The Impact of Electronic Media Violence: Scientific Theory and Research.

Since the early 1960s, research evidence has been accumulating that suggests that exposure to violence in television, movies, video games, cell phones, and on the Internet increases the risk of violent behavior on the viewer’s part, just as growing up in an environment filled with real violence increases the risk of them behaving violently. In the current review this research evidence is critically assessed and the psychological theory that explains why exposure to violence has detrimental effects for both the short and long-term is elaborated. Finally the size of the “media violence effect” is compared with some other well-known threats to society to estimate how important a threat it should be considered.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83439/1/2007.Huesmann.ImpactOfElectronicMediaViol.JofAdolesHealth.pd

An information processing model for the development of aggression

A theory is presented to account for the development of habitual aggressive behavior during early childhood. It is argued that the aggressive child is one who has acquired aggressive scripts to guide behavior early in life. Once estahtihed these scripts become resistant to change and may even persist into adulthood. Aggressive scripts are acquired and maintained through both observational and enactive learning processes. These processes interact with each other as actual aggressive behavior engenders conditions under which the observation of aggressive behavior is more likely and creates conditions that provoke rather than inhibit aggression. The cumulative result is a network of cognitive scripts for social behavior emphasizing aggressive responding. A number of intervening variables may play a role in this cycle, and among the more important would seem to be popularity and academic achievement. Once encoded, the scripts for aggressive behavior may be elicited through a general activation of memory or by specific cues to which the person is exposed. Some of the most potent cues should be those present when the script was encoded, though any aggressive cue may trigger the retrieval of an aggressive script. Thus, observed violence not only provides scripts for future behavior but also triggers the recall of existing aggressive scripts. If these scripts are rehearsed, their recall in the future will be more likely. If undampened, this cumulative learning process can build enduring schemas for aggressive behavior that persist into adulthood.This research was supported in part by grant MH-38683 from the National Institute of Mental Health.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83387/1/1988.Huesmann.InfoProcessingModelfortheDevelopmtofAgg.AggBehav.pd

Television Violence Viewing and Aggression in Females

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74709/1/j.1749-6632.1996.tb32548.x.pd

Why observing violence increases the risk of violent behavior in the observer

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83438/1/2007.Huesmann&Kirwil.WhyObservingViol.CambridgePress.pd

The Influence of American Urban Culture on the Development of Normative Beliefs About Aggression in Middle-Eastern Immigrants

The effects of a community's culture on children's and adolescents' normative beliefs about the appropriateness of aggression were examined. One hundred forty-seven high school students and 103 fourth graders participated in a survey of normative beliefs; 69 high school and 44 elementary school students were of Middle-Eastern background. Although there were no differences in the beliefs of immigrant and nonimmigrant fourth graders, adolescents born in the United States were more accepting of aggression than those who immigrated from the Middle East. Moreover, adolescents who immigrated to the U.S. at age 12 or later were less accepting of aggression than those who immigrated prior to age 12.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44051/1/10464_2004_Article_421049.pd

Children’s normative beliefs about aggression and aggressive behavior.

Normative beliefs have been defined as self-regulating beliefs about the appropriateness of social behaviors. In 2 studies the authors revised their scale for assessing normative beliefs about aggression, found that it is reliable and valid for use with elementary school children, and investigated the longitudinal relation between normative beliefs about aggression and aggressive behavior in a large sample of elementary school children living in poor urban neighborhoods. Using data obtained in 2 waves of observations 1 year apart, the authors found that children tended to approve more of aggression as they grew older and that this increase appeared to be correlated with increases in aggressive behavior. More important, although individual differences in aggressive behavior predicted subsequent differences in normative beliefs in younger children, individual differences in aggressive behavior were predicted by preceding differences in normative beliefs in older children.This research was supported by Grants MH-48034 and MH-47474 from the National Institute of Mental Health and Cooperative Agreement CCU51OO17 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83419/1/1997.Huesmann&Guerra.Chldrn'sNormBelifsAbtAgg.JourofPersnalty&SocialPsych.pd

The relation of prosocial behavior to the development of aggression and psychopathology.

The development of prosocial behavior is traced from middle childhood to adulthood in a 22-year longitudinal study of 800 children first seen at age 8 and is compared to the development of aggression over the same period. Prosocial behavior and aggression seem to represent opposite ends of a single dimension of behavior since they are consistently negatively related to each other and relate in opposite ways to correlated variables both synchronously and over time. Both are stable forms of behavior with good predictability over the time span studied and both are related to the quality of the parent-child relationship. The most important deterrent to the development of antisocial behavior and the encouragement of prosocial behavior is probably a close identification between the child and hidher parents.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83382/1/1984.Eron&Huesmann.RelatofProsocBehavtotheDevelofAggn&Psychopath.AggBehav.pd

A Theory for the Induction of Mathematical Functions

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83369/1/1973.Huesmann&Cheng.TheoryfortheInductionofMathFunc.PsycholReview.pd

Probe similarity and recognition of set membership: A parallel processing serial feature matching model

A model for memory scanning is proposed in which the encoded representation of a probe is compared in parallel with encoded representations of each item in the positive set. The within item matches are serial feature by feature comparisons that terminate when either a positive or negative criterion is reached. This model is shown to predict the results of a probe similarity experiment. The serial location of a similarity within an item affects negative reaction times, but the number of items in the positive set to which the probe is similar has no main effect. The model is also shown to yield predictions consonant with existing data on the relation between reaction times and set size and speed-accuracy trade offs.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83371/1/1976.Huesmann&Woocher.ProbeSimilarity&Recognition.CognitPsych.pd

A process model of posthypnotic amnesia

The existing empirical evidence on the locus of the “posthypnotic amnesia” effect within the human information processing system is reviewed. Two new experiments are introduced to clarify the locus and the mechanism producing the effect. On the basis of the review and these experiments, an information-processing model is constructed that emphasizes the inhibition of verbal output as the central process. According to this model, hypnotically susceptible subjects fail to report “forbidden” material because it has been tagged as “forbidden” in response to the hypnotic suggestion for forgetting. This material is retrieved by these subjects and can play an active role in information processing, but it cannot be reported. The implications of this theory for related hypnotic effects on memory are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83385/1/1987.Huesmann_etal.ProcessModelofPosthypnoticAmnesia.CognitPsych.pd