ABSTRACT

Exposure to violent media has been widely linked to increased aggression. In the present research, we examined whether violent media exposure would be associated with increased aggression, which would then spread within social networks like a contagious disease. Two groups of first year psychology students completed a questionnaire three times over the course of a year, measuring their media exposure, aggression, personality, and social relations within the group. Cross-sectional analysis provided mixed results in regards to the link between violent media and aggression. Siena analysis found no evidence of homophily (i.e., participants were not more likely to be friends with others similar to themselves) nor of social influence (i.e., participant’s behavior did not predict a change in their friends’ behavior). However, given the relatively small sample sizes and the weak ties between participants, more work is needed to assess the spread of violent media effects.

摘要

接触暴力媒体广泛与攻击性增加有关。在目前的研究中，我们检查了暴力媒体曝光是否会与攻击性增加有关，然后攻击性会像传染病一样在社交网络中传播。两组一年级心理学学生在一年内完成了三次问卷调查，测量他们在小组内的媒体曝光、攻击性、个性和社会关系。关于暴力媒体与侵略之间的联系，横断面分析提供了不同的结果。锡耶纳分析没有发现同质性（即参与者不太可能与与自己相似的其他人成为朋友）或社会影响力（即参与者的行为并不能预测其朋友行为的变化）的证据。然而，