of media in Lebanon. Many studies have linked exposure to media violence to increased aggression and psychological distress. As Lebanon is going through socio-political turmoil, we aimed to [1] explore the correlates of aggression (i.e., sociodemographic factors, BMI, loneliness, social competence, and psychological distress) in a sample of Lebanese adults from the general population, and [2] to examine the mediating effect of psychological distress in the association between exposure to media violence and aggression in this sample. Methodology Adults were recruited through online convenience sampling. We employed scales to assess content-based media exposure (C-ME), aggression (BPAQ-SF), psychological distress (DASS-8), loneliness (JGLS), and perceived social competence (PSCS). Results Exposure to media violence was associated with all four aggression subtypes (verbal, physical, hostility, and anger). Psychological distress partially mediated all these associations; higher exposure to media violence was significantly associated with more psychological distress, which was significantly associated with higher levels of all types of aggression. Moreover, higher exposure to media violence was significantly associated with higher levels of all types of aggression. Conclusion In the sociopolitical context of Lebanon, violent media could be considered a public hazard. Psychological distress likely potentiates the association between exposure to violent media and aggression. Future research should focus on determining what components of psychological distress underpin this mediation.

The authors seek to answer why the criminals in media are presented in a way that does not meet the reality, which categories of young people are at the most risk considering the negative impact of these "role models", and how the family and legislation can protect them. Behind the media presentation of the crime world as idyllic are the centres of power, which are in agreement with the owners of the media, with the aim to form insecure personalities, prone to addictions, who looks up to inadequate role models. For the proper development of adolescents, close relationships with parents and peers are necessary. Parents represent a safe haven when peer and other social relations do not go in the desired direction. In contact with peers, adolescents learn new roles, about the world of adults, and find a new type of egalitarian closeness. A close relationship with parents allows the young person to discuss role models from media, positive and negative heroes, values, dilemmas, events in peer relationships, and plans for the future, as well as to convey life experiences from parent to adolescent. On the other hand, legislation is necessary to protect social groups from media exploitation or exposure to media violence.

Background: Violent media is the most consumed type of media in Lebanon. Many studies have linked exposure to media violence to increased aggression and psychological distress. As Lebanon is going through socio-political turmoil, we aimed to [1] explore the correlates of aggression (i.e., sociodemographic factors, BMI, loneliness, social competence, and psychological distress) in a sample of Lebanese adults from the general population, and [2] to examine the mediating effect of psychological distress in the association between exposure to media violence and aggression in this sample. Methodology: Adults were recruited through online convenience sampling. We employed scales to assess content-based media exposure (C-ME), aggression (BPAQ-SF), psychological distress (DASS-8), loneliness (JGLS), and perceived social competence (PSCS). Results: Exposure to media violence was associated with all four aggression subtypes (verbal, physical, hostility, and anger). Psychological distress partially mediated all these associations; higher exposure to media violence was significantly associated with more psychological distress, which was significantly associated with higher levels of all types of aggression. Moreover, higher exposure to media violence was significantly associated with higher levels of all types of aggression. Conclusion: In the sociopolitical context of Lebanon, violent media could be considered a public hazard. Psychological distress likely potentiates the association between exposure to violent media and aggression. Future research should focus on determining what components of psychological distress underpin this mediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This theoretical review explores the possibility that the consumption of internet pornography (IP) represents a credible risk factor in the perpetration of aggression and violence against women. Sexual violence, abuse, and degradation of women is commonly depicted in mainstream heterosexual IP. Despite the violent tenor, the effect this material may have on beliefs, attitudes and behaviors is understudied, as are the reasons why violent and degrading IP is so widely viewed, enjoyed, and accepted. Both theory and empirical findings support the contention that depictions of violence in IP may contribute to real world aggression and violence against women, with two relevant spheres of inquiry proposed in this theoretical review. The first considers IP as a ‘zone of cultural exception’, in which the perpetration of violent and degrading acts against women are eroticized and celebrated, despite such behaviors being considered antisocial in wider society. It is suggested that this excepted status is enabled by the operation of the third person effect to negate the detrimental effects of IP. The second explores the objectification and dehumanization of women in IP and the use of moral disengagement by viewers to enable their disavowal of any harm in the depicted violence.

There is a great concern about the incidence of violent behavior in childhood and adolescence. Exposure to violence in the media is a risk factor for violent behavior in children. The American Psychological Association (APA) (2020) reported children who repeatedly play violent video games tend to demonstrate increased aggressiveness and decreased concern for others, and video gaming impacted academic performance. The purpose of this article is to raise awareness among parents, nurses, and other providers about the impact of playing violent video games excessively through theories explaining the possible impact of violent games on children's behavior, proposed measures to evaluate children's exposure to video games, and strategies to control or reduce this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This theoretical review explores the possibility that the consumption of internet pornography (IP) represents a credible risk factor in the perpetration of aggression and violence against women. Sexual violence, abuse, and degradation of women is commonly depicted in mainstream heterosexual IP. Despite the violent tenor, the effect this material may have on beliefs, attitudes and behaviors is understudied, as are the reasons why violent and degrading IP is so widely viewed, enjoyed, and accepted. Both theory and empirical findings support the contention that depictions of violence in IP may contribute to real world aggression and violence against women, with two relevant spheres of inquiry proposed in this theoretical review. The first considers IP as a 'zone of cultural exception', in which the perpetration of violent and degrading acts against women are eroticized and celebrated, despite such behaviors being considered antisocial in wider society. It is suggested that this excepted status is enabled by the operation of the third person effect to negate the detrimental effects of IP. The second explores the objectification and dehumanization of women in IP and the use of moral disengagement by viewers to enable their disavowal of any harm in the depicted violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the practical operation of Australia's National Classification System (NCS) for films and games, to evaluate its alignment with the findings of psychological research.1 Twenty-nine decisions of the Classification Review Board are examined to determine the factors applied in assessing the impact of violent content and drawing the line between the different classification categories. The language used in referring to violent content is analysed to determine the concepts that influence the Board's view about the correct classification. These concepts are then tested against the research evidence on the depictions of violence that create the greatest risk of adverse outcomes for viewers and players. Not all of the concepts used in classification have a basis in the research evidence, and some are directly at odds with that evidence. The article concludes by recommending changes to the rules that could lead to better alignment between classification decisions and the research evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that young people are likely to encounter considerable amounts of violence in the media they use. Some of those depictions trivialize the severity of violence. Past studies show that media literacy education can spur critical thinking regarding violent portrayals in media texts. But rarely do prior studies employ qualitative methods to understand how young media audience members reason through the key question of whether media violence is either surprising or concerning. In the current study, an in-school media literacy program is offered to 48 6th graders who provide data in the form of written responses to a number of critical thinking prompts applied to media texts containing violence. The findings suggest that although most members of the sample readily noticed violent depictions in media texts and could critique the manner in which violence is depicted, relatively few expressed either surprise or concern about those depictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ability to accurately recognize negative emotions in others can initiate pro-social behavior and prevent anti-social actions. Thus, it remains of an interest of scholars studying effects of violent video games. While exposure to such games was linked to slower emotion recognition, the evidence regarding accuracy of emotion recognition among players of violent games is weak and inconsistent. The present research investigated the relationship between violent video game exposure (VVGE) and accuracy of negative emotion recognition. We assessed the level of self-reported VVGE in hours per day and the accuracy of the recognition using the Facial Expressions Matching Test. The results, with adolescents (Study 1; N = 67) and with adults (Study 2; N = 151), showed that VVGE was negatively related to accurate recognition of negative emotion expressions, even if controlled for age, gender, and trait empathy, but no causal direction could be assessed. In line with the violent media desensitization model, our findings suggest that higher self-reported VVGE relates to lower recognition of negative emotional expressions of other people. On the one hand, such lower recognition of negative emotions may underlie inaccurate reactions in real-life social situations. On the other hand, lower sensitivity to social cues may help players to better focus on their performance in a violent game.

An ability to accurately recognize negative emotions in others can initiate pro-social behavior and prevent anti-social actions. Thus, it remains of an interest of scholars studying effects of violent video games. While exposure to such games was linked to slower emotion recognition, the evidence regarding accuracy of emotion recognition among players of violent games is weak and inconsistent. The present research investigated the relationship between violent video game exposure (VVGE) and accuracy of negative emotion recognition. We assessed the level of self-reported VVGE in hours per day and the accuracy of the recognition using the Facial Expressions Matching Test. The results, with adolescents (Study 1; N = 67) and with adults (Study 2; N = 151), showed that VVGE was negatively related to accurate recognition of negative emotion expressions, even if controlled for age, gender, and trait empathy, but no causal direction could be assessed. In line with the violent media desensitization model, our findings suggest that higher self-reported VVGE relates to lower recognition of negative emotional expressions of other people. On the one hand, such lower recognition of negative emotions may underlie inaccurate reactions in real-life social situations. On the other hand, lower sensitivity to social cues may help players to better focus on their performance in a violent game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactive media such as video games and virtual reality (VR) provide users with lived experiences that may be dangerous or even impossible in daily life. By providing interactive experiences in highly authentic, detail-rich contexts, these technologies have demonstrated measurable success in impacting how people think, feel, and behave in the physical world. At the same time, violent interactive media content has been historically connected with a range of antisocial effects in both popular press and academic research. Extant literature has established a small-but-statistically significant effect of interactive media violence on aggressive thoughts and behaviors, which could serve as a risk factor for interpersonal violence. However, left unexplored is the seemingly paradoxical claim that under some conditions, interactive media experiences might protect against interpersonal violence. Drawing on advances in media theory and research and the evolution of interactive media content and production practices, the current manuscript suggests ways in which interactive media violence may be leveraged to lower the likelihood of real-world violence experiences. For example, research on both violent and non-violent games has found that players can (a) express guilt after committing violent acts, (b) report reflective and introspective emotional reactions during gameplay, and (c) debate the morality of their actions with others. Regarding VR, studies have demonstrated that (a) witnessing physical violence in immersive spaces led participants to take the perspective of victims and better understand their emotional state and (b) controlled exposure to traumatic or violent events can be used for treatment. Broadly, studies into video games and VR demonstrate that the impact of actions in virtual worlds transfer into the physical worlds to influence (later) attitudes and behaviors. Thus, how these experiences may be potentially harnessed for social change is a compelling and open consideration, as are side-effects of such interventions on vulnerable groups. The current manuscript summarizes emerging research perspectives (as well as their limitations) to offer insight into the potential for interactive media violence to protect against real-world violence victimization and perpetration.

Background. The high importance of the media as an institution of socializing the new generation in the modern information society is highlighted. Along with positive opportunities created by the media and the Internet for training and education, it is necessary to point to the growing risks associated with the ambiguity of the impact of the media on the mental and psychological health and also child and adolescent development. The Objective of the paper is to consider the risks of socialization associated with the openness and accessibility of the information space. There are psychological features of child and adolescent perception of information products containing aggression and violence, information products of sexual content, products that cause fear and anxiety, and also methods used in the media to justify morally antisocial, deviant, aggressive behaviour and violence. The Results of the analysis allowed to identify the conditions that determine the degree of vulnerability of the child to violence in media and the desire to mimic aggressive behavior and also forms of cognitive restructuring the moral content of aggressive and deviant behaviour. The negative consequences of perceiving violence expressed in behaviour, emotional state and cognitive image of the world of children are determined. The effects of adolescent perception of information of sexual content are revealed. Age features of experiencing fears in children aged 3-18 years are shown. Conclusion. Perceiving violence in the information space by children and adolescents creates risks of mimicking aggressive behaviour, fears and increased anxiety, desensitization to phenomena of violence and aggression and distortion of the worldview, when violence is perceived as a compulsory and natural regulation of relations between people in society. Factors influencing the nature of the perception of violence include age factor, individual psychological and personality features, motives and preferences, genre of information products and the context within which violence is depicted.

In this digital age the impact of media can be observed in all walks of life. All media users are being influenced by one or another type of media, however the amount of effect and time may vary. One cannot deny the fact that the images that are being shown in the mainstream media are full of violence and conflict. With the latest multifaceted media platforms and their content, there is no escape from the violence, it is very much relevant in today's world to understand that how does such violent content affect the individuals, particularly the youth. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships between exposure to violent media and psychological effects i.e. desensitization, aggressive behavior, sleep disturbance, and anxiety among youth. Survey was conducted at a national level from colleges and universities. The results demonstrated that exposure to violence has significant relationships with desensitization, aggressive behavior, sleep disturbance, and anxiety however, there was no significant influence of age and gender of the respondents in the relationships between exposure to violent media content and aggression, sleep disorder, anxiety and desensitization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Television drama series are nowadays one of the most common television formats in the entertainment program genre. On the one hand, heroes and heroines of these series mirror social and cultural realities and changes, whereas on the other, they offer imitation models and shape ideas about, among other things, what being male and female means. While in the first three decades of their existence television series predominantly showed stereotypical male-female relationships through active heroes and passive housewives, in the last two decades we have witnessed changes which question the stereotypical depiction of gender roles. Television started presenting new main heroines that are equally courageous, independent, intelligent and violent as their male partners although they continue to perpetuate the stereotypical depiction in terms of physical attractiveness and sex appeal. This primarily refers to the protagonists of North American series such as Buffy, Nikita, Xena, Alias, Revenge, Rogue, etc. This paper discusses the characteristics of these new heroines in the leading roles and their potential to redefine the female character.

News articles about media effects research were presented to 333 participants to experimentally test the effects of three independent variables on perceived credibility of both the journalist and featured scientist: whether the sources in the news story supported or contradicted the findings of the featured scientist, journalist gender, and whether the story matched or mismatched preexisting beliefs about the link between media exposure and subsequent effects. In turn, we tested whether perceived credibility of both the journalist and the scientist resulted in a belief change about media effects research. Results indicate that the conflict frame (i.e., balance norm) decreased perceived credibility of the scientist and in some conditions decreased credibility of the journalist. Perceived credibility positively correlated with belief change. Implications for science communication, persuasion and issue framing are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to thoroughly investigate the link between violent media consumption and aggressive behavior. Using a large longitudinal student sample, the role of empathy as a possible mediator of this relationship was of special interest. Data were drawn from wave three to five of the Berlin Longitudinal Study Media, a four-year longitudinal control group study with 1207 school children. Participants completed measures of media usage (violent content of TV and computer games), aggressive behavior perpetration, and empathy. The average age of participants was 10.4 years at Time 1 and 12.4 years at Time 3. Half of the study sample was male (50%). Trivariate structural equation modeling using three measurement times were conducted for assessing the role of empathy as a mediator of the longitudinal relationship between the usage of violent media content and aggressive behavior. For male students empathic skills were shown to unfold a key mediating role between problematic media usage and aggressive behavior.

When learners collaborate with each other in order to elaborate on a particular subject, this collaboration may be influenced by the differing perspectives the learners have on the topic. There has been very little research to date on how differing perspectives have an impact in collaboration situations in which people are supposed to form a shared opinion on a particular topic. In this study, we analyzed which stages people's activities pass through on their way to reaching shared opinions in a collaborative writing task. We examined how dyads of secondary school students, who in a previous instructional session had dealt with differing theoretical approaches to media effects, collaborated in writing a shared text about the topic of media violence. Quantitative analysis indicated that the participants engaged in different activities at different stages of the collaboration processes: In the early stages they were predominantly engaged in introducing the knowledge that they had acquired in the previous lesson. This activity was replaced in the middle stage of the collaboration by restructuring activities. Forming and phrasing shared opinions rarely occurred until very late in the collaboration, but played the leading role in the final stage. We applied a qualitative content analysis to illustrate these different activities by presenting examples of the collaboratively written texts. In doing so, we discuss the distinct activities as well as their character and functionalities for collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept that doing something to “vent” aggression as a method of reducing aggressive feelings and behaviors, such as watching media violence or playing violent video games, continues to enjoy widespread public support despite a lack of empirical support. This article describes the historical origins of the concept and examines how well these conceptions fit with the modern usage of the aggression catharsis hypothesis. It is argued that there are four primary flaws with the catharsis hypothesis. First, the metaphor underlying Freud, Breuer, and Lorenz’s conception of aggression is flawed. Aggression is not a drive. Second, although Aristotle did use the term catharsis with relation to violent media (plays and poetry), he did not mean that viewing media violence can purge the viewer of aggressive feelings or behaviors. Furthermore, he describes several detailed requirements of plot and character that must be followed if his type of catharsis is to be achieved, and modern media violence does not meet these requirements. Third, the empirical support is not only lacking, a large empirical base contradicts the catharsis hypothesis. This is seen both in studies attempting to demonstrate catharsis directly and in the broader media violence literature. Fourth, human neuroscience contradicts the catharsis hypothesis. Learning is not hindered by viewing something one more time—it is improved. Taken together, it appears that there is no possible way that the aggression catharsis hypothesis can be accurate. It nevertheless continues to “feel” correct at a phenomenological level, and the reasons for this are discussed.

When playing violent video games, aggressive actions are performed against the background of an originally neutral environment, and associations are formed between cues related to violence and contextual features. This experiment examined the hypothesis that neutral contextual features of a virtual environment become associated with aggressive meaning and acquire the function of primes for aggressive cognitions. Seventy-six participants were assigned to one of two violent video game conditions that varied in context (ship vs. city environment) or a control condition. Afterwards, they completed a Lexical Decision Task to measure the accessibility of aggressive cognitions in which they were primed either with ship-related or city-related words. As predicted, participants who had played the violent game in the ship environment had shorter reaction times for aggressive words following the ship primes than the city primes, whereas participants in the city condition responded faster to the aggressive words following the city primes compared to the ship primes. No parallel effect was observed for the non-aggressive targets. The findings indicate that the associations between violent and neutral cognitions learned during violent game play facilitate the accessibility of aggressive cognitions.

We investigated how exposure to media violence and family conflict affects adolescents’ subsequent aggressive behavior. We expected a double dose effect, meaning that high media violence exposure would lead to higher levels of aggression for adolescents in high conflict families compared to low conflict families. A total of 499 adolescents (aged 10 to 14, 48% girls) participated in a two-wave longitudinal survey (4-month interval). Survey questions assessed their exposure to violence on television and in electronic games, family conflict, and aggressive behavior. Analyses revealed a significant interaction between media violence and family conflict. In families with higher conflict, higher media violence exposure was related to increased subsequent aggression. This study is the first to show a double dose effect of media violence and family conflict on adolescents’ aggression. These findings underscore the important role of the family in shaping the effects of adolescents’ media use on their social development.

We review the state of evidence supporting a link between violent media exposure in preschool- aged children and subsequent well-being outcomes. We searched through four decades (1971–2011) of literature for enlightening details on the relationship between early exposure to media violence and health outcomes in later childhood and adolescence. Evidence suggests that preschool exposure may be linked to increased aggression and self-regulation problems. Results are discussed in the context of displacement, social cognitive and overstimulation theories. We recommend increasing efforts towards developing guidelines for families and professionals concerned with the well-being of children.

Although much attention has been paid to the question of whether violent video games increase aggressive behaviour, little attention has been paid to how such games might encourage antecedents of gun violence. In this study, we examined how product placement, the attractive in-game presentation of certain real-world firearm brands, might encourage gun ownership, a necessary antecedent of gun violence. We sought to study how the virtual portrayal of a real-world firearm (the Bushmaster AR-15) could influence players' attitudes towards the AR-15 specifically and gun ownership in general. College undergraduates (N = 176) played one of four modified video games in a 2 (gun: AR-15 or science-fiction control) × 2 (gun power: strong or weak) between-subjects design. Despite collecting many outcomes and examining many potential covariates and moderators, experimental assignment did little to influence outcomes of product evaluations or purchasing intentions with regard to the AR-15. Attitudes towards public policy and estimation of gun safety were also not influenced by experimental condition, although these might have been better tested by comparison against a no-violence control condition. By contrast, gender and political party had dramatic associations with all outcomes. We conclude that, if product placement shapes attitudes towards firearms, such effects will need to be studied with stronger manipulations or more sensitive measures.

Media violence research has mainly focused on aggression effects so far. But are audiences' thoughts about violent portrayals actually confined to aggressive fantasies? This study examines more complex thought processes about violent portrayals that involve reflection, meaning-making, and truth-seeking about violence as a fact of social reality. We conducted qualitative in-depth interviews with 39 participants from different backgrounds, including professions at risk for exposure to violence, media professionals, and interviewees from the general population. The interviews revealed three main categories of reflective thoughts about violent media content, including thoughts about (a) the truth value, (b) the life-world relevance, and (c) the psychological and moral implications of the violence depicted. Participants also discussed unrealistic content features that interfered with meaning-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Partindo da famosa correspondência entre os dois grandes sábios do século XX, a autora, com base em dados de pesquisas de diferentes países, faz uma reflexão sobre as relações e correlações possíveis entre a violência cada vez mais presente nas mídias audiovisuais e uma certa concepção do papel da violência como meio naturalmente legítimo de interação social e resolução de conflitos interpessoais, encontrada entre crianças e adolescentes. A análise deste fenômeno social - a violência na sociedade e nas mídias - é realizada desde o ponto de vista da mídia-educação, ou seja, da formação de usuários críticos, tendo como perspectiva compreender o papel das novas técnicas de comunicação neste processo.Based on the famous correspondence between two XXth century wise men and on data from research in different countries, the author explores the possible relations and correlations between the violence that is increasingly present in the audio-visual media and a certain conception of the role of violence as a naturally legitimate way of social action and conflict resolution, common among child and teen-agers. The analysis of this social phenomenon - violence in our society and in the media - is performed from the standpoint of media-education, that is, of forming critical users, in an attempt to understand the role of the new communication technologies in this process.