Desensitization To Media Violence Links Hi

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology © 2010 American Psychological Association
2011, Vol. 100, No. 4, 630 – 646 0022-3514/10/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0021711
Desensitization to Media Violence: Links With Habitual Media Violence

Exposure, Aggressive Cognitions, and Aggressive Behavior
Barbara Krahé and Ingrid Möller L. Rowell Huesmann

University of Potsdam University of Michigan
Lucyna Kirwil Juliane Felber and Anja Berger

Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities University of Potsdam
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
This study examined the links between desensitization to violent media stimuli and habitual media
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
violence exposure as a predictor and aggressive cognitions and behavior as outcome variables. Two
weeks after completing measures of habitual media violence exposure, trait aggression, trait arousability,
and normative beliefs about aggression, undergraduates (N ⫽ 303) saw a violent film clip and a sad or
a funny comparison clip. Skin conductance level (SCL) was measured continuously, and ratings
of anxious and pleasant arousal were obtained after each clip. Following the clips, participants completed
a lexical decision task to measure accessibility of aggressive cognitions and a competitive reaction time
task to measure aggressive behavior. Habitual media violence exposure correlated negatively with SCL
during violent clips and positively with pleasant arousal, response times for aggressive words, and trait
aggression, but it was unrelated to anxious arousal and aggressive responding during the reaction time
task. In path analyses controlling for trait aggression, normative beliefs, and trait arousability, habitual
media violence exposure predicted faster accessibility of aggressive cognitions, partly mediated by higher
pleasant arousal. Unprovoked aggression during the reaction time task was predicted by lower anxious
arousal. Neither habitual media violence usage nor anxious or pleasant arousal predicted provoked
aggression during the laboratory task, and SCL was unrelated to aggressive cognitions and behavior. No
relations were found between habitual media violence viewing and arousal in response to the sad and
funny film clips, and arousal in response to the sad and funny clips did not predict aggressive cognitions
or aggressive behavior on the laboratory task. This suggests that the observed desensitization effects are
specific to violent content.
Keywords: media violence, desensitization, physiological arousal, aggressive cognitions, aggressive

behavior
The hypothesis that media violence increases aggressive behav- factor for aggression (Huesmann & Taylor, 2003), most meta-
ior has been widely studied in experimental research looking at the analyses and reviews have reported substantial effect sizes across
short-term effects of exposure to violent media stimuli, as well as different media, methodologies, and outcome variables, suggesting
in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies relating habitual media that exposure to violent media contents increases the likelihood of
violence exposure to individual differences in the readiness to aggressive behavior in the short term as well as over time (e.g.,
show aggressive behavior. Although there is disagreement among Anderson et al., 2003; Bushman & Huesmann, 2006; Huesmann,
some researchers as to whether or not the evidence currently 1982; Huesmann & Kirwil, 2007; Murray, 2008; Paik & Com-
available supports the view that media violence exposure is a risk stock, 1994). Other authors have questioned both the strength of
the evidence and its implications (e.g., Ferguson, 2007; Savage &
Yancey, 2008). Ferguson and Kilburn (2009, 2010) concluded
from their meta-analysis that there was no support for the claim
This article was published Online First December 27, 2010.
Barbara Krahé, Ingrid Möller, Juliane Felber, and Anja Berger, Depart-
that media violence increases aggressive behavior. However, they
ment of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany; L. Rowell acknowledged that experimental studies using proxy measures of
Huesmann, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan; Lucyna aggression did produce substantive effect sizes and were relatively
Kirwil, Department of Social Psychology, Warsaw School of Social Sci- unaffected by publication bias, and their conclusions have been
ences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland. vigorously disputed by others (Anderson et al., 2010; Bushman,
The research reported in this paper was supported by German Research Rothstein, & Anderson, 2010; Huesmann, 2010).
Foundation Grant Kr 972/8-1 to Barbara Krahé. The support of Annika
Beyond studying the strength of the link between media vio-
Bergunde, Cathleen Kappes, Julia Kleinwächter, Kaspar Schattke, and
Jessica Wenzlaff is gratefully acknowledged.
lence usage and aggression, researchers have worked toward iden-
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Barbara tifying the underlying processes that mediate between violent
Krahé, University of Potsdam, Department of Psychology, Karl-Liebknecht- media stimuli as input variables and aggressive behavior as an
Strasse 24-25, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany. E-mail: krahe@uni-potsdam.de outcome. Whereas priming, mimicry, and excitation transfer are
630
DESENSITIZATION TO MEDIA VIOLENCE 631
thought to be important mechanisms for the short-term effects of ning to the end of a 4-min playing period regardless of whether
media violence on aggression, observational learning and desen- participants played a violent or a nonviolent game.
sitization have been hypothesized as key mechanisms for long- Past research has varied with regard to the critical measure of
term effects (Bandura, 1973; Berkowitz, 1965; Huesmann, 1982, desensitization. Some studies have used self-reported affect (e.g.,
1988; Huesmann & Kirwil, 2007; Huesmann, Moise, Podolski, & Fanti, Vanman, Henrich, & Avraamides, 2009), while others have
Eron, 2003). Observational learning refers to the acquisition of used different indicators of physiological arousal, such as heart
cognitive structures that promote specific behaviors from observ- rate, blood pressure, skin conductance, or measured brain activity
ing others perform similar behaviors. Watching media characters (e.g., Bartholow et al., 2006; Carnagey et al., 2007). Few studies
behave in a violent fashion can instigate a process of observational have concurrently examined physiological and subjective indices
learning in which a new cognitive and behavioral repertoire pro- of arousal (e.g., Ballard et al., 2006), and yet fewer have included
moting violence is acquired. Desensitization, on the other hand, is subjective reports of both negative (anxiety, anger) and positive
a process involving changes in emotional responsiveness. In gen- (enjoyment) emotional responses (for an exception, see Kirwil,
eral terms, desensitization refers to the gradual reduction in re- 2008). This diversity in operationalizing arousal may be one of the
sponsiveness to an arousal-eliciting stimulus as a function of reasons for the lack of consistency in research on short-term
repeated exposure. In the context of media violence, desensitiza- desensitization.

tion more specifically describes a process “by which initial arousal The vast majority of studies have looked at desensitization in
responses to violent stimuli are reduced, thereby changing an terms of reduced negative arousal in response to media violence.
individual’s ‘present internal state’” (Carnagey, Anderson, & Another pertinent effect of habitual or repeated exposure to media
Bushman, 2007, p. 491). In particular, desensitization to violent violence may be increased positive arousal or enjoyment. The role
media stimuli is thought to reduce anxious arousal. Fear is a of positive arousal to violent media is less than clear. In line with
spontaneous and probably innate response of humans in reaction to Zillmann’s (1996) model of suspense enjoyment based on excita-
violence. As with other emotional responses, repeated exposure to tion transfer principles, a positive association was found between
media violence can decrease negative affect, because violent stim- experienced negative affect and enjoyment of violent media in a
uli lose their capacity to elicit strong emotions the more often the meta-analysis by Hoffner and Levine (2005). However, this pat-
stimulus is presented (Anderson & Dill, 2000). tern held only for self-reported negative affect and enjoyment and
Several studies have shown that in the long run, habitual expo- failed to emerge for the link between physiological arousal and
sure to media violence may reduce anxious arousal in response to enjoyment.
depictions of violence. Research has found that the more time An alternative perspective on the relationship between anxious
individuals spent watching violent media depictions, the less emo- and pleasant arousal may be derived from the general aggression
tionally responsive they became to violent stimuli (e.g., Averill, model extended by Carnagey et al. (2007), to include desensitiza-
Malstrom, Koriat, & Lazarus, 1972) and the less sympathy they tion. They argued that because repeated exposure to media vio-
showed for victims of violence in the real world (e.g., Mullin & lence reduces the anxiety reaction to violence, new presentations
Linz, 1995). Bartholow, Bushman, and Sestir (2006) used event- of violence “instigate different cognitive and affective reactions
related brain potential data (ERPs) to compare responses by vio- than would have occurred in the absence of desensitization” (p.
lent and nonviolent video game users to violent stimuli and relate 491). One such affective reaction may be a positive response to
them to subsequent aggressive responses in a laboratory task. violence that would otherwise have been inhibited by anxious
Bartholow et al. found that the more violent games participants arousal. Huesmann and Kirwil (2007) have called this process
played habitually, the less brain activity they showed in response sensitization. They argued that, for some individuals, watching
to violent pictures and the more aggressively they behaved in the violence is enjoyable, and, whereas it may provoke anger, it does
subsequent task. In a series of studies with children age 5 to 12, not produce anxious arousal. On the contrary, the more such
Funk and colleagues demonstrated that habitual usage of violent individuals watch violence, the more they like watching it. They
video games was associated with reduced empathy with others in are experiencing a “sensitization” of positive feelings. Because
need of help (Funk, Baldacci, Pasold, & Baumgardner, 2004; finding violence pleasant is incompatible with experiencing anx-
Funk, Buchman, Jenks, & Bechtoldt, 2003). ious arousal, increased pleasant arousal to depictions of violence in
Evidence is less clear with regard to short-term desensitization individuals with a high exposure to media violence would consti-
effects in experimental settings. In one recent study, Carnagey et tute indirect evidence of desensitization of “negative feelings”
al. (2007) showed that participants’ physiological arousal to de- about violence. On the basis of this line of reasoning, we propose
pictions of real-life violence was reduced after participants had that anxious arousal by violent media stimuli is negatively related
played a violent video game compared to a control group that had to pleasant arousal and that habitual exposure to media violence
played a nonviolent game. In contrast, Funk et al. (2003) found no should both decrease negative emotional reactions and increase
evidence of short-term desensitization (indicated by reduced em- positive emotional reactions to violence, though the increase in
pathy with others in need of help) in the children in their study who positive emotions may occur for only a subset of individuals. For
played a violent video game as compared with those who played a example, in a recent study of young adults in Poland, Kirwil
nonviolent game. Ballard, Hamby, Panee, and Nivens (2006) (2008) found that proactively aggressive individuals tended to
found some evidence of physiological desensitization over a respond to violent media stimuli with a reduction in anxious
3-week game playing period but failed to find differential desen- arousal, whereas reactively aggressive individuals tended to re-
sitization as a function of playing a violent versus nonviolent spond with an increase in enjoyment.
game. Finally, Arriaga, Esteves, Carneiro, and Monteiro (2006) A further key question refers to the content specificity of de-
failed to find a decrease in physiological arousal from the begin- sensitization in response to violent media stimuli. Does desensiti-
632 KRAHÉ ET AL.
zation to other arousing stimuli also predict increased aggression, ferent links between SCL and proactive and reactive aggression,
or is the link dependent on violent content? Anderson and Bush- respectively. For example, Hubbard et al. (2002, 2004) found low
man (2001) pointed out that although exciting nonviolent video SCL to be associated with proactive aggression in children,
games can increase arousal, “only violent games should directly whereas higher levels of SC were related to reactive aggression.
prime aggressive thoughts and stimulate the long-term develop- Each of these studies linked individual differences in arousal to
ment of aggressive knowledge structures” (p. 356). Experimental relatively stable aggressive dispositions. More pertinent to the
studies comparing the effects of violent and nonviolent video present study are studies linking physiological activation to
games matched for difficulty, enjoyment, arousal quality, and level laboratory-induced aggression. In reviewing this research, relying
of frustration have provided empirical support for this line of mostly on heart rate as a measure of arousal, Patrick and Verona
reasoning (e.g., Anderson et al., 2004; Bartholow, Sestir, & Davis, (2007) concluded that these studies have produced mixed results
2005). Carnagey et al. (2007) found that although there were no and called for more research using multiple measures of activation,
differences in heart rate immediately after playing a violent versus including SCL. The potential relation of SCL to aggressive cog-
a nonviolent game for 20 min, participants in the violent but not in nitions is even less clear. Past research provides at best indirect
the nonviolent game condition subsequently showed reduced evidence concerning this issue. Studies have demonstrated a link
arousal when witnessing a real-life incident of violence. This between low SCL and shorter response latencies in a word asso-
finding indicates that desensitization to real-life violence is con- ciation task (Jones, 1960) or a visual discrimination task (Vossel,
tingent upon the violent content of the media stimulus. However, 1988), but neither study addressed responses to aggression-related
this explanation focuses on the cognitive effects of violent media stimuli. Against this limited body of research, the present study
input, and a different mechanism is required to explain how examined whether differences in baseline SCL and SCL responses
changes in emotional reactivity might affect aggression. Hues- during the violent clips would be associated with differences in
mann and colleagues (Huesmann, 1997, p. 81; Huesmann, 2007; aggressive cognitions.
Huesmann & Kirwil, 2007; Huesmann et al., 2003) proposed that Few studies are available that have addressed desensitization to
a person’s emotional reaction to the anticipation of aggression and arousing stimuli differing in affective quality. Fanti et al. (2009)
violence plays a role in inhibiting or promoting aggressive re- showed participants a series of violent and funny film scenes and
asked them to indicate how much they enjoyed them. For the
sponding. When scripts for behaving aggressively are activated by
violent scenes, there was a curvilinear pattern of liking. An initial
some situation, they may be inhibited if the anxious arousal stim-
decline in enjoyment of the violent scenes was followed by an
ulated by that activation is greater than the pleasant arousal.
increase during subsequent scenes, and enjoyment was greater at
Consequently, people whose negative emotional reactions to vio-
the end than at the beginning of the series. In contrast, a gradual
lence have been desensitized (or who by disposition have lower
decline in enjoyment was found for the funny scenes. This finding
reactions) may experience more positive emotions when anticipat-
suggests that sensitization (defined here in terms of an increase in
ing aggression and should be more likely to engage in aggression.
positive affect to depictions of violence that can be assumed to
According to this theoretical position, people who react less neg-
correlate with a decrease in negative affect [desensitization]) was
atively to violent media scenes and experience more positive
specific to violent content. Unfortunately, Fanti et al. did not
reactions to such scenes should be more aggression prone. The key
include a measure of habitual usage of media violence. Bartholow
mechanism is the person’s emotional reaction to violent scenes, et al. (2006) compared ERPs to violent pictures with nonviolent
not the person’s reaction to other kinds of arousing scenes. Relat- but negatively arousing images (e.g., images of facial disfigure-
ing emotional reactions to scenes of violence to aggression, Moise- ments). They found that greater preference and past use of violent
Titus (1999) found that people who showed lower anxious reac- games predicted decreased ERPs to the violent pictures but not to
tions to violent scenes scored higher on trait aggression, had the unpleasant comparison pictures and that differences in re-
watched more media violence, and subsequently behaved more sponses to the nonviolent pictures, unlike differences in response
aggressively on a laboratory task. However, she examined only to violent images, were unrelated to subsequent aggressive behav-
reactions to violent films and did not compare them with reactions ior. In combination, the two studies suggest (a) that repeated media
to other types of arousing scenes. exposure desensitizes emotional reactions to violence only if the
Regarding the link between aggression and skin conductance exposure is to scenes of violence and (b) that it is only decreased
level (SCL) as a quantitative measure of arousal, empirical evi- emotional reactions to violence that are linked to increases in
dence is mixed, varying for measures of electrodermal activity, aggressive cognitions and behavior.
age, and the psychological meaning assigned to the stimuli
(Fowles, 2000; Fowles, Kochanska, & Murray, 2000; Lorber,
The Current Study
2004; Patrick & Verona, 2007). There is some indication that
adults low on resting SCL and in SCL responses to negative The current study was designed to add to the existing body of
stimuli are more prone to showing hostility and aggression. Hues- evidence on the role of desensitization in the media violence–
mann and Kirwil (2007) reviewed evidence that individuals dis- aggression link in four ways: (a) by looking at altered emotional
playing low physiological arousal at baseline level were more reactions to a violent film clip as an outcome variable of long-term,
likely to show aggressive behavior over a subsequent period of habitual media violence exposure; (b) by looking at desensitization
observation. Longitudinal studies showed that boys who had lower to violence both in terms of a decrease in anxious arousal and of
heart rate and SCLs at age 15 were significantly more likely to an increase in pleasant arousal; (c) by looking at altered emotional
commit violent offenses in the following years (Scarpa & Raine, reactions to violent films as a situational predictor of aggressive
2007). However, to complicate matters, studies have shown dif- cognitions and behavior; and (d) by comparing responses to vio-
lent media stimuli with responses to sad and funny stimuli to habitual media violence exposure. In addition, trait aggression,
address the issue of the content specificity of the aggression- trait arousability, and normative beliefs about aggression were
promoting effects of desensitization. measured at this stage as alternative predictors of arousal, aggres-
The study was designed to test our hypotheses about how sive cognitions, and aggressive behavior to enable us to identify
anxious and pleasant emotional responses to arousing scenes of the unique contribution of media violence exposure. Two weeks
violence (in contrast to other arousing scenes) relate both to later the participants came into the laboratory and were exposed to
habitual media violence exposure and to proactive and reactive two different emotionally arousing films: a violent clip and a sad
immediate aggression. As described above, existing evidence sug- or a funny comparison clip. They answered a brief questionnaire
gests that those who watch or play violent media should become after each clip assessing a variety of variables including their
desensitized to the negative emotions violence stimulates and emotional arousal during the film clip. SCL was recorded con-
should experience both less anxious arousal and more pleasant stantly before and during the films as a measure of physiological
arousal when viewing or thinking about violence. In turn, as arousal. Following the film clips, participants completed a lexical
decision task as a measure of the cognitive accessibility of aggres-
Huesmann and colleagues have argued (Huesmann & Kirwil,
sive thoughts and a competitive reaction time task as a measure of

2007; Huesmann et al., 2003), the reduced anxious and increased
aggressive behavior.
pleasant arousal that accompanies thinking about violence should
cause more aggressive thoughts to be stimulated by the violent
Method
scene and should allow more aggressive scripts—scripts that
would normally be inhibited by the anxious arousal—to be used Participants
proactively in social problem solving. However, it is unlikely that
the more reactive type of angry emotional aggression in response Students enrolled in a broad range of courses at the University
to provocation would be made any more likely by such changes in of Potsdam, Germany, were invited by university intranet and
emotional arousal to scenes of violence. The present study in- flyers to participate in a two-part study on emotional responses to
cluded measures of both proactive and reactive aggression to test films, the first part of which was to be completed as an online
this line of reasoning. survey. They were informed that following the first part they
would be invited to the lab for an experimental session in which
This thinking leads us to four specific hypotheses:
they would be shown different film clips. Students were asked to
1. The more media violence exposure individuals have had in
respond by e-mail to express their willingness to participate, and
the past, the less increase in physiological arousal they will show
those who did so were sent the link to the online questionnaire,
in response to a violent film clip, both compared to arousal at
also via e-mail. Participants were offered 15 Euros or, alterna-
baseline and compared to other arousing media stimuli (sad and
tively, 3 hours of course credit for participation in both parts. A
funny clips). total of 625 undergraduate students, 413 men and 212 women,
2. The more media violence exposure individuals have had in with a mean age of 23.7 years (SD ⫽ 3.09) participated in this
the past, the less anxious and, correspondingly, the more pleasant initial online survey.
arousal will they report in response to a violent film clip. No At the end of the online questionnaire, participants received
significant correlations are expected between habitual media vio- detailed information about the second part of the study and were
lence exposure and anxious and pleasant arousal in response to sad asked to sign up for a lab session in which they would view some
or funny clips, because the desensitization that prior exposure film clips, be recorded physiologically, play a game, and answer
produced would be specific to violent content. more questions. In compliance with the requirements of the Ethics
3. The lower the anxious arousal and the higher the pleasant Committee of the University of Potsdam, which formally approved
arousal of individuals in response to a violent film clip, the more the study, participants were then told about the violent nature of
rapid will be the accessibility of aggressive cognitions, as evi- some of the film clips and possible viewer reactions to them as
denced in shorter response latencies in recognizing aggression- well as about the recording of physiological arousal. Once they had
related words, and the greater will be the individuals’ immediate made an appointment for the lab session, participants received a
proactive unprovoked aggression. The effects will occur indepen- confirmation e-mail instructing them to refrain from drinking
dently of the effects of habitual media violence exposure, trait coffee or other stimulating drinks for at least two hours prior to the
aggression, and aggressive beliefs on the aggression measures and scheduled appointment, as this would interfere with the SCL
independent of the effects of trait arousability on the arousal recording. A total of 341 of the 625 undergraduate students who
measures. The arousal response to violent film clips is not assumed had completed the online survey participated in the second part of
to be related to immediate reactive provoked aggression. the study; of these, 38 had to be excluded due to unusable SCL
4. Finally, the relations between emotional arousal to film clips data. The final sample consisted of 303 participants (215 men and
and subsequent aggressive cognitions and behavior are hypothe- 88 women) for whom complete data were available from both data
sized to be dependent on the violent content of the arousing points. The mean age of this sample was 23.75 years (SD ⫽ 2.76).
stimulus. That is, lower anxious arousal and greater pleasant On average, lab sessions took place 2 weeks after the return of the
arousal to the violent film clip but not to the sad or funny clips online questionnaire.
should be linked to increased accessibility of aggressive cognitions
Measures: Online Questionnaire
and higher levels of proactive aggressive behavior.
To examine these predictions, we conducted a study in which Habitual media violence exposure. Participants were pro-
participants first completed an online questionnaire about their vided with genre lists for movies and electronic games. For each
634 KRAHÉ ET AL.
item on the two lists, they were asked to indicate how frequently arguments when people disagree with me”), anger (e.g., “I have
they used the respective genre on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 trouble controlling my temper”), and hostility (e.g., “I know that
(never) to 5 (very often). Frequency ratings are commonly used in ‘friends’ talk about me behind my back”) as facets of dispositional
studies operationalizing media violence exposure through provid- aggressiveness and has a total of 29 items. Four new items were
ing broad media categories or genre lists (e.g., Potts, Dedmon, & added to measure relationally aggressive behavior (e.g., “I have
Halford, 1996; Slater, Henry, Swaim, & Anderson, 2003). sometimes spread rumors about someone who had treated me
For movies, 10 genres were provided: (a) action, (b) drama, (c) badly”), bringing the total number of items on this measure to 33.
horror/slasher, (d) comedies, (e) military and war, (f) crime thrill- Responses were made on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (not at all
ers, (g) romantic fiction, (h) martial arts, (i) science fiction, and (j) true) to 5 (exactly true). A total aggression score was computed for
western. For electronic games, 15 genres were presented: (a) each participant by averaging responses across the 33 items.
beat-em ups, (b) shoot-em ups, (c) first-person shooters, (d) third-
Aggressive normative beliefs. Normative acceptance of ag-
person shooters, (e) tactical shooters, (f) survival horror games, (g)
gression was measured with a vignette describing a provocation
genre mix, (h) classic adventure, (i) action adventure, (j) role-
scenario based on Krahé and Möller (2004). The scenario de-
playing games, (k) general simulations, (l) military simulations,

scribed a confrontation where the protagonist was criticized un-
(m) sports games, (n) construction strategy, and (o) military strat-
egy. Each game category was illustrated by a specific example fairly by a colleague in front of others and then finds himself/
prominent at the time of the study. herself alone with that colleague later in the day. The protagonist
A sample of 21 undergraduate students (5 women and 16 men, was described as male or female to match the participants’ gender.
mean age ⫽ 23.8 years, SD ⫽ 3.12) who identified themselves as A total of 11 aggressive responses by the protagonist toward the
regular media users rated the genres in terms of violent content. colleague were presented as potential actions in that situation (e.g.,
They were asked to rate the level of violence typically character- “to scream at him”, “to insult him”). Participants were asked to
istic of each genre, using a 5-point scale from 1 (nonviolent) to 5 indicate, on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (not at all ok) to 5 (very
(very violent). Interrater agreement as indicated by Kendall’s W much ok), how acceptable they would find the response in that
was high (W ⫽ .86, p ⬍ .001). On that basis, a mean violence score situation. Ratings were averaged across the 11 items to create an
was computed across raters for each genre. overall index of normative acceptance of aggression. Huesmann
To arrive at a measure of media violence exposure, we selected and Guerra (1997) have previously found that norms of this type
those genres that had received violence ratings of higher than 2 on are predictive of aggressive behavior and related to observation of
the 5-point scale from 1 (nonviolent) to 5 (very violent) from the violence.
sample of independent raters for the media violence exposure Order variation. To control for order effects, we created
index. This was true for nine out of the 10 movie genres (all except different versions of the questionnaire in which each dispositional
romantic fiction; violence ratings ranged from 2.43 for drama to measure appeared once in every possible position. The media
4.81 for military and war films) and 12 of the 15 video game violence exposure measure was always presented first because it
genres (all except general simulations, sports games, and construc-
was most closely related to the theme of the study (i.e., a study on
tion strategy games; range from 2.05 for classic adventure to 4.95
emotional reactions to films), as advertised to the participants.
for first-person shooters). Participants’ frequency ratings for each
of the selected genres were multiplied by the average violence
rating of that genre obtained from the independent raters. The
resulting product scores per genre were then averaged across the
21 genres.1
Trait arousability. This construct referred to a person’s
susceptibility to strong emotional responsiveness in terms of the
general tendency to experience strong emotions and the ease of 1
getting into strong positive and negative emotional states. It was Although different participants, if asked, might think of any one
specific program as falling into multiple genres (e.g., action–adventure vs.
measured by a 21-item scale composed of 11 items from Mehra-
military–war), this is unlikely to produce much difference in violence
bian’s (1995) Trait Arousability Scale (example item: “I get happy exposure scores when the participants are being asked about frequency of
or sad easily”) and 10 items from the Affect Intensity Scale by media genres. The self-reports of how often genres are used are more
Geuens and de Pelsmacker (2002; example item: “My happy subjective self-perceptions that allow the same media game or movie to
moods are so strong that I feel like I’m in heaven”). Responses influence frequencies of multiple categories. For example, if asked about
were made on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (not at all true) to 7 their viewing of war–military genres, participants who have watched The
(exactly true). An overall arousability score was computed for each Matrix are likely to think of it as in that category. When asked about
participant by averaging responses across the 21 items. The scale science fiction or action, the participants are likely to think of The Matrix
reliability data for the scales of the online questionnaire are pre- as in those genres. Thus, self-reported viewing frequencies for all three
sented in Table 1. categories are likely to be increased. However, because the overall violence
viewing score for a participant is the average of the violence viewing
Trait aggression. The dispositional tendency toward aggres-
scores for genres, the contribution to the participant’s overall violence
sion was measured by a German version of the Aggression Ques- viewing score will actually be lower than that for another participant who
tionnaire by Buss and Perry (1992; Krahé & Möller, 2010). The perceives The Matrix only as military–war, which has a higher violence
original Aggression Questionnaire comprises aggressive behavior rating. We consider this property of our rating system desirable, as per-
(physical aggression, e.g., “I may hit someone if he or she pro- ceiving a game or movie only in a more violent genre probably indicates
vokes me”; verbal aggression, e.g., “I can’t help getting into more of a focus on the violence.
Table 1
Reliabilities, Descriptive Statistics, and Gender Differences for the Dispositional Measures in the Online Survey (Time 1 Sample, N ⫽
625)
Final sample
Measure Items ␣ Range M SD Men Women F (N ⫽ 303)
Media violence exposure 21 .85 2.05–24.75a 7.53 1.86 8.06 6.49 119.60ⴱⴱⴱ 6.75 (1.62)
Trait aggression 33 .89 1–5 2.08 0.43 2.09 2.00 6.24ⴱ 2.06 (0.44)
Trait arousability 21 .84 1–7 4.57 0.76 4.32 5.04 152.02ⴱⴱⴱ 4.57 (0.73)
Aggressive norms 11 .84 1–5 1.78 0.60 1.83 1.69 6.42ⴱ 1.76 (0.57)
Note. Values for final sample are M (SD).

a
Multiplicative index of frequency and violence ratings. Frequency ratings ranged from 1 to 5; violence ratings ranged from 2.05 to 4.95.
ⴱ
p ⬍ .05. ⴱⴱⴱ p ⬍ .001.
Measures: Laboratory Session Lang, Zhou, Schwartz, Bolls, & Potter, 2000). Prior to the film
presentation, an 80-s baseline measure was taken during a resting
Violent film clips. Two violent film clips were used in the period.3 SCL was then recorded continuously throughout the pre-
laboratory part of the study.2 The first was taken from the film sentation of the film clips.
Casino (Scorsese, 1995) and lasted a total of 2:19 min. Within the Self-reported affective responses and perceptions of film
clip, two critical violent scenes were selected, lasting 59 and 32 s, clips. Immediately after each film clip ended, participants were
respectively. The second clip was taken from the film Reservoir asked to rate how they had felt while watching the clip by indi-
Dogs (Tarantino, 1992) with a total length of 4.41 min and two
cating how pleasant they had found the clip and how much anxiety
critical scenes of 60 s each. The clips were selected on the basis of
they had felt while watching it. These two critical items were
a pilot study with 87 undergraduate students that showed them to
embedded within three manipulation check items and four further
elicit strong negative affect, in particular anxiety. They had also
filler items, and responses were made on a 7-point scale ranging
been used in a previous study by Moise-Titus (1999) and were
from 0 (not at all) to 6 (very much). For the manipulation check
found to elicit high levels of anxiety.
items, participants were asked to rate how violent, sad, and funny
Sad clips. Based on the results of the pilot study, two clips
they had found the film clip. Ratings were made on a 7-point scale
were selected to elicit sad mood. One was taken from the film The
ranging from 0 (not at all) to 6 (very much).
Champ (Zeffirelli, 1979) and lasted 4:19 min. The first critical sad
Accessibility of aggressive thoughts. To measure response
scene lasted 106 s, and the second sad scene lasted 104 s. The
latencies for aggressive words as an index of cognitive availability,
second clip was selected from the film Stepmom (Columbus, 1998)
we asked participants to work on a lexical decision task and
and lasted 4:12 min. The two critical scenes lasted 93 s and 92 s,
measured their reaction time to complete it. They were presented
respectively.
with a total of 160 six-letter strings and had to indicate for each
Funny clips. The two funny clips were also selected on the
string whether or not it represented a meaningful German word.
basis of the pilot study. Selection criteria were that they contained
The stimulus material was drawn from a pilot study with linguis-
an action element (excluding purely verbal humor) and that there
tics students and consisted of 40 aggressive words (e.g., cannon,
was no aggression (excluding slapstick scenes, e.g., cream cakes
weapon, knives), 40 nonaggressive words (e.g., flower, summer,
being thrown into a person’s face). The first clip was taken from
meadow), and 80 nonwords (e.g., rahmin, strese, faltar) presented
Monty Python’s Life of Brian (Jones, 1979) and had a total length
in random order. The nonaggressive words and the nonwords
of 4:07 min. The two critical scenes lasted 136 s and 79 s,
served as covariates to control for overall differences in response
respectively. The second funny clip was taken from another Monty
latencies regardless of content. The reaction times in the lexical
Python sketch, Philosophers’ World Cup (Cleese, 1972; http://
decision task were converted into log scores and were then aggre-
www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-92vV3QGagck/monty_python_
gated into mean scores for aggressive words, nonaggressive words,
philosophers_world_cup/) and had a total length of 3:50 min and
and nonwords, respectively.
two critical scenes of 98 s and 78 s, respectively. Participants in the
Aggressive behavior. The noise blast paradigm, a standard
pilot study were asked if they had seen the clips in question;
competitive reaction time task often employed in media violence
percentages ranged below 20% across the three types of film. On
research, was used as a measure of aggressive behavior (Anderson
that basis, it was concluded that familiarity with the selected clips
& Bushman, 1997; Ferguson, Rueda, Cruz, Ferguson, & Fritz,
was low in the target sample.
Physiological arousal. SCL was recorded as a measure of 2008). Participants were instructed that they would compete
physiological arousal. This measure has been widely used in
research of desensitization and was described by Ravaja (2004) as 2
All film clips are available in both German and English and can be
an excellent operationalization of arousal in the context of media obtained from the first author.
research. The present study used PAR-PORT, a portable device 3
The total length of the SCL measurement prior to the presentation of
that records SCL data at a rate of 10 measures per second the film clips was 90 s. The first 10 s were discarded from the analyses to
(www.par-berlin.com). This sampling rate is common in studies in clean the data from fluctuations due to movements and orienting responses
which SCL is used as an outcome measure in media research (e.g., at the start of the recording, leaving a baseline period of 80 s.
636 KRAHÉ ET AL.
against another person in a series of 25 trials in how fast they could Bartholow et al., 2006). These two tasks were presented in coun-
press a button in response to a visual signal and that the faster of terbalanced order. The experimenter was present during the whole
the two would win the trial. They were told that the winner could session but separated from the participant by a screen. At the end
send an aversive noise stimulus to the other person and that prior of the session, participants were shown an entertaining film about
to each trial both participants would set the intensity of the noise frolicking monkeys designed to dissipate any remaining negative
level they were going to send to the other person in case they won. arousal and were fully debriefed before receiving their monetary
In fact, there was no other player involved, and the winning and reward or course credit.
losing trials were computer generated. Prior to the first round,
participants received a sample noise blast and did a dummy run to
Results
familiarize themselves with the procedure. Noise levels ranged
from 60 dB (Level 1) to 105 dB (Level 10, about the same volume
as a smoke or fire alarm). A nonaggressive no-noise option (Level Dispositional Measures (Time 1)
0) was also provided. They were told that prior to each trial they
The means and standard deviations for the dispositional mea-
would see the alleged opponent’s chosen noise level for the pre-
sures from the online survey (i.e., media violence exposure, trait
ceding trial and that the other person would see theirs.
aggression, trait arousability, and normative beliefs) along with
The noise level set for the first trial (before participants learned
information about internal consistency are presented in Table 1.
about the noise level set by the alleged opponent) yielded a
All measures were found to have good reliability. It should be
measure of proactive, unprovoked aggression (Giancola & Parrott,
noted that conceptually, the media violence exposure measure is
2008). The mean noise level set for the remaining 24 trials served
not required to have high internal consistency because the different
as a measure of reactive, provoked aggression, because partici-
genres and media can be used independently of one another, and
pants were aware of the noise levels their alleged opponent had set
the index therefore presents a cumulative measure of exposure.
before selecting theirs. The noise level set for the first trial is
Nonetheless, the alpha of .85 reported in Table 1 is substantial,
considered the purer measure of individual differences in aggres-
suggesting that preference for violent media contents shows a
sion, because it is not confounded by the pattern of provocations
consistent pattern across genres.
the participant receives on subsequent trials.
One-way analyses of variance revealed significant gender dif-
ferences on all of the variables in the study. As shown in Table 1,
Procedure men scored higher on media violence exposure, acceptance of
Upon arrival at the lab, participants were seated in front of a aggressive norms, and aggressive behavior, and women scored
computer and connected to the PAR-PORT device for measuring higher on trait arousability. A comparison of participants who took
SCL. After the 80-s baseline was recorded, they were shown the part in both parts of the study with those who dropped out after
first film clip. Participants were randomly allocated to one of two Time 1 showed no significant differences between the two groups
orders (violent film first, comparison film second and vice versa), on any of the Time 1 measures, multivariate F(4, 567) ⫽ 1.23, p ⫽
one of two comparison conditions (sad vs. funny), and one of the .30, all univariate effects p ⬎ .10 (see Table 1 for means of the
two film clips per condition, yielding a total of 16 different final sample). Therefore, there is no indication that the final
combinations. Following the film clip, they rated their pleasant and sample of participants who took part in the full study was different
anxious arousal during the clip and also made ratings of how from the initial, larger sample on any of the variables of interest.
violent, sad, and funny they found the clip. These measures were
completed in a paper-and-pencil format, and the SCL recoding was Laboratory Measures of Aggression and Self-Reported
halted during this phase. Then the SCL recording was resumed Emotional Arousal (Time 2)
and, after another 80-s baseline recording period, the second film
clip was shown. The procedure was exactly the same for the The means, reliabilities, and gender differences for the self-
second film clip, with the same measurements of self-reported report arousal measures and aggression variables are shown in
arousal and evaluation of the film clip taken immediately after- Table 2. Again, the measures had high internal consistencies, and
ward. After the second clip ratings were completed, the partici- again there were significant gender differences. Men scored sig-
pants received a standardized set of verbal instructions on screen nificantly higher on pleasant arousal while watching the clips,
for the word completion task and for the noise blast task (see whereas women scored significantly higher on anxious arousal.
Table 2
Means and Gender Differences for Self-Reports of Arousal and Situational Aggression Measures During Laboratory Task (N ⫽ 303)
Measure Items ␣ Range M SD Men Women F
Pleasant arousal: All films 3 0–6 2.76 1.04 2.93 2.41 15.71ⴱⴱⴱ
Anxious arousal: All films 3 0–6 1.13 1.19 0.98 1.58 14.75ⴱⴱⴱ
Log response times aggressive words 40 .92 6.21–7.60 6.60 0.20 6.60 6.60 0.01
Unprovoked aggression 1 0–10 2.19 1.63 2.29 1.82 4.95ⴱ
Provoked aggression 24 .96 0–10 3.63 2.02 3.62 3.50 0.19
ⴱ ⴱⴱⴱ
p ⬍ .05. p ⬍ .001.
Men also scored higher on unprovoked aggression in the compet- averaged across 150 data points; Time 1); (b) mean across the rest
itive reaction time task. of the first critical scene (Time 2); (c) mean between the first and
second critical scene (Time 3); (d) mean across the first 15 s of
Manipulation Checks for Film Clips the second critical scene (Time 4); and (e) mean across the rest of
the second critical scene (Time 5). The rationale for selecting the
The manipulation checks for the three types of film clips are first 15 s into each critical scene (Time 1 and Time 4) was to have
presented in Table 3. As expected, the two violent film clips were a time window of the same duration across scenes that otherwise
perceived as highly violent, and violence ratings were significantly varied in length. In addition, the 80-s baseline measure was created
higher than those for the sad and funny comparison films. The two by averaging across the 800 data points prior to the start of the first
sad films produced significantly higher sadness ratings than the clip. No gender differences were found on any of these indices:
violent and funny films did, and the two funny films produced baseline, F(1, 302) ⫽ 0.07, p ⫽ .78; violent clips, multivariate F(6,
significantly higher funniness ratings than the violent and the sad 296) ⫽ 1.70, p ⫽ .13; sad clips, F(6, 151) ⫽ 1.32, p ⫽ .25; funny
films did. Thus, the clips were successful at representing the clips, F(6, 138) ⫽ 1.86, p ⫽ .09.
categories of violent, sad, and funny films. There were no signif-
icant differences within each film condition or between different

orders of presentation. Therefore, the data were collapsed across Relations of Self-Reports of Emotional Arousal
these two variables for further analysis. to SCL Indices of Arousal
Table 5 shows the partial correlations between self-reports of
Bivariate Correlations Between Violence Exposure, emotional arousal during the film clips and SCL arousal during the
Aggressive Norms, Arousal, and Aggression film clips, controlling for baseline SCL. The results show positive
The correlations between the dispositional trait measures from correlations between ratings of anxious arousal in response to
the online survey, the self-reported measures of arousal in response violent films and SCL for all five consecutive points in time.
to the violent film clip, and the postfilm aggression measures are Conversely, negative correlations were found between reported
presented in Table 4. Because men and women differed on several pleasant arousal and SCL levels across the five indices. In contrast,
of the measures, the correlations are presented separately for men for viewing the sad and funny clips, none of the correlations
and for women. For both genders, habitual media violence expo- between SCL arousal and self-reported pleasant or anxious arousal
sure correlated positively with trait aggression, with pleasant were significant. These results confer particular validity on the
arousal to the violent clip, and with more rapid recognition of self-report measures of anxious and pleasant arousal while watch-
aggressive words in the lexical decisions task. Trait aggression was ing violent clips as accurate measures of the strength of emotional
linked to beliefs accepting aggression, and trait arousability responses to such clips. While as Table 7 indicates, the participants
showed a positive correlation with anxious arousal elicited by the showed just as much average SCL arousal to funny films as to
violent clip. In addition, some gender-specific correlations were violent films, SCL arousal from funny films did not translate into
found. For women, media violence exposure correlated with be- subjective experiences of pleasant (or anxious) arousal.
liefs accepting aggression and trait aggression correlated with The analyses addressing our hypotheses are reported in three
pleasant arousal. For men, trait arousability was negatively corre- steps: First, to examine the proposed links between habitual media
lated with pleasant arousal by the violent clip. Habitual media violence usage and situationally induced arousal and affect, we
violence exposure was unrelated to both unprovoked and provoked report the bivariate correlations between past media violence ex-
aggression on the competitive reaction time task for both genders. posure and physiological arousal (Hypothesis 1) as well as self-
reported affect (Hypothesis 2) in response to the three types of
films. Second, situational arousal and affect elicited by the violent
Aggregate Scores of Physiological Arousal
clip are linked to aggressive cognitions and aggressive behavior,
After they had been cleaned for outliers and adjusted for skew- placing them in the context of other relevant predictors. A series of
ness through square root transformations, the continuous SCL multivariate path analyses that includes trait aggression, trait
measures during each clip were transformed into five aggregated arousability, and aggressive norms is reported to assess the inde-
scores: (a) mean across the first 15 s of the first critical scene (i.e., pendent contribution of desensitization to the prediction of aggres-
Table 3
Manipulation Checks for Violent, Sad, and Funny Films in Laboratory Study
Violent clips Sad clips Funny clips
Affective response Casino Reservoir Dogs Champ Stepmom Life of Brian Philosophers’ World Cup
Was violent 5.30 (1.07) 5.00 (1.00) 0.54 (0.94) 0.02 (0.15) 1.06 (1.12) 0.02 (0.16)
Was sad 2.95 (1.84) 1.81 (1.72) 4.11 (1.46) 4.50 (1.30) 0.28 (0.97) 0.04 (0.20)
Was funny 0.27 (0.82) 0.94 (1.30) 0.22 (0.61) 0.50 (0.24) 4.82 (1.22) 4.74 (1.22)
Note. Values are M (SD). Scale range was 0 – 6. Violence ratings were significantly higher in the two violent clips than in the sad and funny clips, sadness
ratings were significantly higher in the two sad clips than in the violent and funny clips, and funniness ratings were significantly higher in the two funny
clips than in the sad and violent clips. All ps ⬍ .000.
638 KRAHÉ ET AL.
Table 4
Correlations Between Media Violence Exposure, Trait Aggression, Trait Arousability, Aggressive Norms, Self-Reported Arousal From
Violent Clip, and Situational Aggression (N ⫽ 303)
Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1. Media violence exposure — .18ⴱⴱ .04 .06 .13† ⫺.03 ⫺.21ⴱ .09 .11
2. Trait aggression .18† — .21ⴱⴱ .49ⴱⴱⴱ .00 .05 ⫺.15ⴱ .18ⴱⴱ .12†
3. Trait arousability ⫺.18† .09 — .11 ⫺.21ⴱⴱ .15ⴱ .02 ⫺.03 .11
4. Aggressive norms .26ⴱ .38ⴱⴱⴱ .04 — .01 .10 ⫺.08 .18ⴱ .26ⴱⴱⴱ
5. Pleasant arousal from violent clip .30ⴱⴱ .27ⴱⴱ ⫺.06 .08 — ⫺.43ⴱⴱⴱ .17ⴱ .07 .03
6. Anxious arousal from violent clip ⫺.19† ⫺.03 .30ⴱⴱ ⫺.06 ⫺.39ⴱⴱⴱ — .12† ⫺.11 ⫺.01
7. Log RT aggressive wordsa ⫺.19† ⫺.14 .11 ⫺.18 ⫺.11 ⫺.08 — ⫺.03 ⫺.08
8. Unprovoked aggression ⫺.03 .17 .09 .01 ⫺.08 ⫺.14 ⫺.09 — .59ⴱⴱⴱ
9. Provoked aggression ⫺.07 .10 .05 ⫺.11 .12 .03 ⫺.09 .54ⴱⴱⴱ —
Note. Men (N ⫽ 215) are above and women (N ⫽ 88) are below the diagonal. RT ⫽ reaction time.
a
Controlled for nonaggressive words and nonwords.
†
p ⬍ .10. ⴱ p ⬍ .05. ⴱⴱ p ⬍ .01. ⴱⴱⴱ p ⬍ .001.
sive cognitions and proactive/unprovoked as well as reactive/ watching the violent clip. This finding supports the desensitization
provoked aggression (Hypothesis 3). Finally, we contrast hypothesis for violent media. Table 6 further reveals that habitual
responses to the violent clips with those to the sad and funny clips exposure to media violence was also associated with reduced
to address the issue of the content specificity of desensitization physiological arousal to sad scenes, indicating that habituation at
(Hypothesis 4). the physiological levels in those who use a lot of media violence
occurs for sad as well as violent content. However, media violence
Relation of Media Violence Exposure With exposure did not correlate with SCL for funny films.
Physiological Arousal to Film Clips (Hypothesis 1)
Relations of Media Violence Exposure With
To control for individual differences in characteristic SCL, we
Self-Reports of Arousal to Film Clips (Hypothesis 2)
computed partial correlations (controlling for baseline SCL) be-
tween habitual media violence exposure and the five SCL indices Our desensitization hypothesis predicted that the more partici-
into which the continuous SCL data were divided. As there were pants habitually used media violence, the more pleasant and the
no gender differences in SCL reactions to the films, genders were less anxious arousal they would experience when viewing the
combined for this analysis. The results are displayed in Table 6. As violent clip. As shown in Table 4, a positive correlation was found
predicted, habitual media violence exposure showed significant for both genders between media violence exposure and pleasant
negative correlations with each of the five indices for violent clips, arousal. The correlations with anxious arousal were in the pre-
indicating that the more participants were used to media violence, dicted direction but were only marginally significant for women
the less physiological response they showed in the course of and failed to reach significance for men. When the data from both
genders were combined, media violence exposure correlated with
Table 5
Partial Correlations of SCLs During Violent, Sad, and Funny Table 6
Film Clips (Controlled for Baseline SCL) With Self-Reported Partial Correlations of Habitual Media Violence Exposure With
Anxious Arousal and Pleasant Arousal During the Film Clips SCLs During Violent, Sad, and Funny Film Clips (Controlling
for Baseline SCL)
Type of film
Type of film
Anxious arousal Pleasant arousal
Violent Sad Funny
SCL period Violent Sad Funny Violent Sad Funny SCL period (N ⫽ 303) (N ⫽ 158) (N ⫽ 145)
T1 .18ⴱⴱ .12 .01 ⫺.12ⴱ ⫺.05 .05 T1 ⫺.14ⴱ ⫺.22ⴱⴱ .11

T2 .19ⴱⴱⴱ .01 ⫺.04 ⫺.19ⴱⴱ ⫺.06 .01 T2 ⫺.17ⴱⴱ ⫺.19ⴱ .04
T3 .17ⴱ ⫺.05 ⫺.04 ⫺.15ⴱⴱ .11 ⫺.06 T3 ⫺.19ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.16 ⫺.04
T4 .18ⴱⴱ ⫺.06 ⫺.07 ⫺.19ⴱⴱ .12 .03 T4 ⫺.21ⴱⴱ ⫺.17ⴱ .00
T5 .16ⴱ ⫺.06 ⫺.06 ⫺.18ⴱⴱ .12 .02 T5 ⫺.23ⴱⴱⴱ ⫺.21ⴱⴱ .03
Note. N ⫽ 303 for the violent film; N ⫽ 158 for the sad film; N ⫽ 145 Note. N ⫽ 303 for the violent film; N ⫽ 158 for the sad film; N ⫽ 145
for the funny film. SCL ⫽ skin conductance level; T1 ⫽ mean across the for the funny film. SCL ⫽ skin conductance level; T1 ⫽ mean across the
first 15 s of the first critical scene; T2 ⫽ mean across the rest of the first first 15 s of the first critical scene; T2 ⫽ mean across the rest of the first
critical scene; T3 ⫽ mean between the first and second critical scenes; critical scene; T3 ⫽ mean between the first and second critical scenes;
T4 ⫽ mean across the first 15 s of the second critical scene; T5 ⫽ mean T4 ⫽ mean across the first 15 s of the second critical scene; T5 ⫽ mean
across the rest of the second critical scene. across the rest of the second critical scene.
ⴱ
p ⬍ .05. ⴱⴱ p ⬍ .01. ⴱⴱⴱ p ⬍ .001. ⴱ
p ⬍ .05. ⴱⴱ p ⬍ .01. ⴱⴱⴱ p ⬍ .001.
self-reports of pleasant arousal to the violent clips, r(302) ⫽ .26, -.24*** Media
p ⬍ .001, and with self-reports of anxious arousal to the violent .16**
Violence .19**
-.17**
Exposure Pleasant Arousal
clips, r(303) ⫽ ⫺.17, p ⬍ .01. The correlations of habitual media
-.28*** -.10+
violence exposure with anxious and pleasant arousal following the .22***
-.42***
sad and funny clips were nonsignificant: sad films: anxious
Trait
arousal, r(158) ⫽ ⫺.08, p ⫽ .35; pleasant arousal, r(158) ⫽ ⫺.04, Aggression -.13*
Recognition Time
p ⫽ .57; funny films: anxious arousal, r(145) ⫽ ⫺.11, p ⫽ .19; .46*** for Aggressive
Words
pleasant arousal, r(145) ⫽ .09, p ⫽ .31. Although, due to the Normative
-.04
smaller sample sizes, the power of these significance tests with sad Beliefs .09
-.08
.05
and funny films is less than the tests with violent films, none of the Anxious Arousal R2 = .11**
obtained correlations would have been significant even if the N = 288
.13*
sample size had been doubled. Thus, Hypothesis 2 is confirmed by .26***
Trait
the data. Arousability
Chi2 = 5.37, df = 5, p = .37

Relations of Self-Reports of Arousal to Violent Film ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, +p < .10 CFI = .99, RMSEA = .02 (C.I.: .00-.08), SRMR = .02
Clip With Situational Aggression (Hypothesis 3)
None of the five SCL indices of emotional arousal to violent -.18** Media
Violence .05
clips correlated significantly with reaction times for aggressive .16**
Exposure
.17**
Pleasant Arousal
words in the subsequent lexical decision task or with the intensity -.28***
.21*** .02
of noise blasts in the competitive reaction time task. Consequently, -.41***
to investigate relations between arousal to the violent films and Trait .14*
state aggression outcomes, we examined subjective appraisals by Aggression Unprovoked
Aggressive
participants of the quality of their arousal in terms of anxiety or .46***
Behavior
.10
enjoyment. Normative
Beliefs -.14*
From our theoretical perspective, individual differences in anx- .06
-.07
ious and pleasant arousal while viewing violent clips should be Anxious Arousal R2 = .07*
related to individual differences in immediate aggression after .13*
N = 285
viewing violent clips over and above the impact of dispositional .26***
Trait
variables, such as trait aggression, trait arousability, and normative Arousability
acceptance of aggression. The pattern of correlations in Table 4
Chi2 = 4.41, df = 5, p = .49
suggests that one needs to examine the relations in a multivariate ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05 CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = .00 (C.I.: .00-.08), SRMR = .02
context to be able to identify the unique role of desensitization.
First, pleasant and anxious arousal correlated with each other, for
-.18**
women, r(88) ⫽ ⫺.39, p ⬍ .001; for men, r(215) ⫽ ⫺.43, p ⬍ Media
Violence .03
.16** .17**
.001. Second, trait arousability correlated positively with anxious Exposure Pleasant Arousal
arousal for both genders and negatively with pleasant arousal and -.28*** .01
.21***
positively with trait aggression for men. Third, trait arousability -.41***
correlated negatively with media violence exposure in women but Trait .07
Aggression Provoked
not at all in men. This suggests that one needs to test the relations Aggressive
.46***
with a multivariate model taking account of gender. To review, we .13* Behavior
Normative
had hypothesized that habitual exposure to media violence would Beliefs -.02
-.07
be linked to reduced anxious arousal and increased pleasant .06
Anxious Arousal R2 = .03+
arousal in response to violent film clips. Furthermore, we predicted
N = 285
that increased pleasant arousal and reduced anxious arousal in .13*
.26***
response to a violent film clip would be associated with lower Trait
reaction times for recognizing aggressive words and a greater Arousability
readiness to engage in unprovoked aggressive behavior. The rela- Chi2 = 5.87, df = 5, p = .32
tions were hypothesized to be independent of the correlations of ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, +p = .10 CFI = .99, RMSEA = .03 (C.I.: .00-.09), SRMR = .02
aggressive cognitions and behavior with trait aggression, trait
arousability, and aggressive normative beliefs. Figure 1. Path analyses predicting aggressive cognitions (top), unpro-
These hypotheses were examined with the three path analyses voked aggressive behavior (middle), and provoked aggressive behavior
shown in Figure 1, one for reaction time for recognizing aggressive (bottom) as a function of arousal during the violent clips, self-reports of
media violence viewing, and other dispositional variables.
words as the outcome variable, one for unprovoked aggression in
the competitive reaction time task as the outcome, and one for
provoked aggression as the outcome. The distinction between violence exposure unaffected by the alleged actions of another
unprovoked and provoked aggression is critical for the present person. On the basis of this conceptual argument, separate analyses
analysis, because the unprovoked aggression measure is thought to were conducted for unprovoked and provoked aggression as out-
provide a more conclusive test of the role of habitual media come variables. Because trait aggression, aggressive beliefs, and
640 KRAHÉ ET AL.
trait arousability were shown above to be correlated with the key ␹2/df ⫽ .88, p ⫽ .49, CFI ⫽ 1.00, RMSEA ⫽ .00, SRMR ⫽ .02.
elements in the models, they were also included. The analyses Participants who viewed more media violence experienced signif-
were carried out with the Mplus software (Muthén & Muthén, icantly more pleasant arousal (.17, p ⬍ .001) while watching
2007). violent clips, which was highly negatively correlated (⫺.41, p ⬍
First, the models were estimated as two-group models, with .001) with anxious arousal. Lower anxious arousal was signifi-
gender being the grouping variable to allow for gender differences. cantly (⫺.14, p ⬍ .05) related to more unprovoked aggressive
However, a comparison of the two-group models with the models responding in the competitive reaction time tasks. Again, these
without gender as a grouping variable on the basis of Bayesian links were independent of the significant paths from trait arous-
information criterion scores showed no significant advantage in fit ability on pleasant and anxious arousal in the film task and of trait
for the two-group models. Therefore, single-group models were aggression on unprovoked aggressive responding in the laboratory
estimated and are shown in Figure 1. All three single-group models task. No significant indirect links via pleasant or anxious arousal
fitted the data well with nonsignificant chi-square values and were found for unprovoked aggression.
cumulative fit indices above .99. Finally, the path model for provoked aggression in the compet-
The path model for predicting aggressive cognition (reaction itive reaction time revealed that lower anxious arousal and greater
times for recognizing aggressive words) showed good fit, ␹2/df ⫽
pleasant arousal to scenes of violence did not play a major role in

1.07, p ⫽ .37, comparative fit index (CFI) ⫽ 0.99, root-mean- reactive provoked aggression, ␹2/df ⫽ 1.17, p ⫽ .32, CFI ⫽ 0.99,
square error of approximation (RMSEA) ⫽ .02, standardized RMSEA ⫽ .03, SRMR ⫽ .02. Neither of the paths from the
root-mean-square residual (SRMR) ⫽ .02. The more media vio- self-report arousal measures to the aggression measure were sig-
lence participants used habitually, the shorter their reaction times nificant. The model also showed that normative beliefs approving
in recognizing aggression-related words, independently of the re- of aggression were directly linked with provoked aggression. The
maining dispositional variables included in the model. Participants direct link from trait aggression was not significant, but trait
who watched more media violence scored significantly higher on aggression was highly correlated with normative beliefs approving
pleasant arousal and nonsignificantly lower on anxious arousal. of aggression.
Greater pleasant arousal while viewing the violent clips was linked
to shorter reaction times for recognizing aggressive words, but the Examining the Content Specificity of Desensitization
path fell short of significance ( p ⬍ .10). The total effect of habitual (Hypothesis 4)
media violence exposure on reaction times was ⫺.20 ( p ⬍ .001),
consisting of the direct link of ⫺.17 ( p ⬍ .01) and a marginally Physiological arousal to the different kinds of film clips.
significant indirect link via pleasant arousal of ⫺.02 ( p ⫽ .07). The means for the five SCL indices during the film clips are
Anxious arousal predicted slightly longer reaction times, but the presented in Table 7. The baseline SCL had a mean of 2.70 (SD ⫽
path was not significant. Anxious arousal was highly negatively 0.56). The five SCL scores for violent films were significantly
correlated with pleasant arousal. These links were independent of higher than those for sad films, multivariate F(5, 152) ⫽ 2.66, p ⬍
the paths from trait arousability to higher anxious arousal and .05, partial ␩2 ⫽ .08 (all univariate effects significant at p ⬍ .05).
lower pleasant arousal. Overall, these results are consistent with The five SCL scores for the funny films were not significantly
the assumption that media violence exposure desensitized viewers different from those for the violent films, multivariate F(5, 139) ⫽
so they responded with more pleasant arousal (highly correlated 1.99, p ⫽ .09 (all univariate effects not significant). Thus, we
with less anxious arousal), which in turn increased the availability conclude that the sad films stimulated less physiological arousal
of aggressive cognitions. These processes operated in parallel with than the violent clips but the funny films stimulated about the same
other independent pathways from trait aggression and media vio- amount of physiological arousal as the violent clips.
lence usage (e.g., observational learning) to increased accessibility Self-reports of arousal to the different kinds of film clips.
of aggression cognitions. According to our script theory of desensitization, media violence
The path model for unprovoked aggression in the laboratory exposure should be associated with desensitization of anxious
task after exposure to the violent film clips also showed a good fit, arousal to violent films and corresponding increases in pleasant
Table 7
Comparison of Mean SCL Arousal for Violent Films With Mean Arousal for Sad and Funny Films
SCL period Violent film (N ⫽ 303) Sad film (N ⫽ 158) Funny film (N ⫽ 145)
T1 2.86 (0.58) 2.77 (0.61) 2.76 (0.53)

T2 2.85 (0.57) 2.69 (0.69) 2.73 (0.53)
T3 2.79 (0.55) 2.65 (0.64) 2.72 (0.54)
T4 2.79 (0.56) 2.65 (0.64) 2.72 (0.55)
T5 2.74 (0.56) 2.65 (0.64) 2.72 (0.55)
MANOVA comparison with violent clip F(5, 152) ⫽ 2.66, p ⬍ .05 F(5, 139) ⫽ 1.99, n.s.
Note. Means (shown with standard deviations) for violent and sad films are different at p ⬍ .05 for every SCL period; means for violent and funny films
are not significantly different for any SCL period. SCL ⫽ skin conductance level; T1 ⫽ mean across the first 15 s of the first critical scene; T2 ⫽ mean
across the rest of the first critical scene; T3 ⫽ mean between the first and second critical scenes; T4 ⫽ mean across the first 15 s of the second critical
scene; T5 ⫽ mean across the rest of the second critical scene; MANOVA ⫽ multivariate analysis of variance; n.s. ⫽ nonsignificant.
arousal, but the desensitization should be specific to arousal during 4

violent clips. To examine this prediction, we computed the mean n.s.
arousal scores during the violent clips for high and low media 3
violence viewers and compared those means with the mean arousal p < .01 p < .01
scores for high and low violence viewers during the sad and funny 2
clips. To compare the means we conducted a mixed factorial n.s.
multivariate analysis of variance with habitual media violence
1
exposure (high vs. low; defined via median split) as between-
subjects factor and film type as within-subjects factor, using the
0
two arousal measures (anxious, pleasant) as dependent variables.
Anxious Anxious Pleasant Pleasant
Because only half of the sample watched the sad and funny arousal: arousal: arousal: arousal: Sad
comparison clips, respectively, separate analyses had to be con- Violent clip Sad clip Violent clip clip
ducted for comparing violent with sad and violent with funny
Low MVE High MVE
films.
For the comparison of violent vs. sad films, the analysis yielded
a significant multivariate effect of film type, F(2, 155) ⫽ 53.85,
6
p ⬍ .001, partial ␩2 ⫽ .41. Both univariate effects were significant, n.s.
with violent films producing greater anxious arousal (M ⫽ 1.75, 5
SE ⫽ 0.14) than sad films (M ⫽ 0.86, SE ⫽ 0.11), F(1, 156) ⫽ 4
38.69, p ⬍ .001, partial ␩2 ⫽ .20. Violent films also produced less
pleasant arousal (M ⫽ 1.49, SE ⫽ 0.10) than did sad films (M ⫽ 3 p < 01 p < .01
2.93, SE ⫽ 0.10), F(1, 156) ⫽ 95.46, p ⬍ .001, partial ␩2 ⫽ .38. 2
The multivariate main effect of habitual media violence exposure
1
was also significant, F(2, 155) ⫽ 4.46, p ⬍ .05, partial ␩2 ⫽ .05. n.s .
Here, the univariate effect for anxious arousal was significant. 0
Participants with high media violence exposure reported lower Anxious Anxious Pleasant Pleasant
arousal: arousal: arousal: arousal: Funny
anxious arousal (M ⫽ 1.00, SE ⫽ 0.15) than did those low on
Violent clip Funny clip Violent clip clip
habitual media violence exposure (M ⫽ 1.61, SE ⫽ 0.14), F(1,
156) ⫽ 8.55, p ⬍ .001, partial ␩2 ⫽ .05. The univariate effect for Low MVE High MVE
pleasant arousal was marginally significant (M ⫽ 2.10, SE ⫽ 0.09,
in the low media violence exposure group and M ⫽ 2.32, SE ⫽ Figure 2. Bar graphs comparing mean anxious and pleasant arousal
0.09, in the high media violence exposure group), F(1, 156) ⫽ during violent versus sad clips (top panel) and violent versus funny clips
2.76, p ⬍ .10, partial ␩2 ⫽ .02. However, the two main effects (bottom panel). MVE ⫽ habitual media violence exposure.
were qualified by a significant multivariate interaction effect, F(2,
155) ⫽ 4.68, p ⬍ .05, partial ␩2 ⫽ .06. The means are shown in
the top panel of Figure 2. Follow-up t- tests indicated that the high arousal (M ⫽ 3.55, SE ⫽ 0.09, in the high exposure group, M ⫽
and low media violence exposure groups differed significantly for 3.16, SE ⫽ 0.11, in the low exposure group), F(1, 142) ⫽ 7.55,
the violent films but not for the sad films on anxious arousal, p ⬍ .01, partial ␩2 ⫽ .05. However, the two main effects were
t(156) ⫽ 2.78, p ⬍ .01, and on pleasant arousal, t(156) ⫽ ⫺3.23, qualified by a significant multivariate interaction, F(2, 142) ⫽
p ⬍ .01. These findings indicate that, as we predicted, participants 4.66, p ⬍ .01, partial ␩2 ⫽ .06, and both univariate effects were
high in habitual exposure to media violence showed a more pos- significant, F(1, 142) ⫽ 6.71, p ⬍ .05, partial ␩2 ⫽ .05, for
itive response to violent scenes than those low in media violence anxious arousal; F(1, 142) ⫽ 5.05, p ⬍ .05, partial ␩2 ⫽ .03, for
exposure, but the high and low media violence viewers showed no pleasant arousal. The means are shown in the bottom panel of
difference in their responses to sad films. Figure 2. Follow-up t-tests indicated that the high and low media
The comparison of violent and funny films also yielded a violence exposure groups differed significantly for the violent
significant multivariate effect of film type, F(2, 141) ⫽ 369.47, films but not for the funny films on anxious arousal, t(142) ⫽ 2.99,
p ⬍ .001, partial ␩2 ⫽ .84. Both univariate effects were significant, p ⬍ .01, and on pleasant arousal, t(142) ⫽ ⫺3.08, p ⬍ .01. Again,
with violent films producing greater anxious arousal (M ⫽ 1.80, these findings indicate that, as predicted, participants high in
SE ⫽ 0.14) than funny films (M ⫽ 0.07, SE ⫽ 0.04), F(1, 142) ⫽ habitual exposure to media violence showed a more positive
151.93, p ⬍ .001, partial ␩2 ⫽ .52, and violent films also produc- response to violent scenes than those low in media violence
ing less pleasant arousal (M ⫽ 1.48, SE ⫽ 0.12) than funny films exposure, but media violence exposure did not affect responses to
(M ⫽ 5.22, SE ⫽ 0.08), F(1, 142) ⫽ 712.07, p ⬍ .001, partial ␩2 ⫽ funny films.
.83. A second significant multivariate main effect was found for Self-reported arousal and situational aggression. The final
habitual media violence exposure, F(2, 141) ⫽ 6.57, p ⬍ .01, set of analyses compared the pathways from anxious and pleasant
partial ␩2 ⫽ .09. Both univariate effects were significant. Partic- arousal to aggressive cognitions and behavior for the three film
ipants with high media violence exposure reported lower anxious types in a set of multiple regression analyses. We predicted that the
arousal (M ⫽ 0.68, SE ⫽ 0.11) than did those low on habitual paths from emotional arousal during viewing the clips to subse-
media violence exposure (M ⫽ 1.19, SE ⫽ 0.11), F(1, 142) ⫽ quent aggressive cognitions and behavior should be specific to
10.81, p ⬍ .01, partial ␩2 ⫽ .07. They also showed higher pleasant violent clips. The first analysis regressed reaction times for ag-
642 KRAHÉ ET AL.
gressive words (controlled for nonaggressive and nonwords) on for other emotionally charged media stimuli, was also mostly
anxious arousal in response to violent and funny films. The anal- supported by the data.
ysis showed that anxious arousal to violent films significantly
predicted reaction times for aggressive words (␤ ⫽ .21, p ⬍ .05; Discussion
the higher the anxious arousal, the longer it took to recognize an
aggressive word), but anxious arousal to funny films did not The debate about the potential of media violence to increase
predict reaction times (␤ ⫽ .03). The second analysis examined aggression is far from being over, as reflected in a recent issue of
pleasant arousal to violent and funny films. Pleasant arousal to Psychological Bulletin (Anderson et al., 2010; Bushman et al.,
violent films significantly predicted reaction times for aggressive 2010; Ferguson & Kilburn, 2010; Huesmann, 2010) and in a 2008
words (␤ ⫽ ⫺.23, p ⬍ .01; the higher the pleasant arousal, the less special issue of the American Behavioral Scientist, in which
time it took to recognize aggressive words), but pleasant arousal to Grimes, Anderson, and Bergen (2008) accused “causationists” of
funny films did not predict reaction times (␤ ⫽ .11). Finally, for “the attempt of making ideology a science” (p. 213). The present
the sad films neither anxious arousal (␤ ⫽ .01) nor pleasant arousal research was not designed to settle this question, although we
(␤ ⫽ ⫺.03) predicted reaction times for aggressive words. In
believe that the prior research strongly favors the conclusion of

combination, the findings indicate that individual differences in causation. Rather, the present research was designed to investigate
responsiveness to emotionally arousing material had a content- the role that emotional desensitization to depictions of violence
specific effect on the accessibility of aggressive cognitions and might play as a potential process variable in the link between
could not be demonstrated for other arousing stimuli. media violence and aggression. The study explored desensitization
A parallel set of regression analyses was conducted for unpro- both as an outcome of habitual media violence usage and as a
voked aggressive behavior as an outcome variable. Higher anxious situational antecedent of aggressive cognitions and behavior. Fur-
arousal to violent clips predicted significantly lower levels of thermore, it included both SCL and subjectively experienced affect
unprovoked immediate aggression (␤ ⫽ ⫺.23, p ⬍ .01), but higher as indicators of desensitization and considered both negatively and
anxious arousal to funny clips (␤ ⫽ ⫺.06) and sad clips (␤ ⫽ positively valenced affective responses. Finally, it compared vio-
⫺.03) did not. Similarly, higher pleasant arousal to violent films lent clips with two other types of arousing media stimuli, namely,
predicted significantly higher levels of unprovoked immediate sad and funny films, to examine the content specificity of the
aggression (␤ ⫽ .17, p ⬍ .05), but again pleasant arousal to sad effects.
films did not (␤ ⫽ .06), though pleasant arousal to funny films did In support of our hypotheses and in line with previous research,
predict significantly lower aggressive behavior (␤ ⫽ ⫺.19, p ⬍ reviewed in the introduction, the findings provide some support for
.05). These findings support the hypothesis that the likelihood of the desensitization hypotheses. Our findings suggest that the more
aggressive behavior is increased by desensitization to violent individuals habitually used violent media contents, the less phys-
scenes and generally not predicted by desensitization to other iological reactivity they showed to a violent film clip presented to
kinds of scenes. them in a laboratory setting. For women there was also a signifi-
A last set of regression analyses compared the three types of cant link between greater habitual media violence exposure and
film as predictors of provoked aggression. Anxious arousal to greater pleasant arousal in response to the violent film. For men,
violent, sad, or funny films failed to predict provoked aggression, the correlation was in the same direction but was only marginally
and pleasant arousal to violent and sad clips was also unrelated to significant. For men there was a significant correlation between
provoked aggression. The only significant finding was that pleas- greater habitual media violence exposure and more rapid accessi-
ant arousal to funny films was negatively related to provoked bility of aggressive cognitions after viewing the violent film clip.
aggression (␤ ⫽ ⫺.19, p ⬍ .05), paralleling the finding for For women, the correlation was in the same direction but was only
unprovoked aggression. marginally significant.
In summary, the majority of our predictions were confirmed by Although significant correlations were found between SCL and
the data. Fully supporting Hypothesis 1, habitual media violence the subjectively experienced ratings of anxious and pleasant
exposure showed consistent negative associations with SCL mea- arousal, when examined on their own, physiological responses
sured at five points in time during exposure to a violent film clip. reflecting the intensity of arousal turned out to be unrelated to
Partial support was found for Hypothesis 2 predicting lower anx- subsequent aggressive cognitions and behavior. The failure to find
ious arousal and higher pleasant arousal to the violent film in any links of SCL with aggressive cognitions and behavior ties in
participants high on habitual media violence usage. The predicted with prior research that found little evidence of a link between
direct links were found for pleasant arousal but not for anxious physiological arousal and laboratory-induced aggression (Patrick
arousal. Hypothesis 3 predicted that participants showing higher & Verona, 2007). Research on psychopathy points to a link be-
pleasant arousal and lower anxious arousal to the violent film tween habitual electrodermal hyporeactivity and higher aggression
would respond faster to aggressive words in a lexical decision task (Scarpa & Raine, 2007) as well as low anxiety combined with
and show more unprovoked aggression in the competitive reaction higher information processing deficits (for a review see Fowles,
time task. This prediction was confirmed for the link between 2000). However, the short-term variations in SCL observed in the
pleasant arousal and response latencies to aggressive words and for present study did not covary with differences in aggressive cog-
the link between anxious arousal and unprovoked aggression, nitions and behavior. Our data suggest that it is the qualitative
lending partial support to the hypothesis. Finally, Hypothesis 4, aspect of arousal that is needed to understand the role of desensi-
predicting that the links between habitual media violence usage, tization by negative affect and sensitization by positive affect in
responses to the film clips, and aggressive thoughts as well as aggressive cognitions and behavior following exposure to violent
behavior would be dependent on the violent content and not found media stimuli. When we examined self-reports of emotional reac-
tions to the films, we found that anxious arousal to the violent clip and sad clips. Violent media stimuli are closely related to the
was lower and pleasant arousal was higher among heavy users of theme of death, and the two sad film clips used in our study
media violence than among low media violence users, also indi- centered on the death of a beloved person, so the finding that
cating that habitual media violence usage is linked to desensitiza- reduced responsiveness at the physiological level was also found
tion of negative and sensitization of positive affect in response to for the sad clips is compatible with the desensitization hypothesis.
violent media stimuli. Another unexpected result was that higher pleasant arousal to
In moving beyond bivariate relationships to examine the role of funny films predicted reduced aggression. However, this result is
media violence usage in the context of other dispositional predic- consistent with the theory that when emotions incompatible with
tors of aggressive cognitions and behavior, path analysis was used. aggression are stimulated, aggression becomes less likely (Tyson,
This is a common approach in research designed to identify the 1998).
specific contribution of media violence exposure to aggression- The links of pleasant and anxious arousal to the aggression
related outcome variables controlling for other relevant predictors outcomes occurred independently of the dispositional variables
(e.g., Ferguson et al., 2008). For response latencies in the lexical that were measured. Trait aggression showed independent direct
decision task, a significant direct path was found from habitual paths on reaction times and unprovoked aggression; media vio-
media violence exposure to recognition times for aggressive lence exposure directly predicted the reaction time for recognizing
words. In addition, there was evidence of an indirect pathway aggressive words; trait arousability was a positive predictor of
through higher pleasant arousal which in turn showed a marginally anxious arousal and a negative predictor of pleasant arousal; and
significant negative link with recognition times. For unprovoked normative beliefs approving of aggression directly predicted pro-
aggression as outcome variable, no direct or indirect links were voked (reactive) aggressive behavior. Also as expected, trait ag-
found with habitual media violence exposure, but a significant gression was significantly correlated with media violence exposure
negative link was found with anxious arousal. Of the dispositional and normative beliefs approving of aggression. The hypothesized
measures, trait aggression was positively related to unprovoked paths from media violence exposure through arousal reactions to
aggression. Finally, in the path model for provoked aggression, the violent clips to the aggression outcomes occurred independently of
trait of acceptance of aggression as normative was the only sig- these relations.
nificant predictor. Neither habitual media violence exposure nor Physiological arousal to violent clips, as measured by SCL, was
the affective responses to the violent clips were significantly lower the more participants habitually used media violence. Within
related to provoked aggression. the experimental situation, SCL during the violent scenes was
Although not all predicted links between habitual media vio- positively correlated with anxious arousal and negatively corre-
lence exposure, situational arousal, and aggressive cognitions and lated with pleasant arousal. This finding fits with a study by
behavior were confirmed, the present data provide significant Ravaja, Saari, Salminen, Laarni, and Kallinen (2006), who ana-
support for the claim that habitual users of media violence become lyzed patterns of SCL during video game play in relation to
desensitized to violence as evidenced in higher self-reported pleas- predefined positive and negative game events and found higher
ant arousal to scenes of violence in the media. There is also some SCL responses to negative than to positive events. In understand-
indication that differences in pleasant arousal, associated with ing this pattern, dimensional models of emotion that differentiate
differences in habitual media violence exposure, affect the speed between activation (physiological arousal) and valence (perceived
with which individuals access aggressive cognitions and the like- pleasant or unpleasant quality; Ravaja, 2004) may be useful. In the
lihood of engaging in unprovoked aggression in the noise blast dimensional model proposed by Larsen and Diener (1992), for
task. Results were less conclusive with respect to the role of example, fear is regarded as an emotion that is high in activation
reduced anxious arousal. Lower anxious arousal in response to the and negative in valence, whereas happiness/satisfaction is consid-
violent clip predicted higher scores of unprovoked aggression, but ered to be of medium activation at the positive end of the valence
the level of anxious arousal in our study was unrelated to habitual dimension. Thus, fear/anxiety is seen as being associated with high
media violence exposure. There was no evidence in the present activation, whereas happiness/satisfaction is seen as being associ-
data that emotional responses to the violent film were related to ated with a lower level of activation. The negative correlation
provoked aggression or that SCL measures of physiological between subjective ratings of anxious arousal and pleasant arousal
arousal were linked to the aggression-related outcome variables. corroborates the theoretical conceptualization of the two emotional
The associations observed between media violence exposure, responses as opposite ends of the valence continuum. The dimen-
emotional responses to the film clips, and aggression-related out- sional model can also be used to explain the finding that the five
come variables were specific to violent media stimuli and were not SCL indices were higher during the violent clips than during the
apparent for other emotionally charged stimuli, such as sad or sad clips. Sadness and fear are both negatively valenced emotions
funny film clips. Lower anxious arousal and higher pleasant but they differ in activation, with fear being at the high end and
arousal to violent clips but not to sad or funny clips predicted faster sadness being close to the midpoint of this dimension.
recognition of aggressive words. Lower anxious arousal to violent In our data, differences in physiological arousal during the
but not to sad or funny clips predicted higher unprovoked aggres- violent film clips were unrelated to differences in the subsequent
sion, as did higher pleasant arousal to violent but not to sad films. lexical decision and noise blast tasks, but differences in the qual-
One exception was the finding that habitual media violence expo- itative indices of anxious and pleasant arousal mostly showed the
sure was not only correlated with reduced physiological arousal to expected relations with aggressive cognitions and behavior. The
the violent film clips but also correlated with reduced arousal to lack of relationships between SCL in response to violent films and
the sad clips. The latter finding can be attributed to the conceptual subsequent aggressive cognitions and behavior is at odds with
overlap between the themes of violence and death in the violent meta-analytic evidence by Anderson and Bushman (2001). How-
644 KRAHÉ ET AL.
ever, their analysis was restricted to interactive video games, responses from the second trial onward contingent upon the
whereas the present study involved passive reception of filmed initial response by the alleged opponent. Therefore, the findings
violence. Studies comparing active playing of video games and should be substantiated by other measures of unprovoked ag-
merely observing the violent contents by watching the players gressive behavior with known reliability. At the same time, this
showed that active playing produced higher levels of arousal than weakness should not obscure the fact that for the male partic-
passive observation of identical content did (Calvert & Tan, 1994). ipants at least, the measure of trait aggression, representing
Furthermore, none of the seven studies included in Anderson and their “real-world aggression”, was correlated both with their
Bushman’s (2001) meta-analysis used SCL as a measure of habitual media violence exposure and with their aggressive
arousal. Past research has been inconsistent with regard to the behavior on the laboratory task.
relationship between SCL and self-reported affect. Over a 3-week Fourth, and perhaps most important theoretically, no short-term
period, Ballard et al. (2006) found evidence of decreased reactivity field or laboratory study can determine with certainty that the
to video game exposure (regardless of violent content) at the relation between an individual’s history of media violence expo-
physiological level but not at the level of affective responses. sure and current emotional reactions to violent clips is due to
Arriaga et al. (2006) compared both physiological arousal and desensitization. A plausible alternative hypothesis will always be
affect over a much shorter game-playing period of 4 min, finding that dispositional factors promote both the different emotional
differences between violent and nonviolent game players in affec- reactions and the exposure to media violence. However, in the
tive responses but not at the physiological level. Our study was current study we controlled for the most plausible dispositional
more similar in design to the Arriaga study in that our film clips “third variables” that might be alternatives (trait aggression, trait
were of similar length to their game-playing periods, and we also arousability, and beliefs accepting aggression as normative) and
found little evidence of desensitization at the physiological level found that habitual media violence exposure predicted desensiti-
but more evidence at the affective level. In any case, clarifying the zation independently of these dispositions.
relative contribution of physiological arousal and experienced af- Finally, the present study was limited in that only responses to
fect is an important task for future research. passive media exposure were studied. A number of recent studies
Several limitations must be noted about this study. The first is have looked at desensitization in response to violent video game
that whereas SCL was recorded continuously during exposure to usage that entails a much more active involvement of players.
the film clips, the qualitative measures of anxious and pleasant There is evidence from this research that immersion in the violent
arousal were obtained immediately after the film clips had ended. events of the game, for example by playing with a virtual reality
Reliance on self-reports to yield these measures made continuous device, is a critical variable with respect to arousal (Arriaga et al.,
assessment impossible as it would have distracted from watching 2006), but it is as yet unclear how such increased arousal potential
the films. Other methodological approaches, such as recording affects desensitization. Moreover, studies are needed that compare
physical responses indicative of the quality of arousal, would be passive reception of and active involvement in violent events in the
required to overcome this problem. The study by Ravaja et al. virtual reality of the media in terms of their desensitizing potential
(2006), who combined SCL with the electromyographic recording (see Ballard et al., 2006).
of facial muscle movements as a continuous measure of quality of Despite these limitations, the present findings can provide some
arousal during video game playing, illustrates this possibility. new insights into the dynamics of affective reactivity to media
A second limitation was that transfer effects of reduced arousal violence. Several, yet not all, of the findings support our theorizing
during the violent clip to reduced arousal to depictions of real-life that weakening fear and anxiety in response to media violence (and
violence were not considered. Our focus was on the disinhibiting the concomitant increase in pleasant emotions) through repeated
effect of reduced anxious reactivity on aggressive cognitions and exposure promotes aggression-enhancing cognitions and, ulti-
behavior, but it would also be critically important to demonstrate mately, the likelihood of initiating proactive aggressive behavior.
that reduced negative affect as a result of exposure to media Our results further suggest that the relations are contingent upon
violence leads to reduced arousal by real-life violence and reduced the violent content of the media stimuli, as evidenced by the
empathy with victims. Carnagey et al. (2007) demonstrated that comparison with sad and funny clips that are also emotionally
participants who had previously played a violent game showed less arousing. The findings join a growing body of research directed at
arousal in response to real-life violence than those who had played elucidating the processes by which exposure to violent media
a nonviolent game. However, they presented the depictions of stimuli may impact aggression, moving on from the issue of
real-life violence immediately after the game-playing session, so whether or not media violence exposure is linked to aggression to
nothing can be said on the basis of that study about the duration of a better understanding of the psychological mechanisms that may
desensitization, nor about any cumulative effects. Further research explain such a link.
combining measures of habitual media violence exposure and
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Journal of Personality and Social Psychology © 2010 American Psychological Association

2011, Vol. 100, No. 4, 630 – 646 0022-3514/10/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0021711

Desensitization to Media Violence: Links With Habitual Media Violence

Barbara Krahé and Ingrid Möller L. Rowell Huesmann

Lucyna Kirwil Juliane Felber and Anja Berger

Keywords: media violence, desensitization, physiological arousal, aggressive cognitions, aggressive

repeated exposure. In the context of media violence, desensitiza- desensitization.

sive thoughts and a competitive reaction time task as a measure of

playing games, (k) general simulations, (l) military simulations,

Note. Values for final sample are M (SD).

Measure Items ␣ Range M SD Men Women F

icant differences within each film condition or between different

Violent clips Sad clips Funny clips

T1 .18ⴱⴱ .12 .01 ⫺.12ⴱ ⫺.05 .05 T1 ⫺.14ⴱ ⫺.22ⴱⴱ .11

Chi2 = 5.37, df = 5, p = .37

pleasant arousal to scenes of violence did not play a major role in

T1 2.86 (0.58) 2.77 (0.61) 2.76 (0.53)

arousal, but the desensitization should be specific to arousal during 4

believe that the prior research strongly favors the conclusion of

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