The aim of the present study was to examine the priming effects of violent movies and aggressive words on implicit aggression by using modified STROOP task. 190 adolescents participated in this study, with 95 assigned to non-violent movie group and 95 assigned to violent movie group. The results showed that no significant difference was found in the main affect of Movie Type, but it revealed significant Movie Type × Aggressive Trait interaction, and that aggression was significantly influenced by violent movie only for high-aggressive trait (HT) adolescents, but not for mid-aggressive trait (MT) and low-aggressive trait (LT) adolescents. The possible underlying mechanism was that HT adolescents may possess a rela tively stronger aggressive network of cognitive association which was easily activated by violence than MT and LT adolescents. This indicated that violent movie could effectively elicit implicit aggression for adolescents who were highly aggressive, but not for nonaggressive adolescents.
American Psychological Association (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Anderson, C. A. (1997). Effects of violent movies and trait hostility on hostile feelings and aggressive thoughts. Aggressive Behavior, 23, 161-178. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1098-2337(1997)23:3 3.0.CO;2-P
Anderson, C. A. (2010). Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and western countries: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 151-173. doi:10.1037/a0018251
Anderson, C. A., Anderson, K. B., & Deuser, W. E. (1996a). Examining an affective aggression framework: weapon and temperature effects on aggressive thoughts, affect and attitudes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 366-376. doi:10.1177/0146167296224004
Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002). Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 27-51. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135231
Anderson, C. A., & Carnagey, N. L. (2009). Causal effects of violent sports video games on aggression: Is it competitiveness or violent content? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 731-739. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.04.019
Baron, R. A., & Richardson, D. R. (1994). Human aggression (2nd ed.). New York: Plenum.
Berkowitz, L. (1993). Pain and aggression: Some findings and implications. Motivation and Emotion, 17, 277-293. doi:10.1007/BF00992223
Berkowitz, L., Corwin, R., & Heironimus, M. (1963). Film violence and subsequent aggressive tendencies. Public Opinion Quarterly, 27, 217-229. doi:10.1086/267162
Bushman, B. J. (1995). Moderating role of trait aggressiveness in the effects of violent media on aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 950-960. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.5.950
Bushman, B. J. (1996). Individual difference in the extent and development of aggressive cognitive-associative networks. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 811-819. doi:10.1177/0146167296228004
Bushman, B. J., & Anderson, C. A. (2001). Is it time to pull the plug on the hostile versus instrumental aggression dichotomy? Psychological Review, 108, 273-279. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.108.1.273
Bushman, B. J. (1995). Moderating role of trait aggressiveness in the effects of violent media on aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 950-960. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.5.950
Buss, A. H., & Perry, M. P. (1992). The aggression questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 452-459. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.63.3.452
Carnagey, N. L., Anderson, C. A. (2005). The effects of reward and punishment in violent video games on aggressive affect, cognition, and behavior. Psychological Science, 16, 882-889. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01632.x
Centerwall, B. S. (1989). Exposure to television as a cause of violence. In G. Comstock (Ed.), Public communication and behavior (pp. 1 58). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Cross, C. P. & Campbell, A. (2012). The effects of intimacy and target sex on direct aggression: Further evidence. Aggressive Behavior, 38, 272-280. doi:10.1002/ab.21430
Dubanoski, R. A., & Parton, D. A. (1971). Imitative aggression in chil dren as a function of observing a human model. Developmental Psychology, 4, 489. doi:10.1037/h0030977
Freedman, J. L. (2002). Media violence and its effect on aggression: Assessing the scientific evidence. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.96.2.227
Freedman, J. L. (1984). Effect of television violence on aggressiveness. Psychological Bulletin, 96, 227-246.
Geen, R. G. (2001). Human aggression (2nd ed.). Oxford: Taylor & Francis.
Hennigan, K. M. et al. (1982). Impact of the introduction of television on crime in the United States: Empirical findings and theoretical im plications. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 461 477. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.42.3.461
Huesmann, L. R. (1986). Psychological processes promoting the relation between exposure tomedia violence and aggressive behavior by the viewer. Journal of Social Issues, 42, 125-139. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1986.tb00246.x
Huesmann, L. R., Moise-Titus, J., Podolski, C. L., & Eron, L. D. (2003). Longitudinal relations between children’s exposure to TV violence and their aggressive and violent behavior in young adulthood: 1977-1992. Developmental Psychology, 39, 201-221. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.39.2.201
Kalnin, A. J. et al. (2011). The interacting role of media violence exposure and aggressive-disruptive behavior in adolescent brain activtion during an emotional Stroop task. Psychiatry Research, 192, 12 19. doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2010.11.005
Katja, B., Robina, B., Menno, R. K., & Ewald, N. (2009). Influence of aggression on information processing in the emotional Stroop task-an event-related potential study. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 3, 28-38.
Khoury, K. M. (2012). Perpetration of aggressive behaviors against peers and teachers as predicted by student and contextual factors. Aggressive Behavior, 38, 253-262. doi:10.1002/ab.21424
Leyens, J. P., Camino, L., Parke, R. D., & Berkowitz, L. (1975). Effects of movie violence on aggression in a field setting as a function of group dominance and cohesion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 346-360. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.32.2.346
Maltin, L., & Richard W. B. (1977, 1992). The little rascals: The life & times of our gang. New York: Crown Publishing/Three Rivers Press.
McDonagh, M. (2011). “Frank miller’s ‘sin city’”. TV Guide. URL (last checked). http://movies.tvguide.com/frank-millers-sin-city/137842
Messner, S. F. (1986). Television violence and violent crime: An aggregate analysis. Social Problems, 33, 218-234. doi:10.2307/800706
Paik, H., & Comstock, G. (1994). The effects of television violence on antisocial behavior: A meta-analysis. Communication Research, 21, 516-546. doi:10.1177/009365094021004004
Smith, P., & Waterman, M. (2005). Sex differences in processing aggression words using the emotional Stroop task. Aggressive Behavior, 31, 271-282. doi:10.1002/ab.20071
Wallace, M. T., Barry, C. T., Zeigler, H. V., & Green, B. A. (2012). Locus of control as a contributing factor in the relation between self-perception and adolescent aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 38, 213-221. doi:10.1002/ab.21419
Williams, T. M. (1986). The impact of television: A natural experiment in three communities. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
Youssef, H., Laurent, B., Michael, S., & Bushman, B. J. (2013). The more you play, the more aggressive you become: A long-term experimental study of cumulative violent video game effects on hostile expectations and aggressive behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 224-227. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2012.10.016