Effects of long-term viewing of television violence on cognitive, physiological, and behavioral responses to real life violence

Study one was designed to assess the relationship between television violence viewing and expectations of others physical aggression in conflict situations. Four hundred thirty one children, fourth and fifth graders, completed a television frequency survey and a conflict situations hierarchy. It was found that children who normally view a relatively large amount of television violence expected others to be physically aggressive in conflict situations more than children who normally view a relatively small amount of television violence. Study two was designed to assess the relationships between violence viewing, latency to seek help in the presence of real life violence, and physiological responses to real life violence. Thirty nine children who participated in study one, 19 high violence viewers and 20 low violence viewers, were recruited to serve as subjects. Subjects were led to believe that they alone were responsible for monitoring younger children in another room via a camera and television monitor. Subjects viewed a videotape of two children who initially play quietly, but become increasingly hostile, and the film culminated in a physical fight ending with the apparent destruction of the camera. Latency to seek help and heart rate were measured. High violence viewers took reliably longer to seek help in the presence of real life aggression than low violence viewers. However, when the distribution of latency scores was examined, group differences appeared attributable to the performance of a relatively small number of subjects. This study suggests that increasing levels of television violence viewing may be related to increasing latency to seek help in the presence of real life aggression, that the relationship may be modest, and that replication of the procedures is needed before strong conclusions can be made. High violence viewers and low violence viewers did not differ in their heart rate responses to the scene of real life violence. This study suggests that heavy violence viewing may not be associated with physiological desensitization to real life violence. However, further studies employing different indices of physiological arousal is clearly needed before strong conclusions are warranted. Differential research strategies to address these issues were discussed.