I found the article on film violence somewhat interesting, but I also felt like I was put through an experiment of my own by reading through their report. Anyhow, from what I gathered is people will be more likely to exert aggressive tendencies soon after a violent film, and if they see a villain punished it might be more justification towards exerting justice on real life villains. I guess I would expect angered responses to violent movies like in the study, but I think the experiment could have gone further.
I would of liked to see them preform the experiment on multiple groups of people, age ranges, and social settings. A more elaborate experiment would of been harder to obtain, but I think it would of provided a better general conscious. I think its hard to compare how someone feels after watching a clip of a movie in a empty room compared to someone who chooses to go to the movie theater and watch the whole movie. Plus, does the time of day have any effect on what the subjects feel? I just wish the experiment would of included some of this.
You point out some important limitations to the Berkowitz experiments, Will. After all, the sample was drawn entirely from young college men (freshmen) taking an introductory psychology course. How much do preexisting biases or practical constraints influence experimental design (and inevitably the results)?
ReplyDelete