1. Overheads Television and Violence Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D.

2. The History Most researchers agree: Severe aggression and violent behavior does not occur because of one factor. Many factors predispose aggressive behavior.

3. What sort of factors? Neurophysiological abnormalities Poor peer relations Poor child rearing SES Drug and Alcohol Abuse Attitudes and beliefs supporting aggression

4. Research on Media Violence Research is clear: exposing a child to media violence is one such long-term and short-term predisposing factor.

5. Theory Imitation (Bandura’s research) Modeling Social scripts Schemas Belief System Attributions

6. Desensitization Theory What happens when we view violence over and over?

7. Another Theory Aggressive children enjoy a violent environment.

8. The third variable theory Personal characteristics of the child. SES IQ Early parenting factors

9. The role of priming and arousal. Priming General arousal Research that supports this theory. Walder (1972). 22 year follow-up of this study.

10. Huesmann et. al. (1977) Three year longitudinal study in five countries. Replicated for boys and girls in countries without violent programming: Israel, Finland, and Poland.

11. Differences among countries. Finland Australia Israel

12. Correlational studies Past several decades worth of research Long-term effects of aggression in teen years. Less strongly into adulthood. Effects found for boys.

13. Huesmann study Follow-up of 1977 longitudinal data of 557 children growing up in Chicago area. Follow-up 15 years later. Question: How does early childhood exposure to media violence predict young-adult aggression and violence?

14. Results 329 youths 15 – year longitudinal study TV violence viewing between ages 6 and 9 Sex differences Significantly more aggressive as adults

15. What else? Antisocial and violent behaviors Not just because of low SES What else? Implications.