Strength and Duration of the Effect of Aggressive,,Violent,and Erotic Communications On Subsequent Aggressive Behavior

Abstract

This study investigated the aggression-modifying, immediate effect on provoked individuals of exposure to a neutral, an aggressive, a violent, or an erotic communication. All communications were followed by a common, non-involving, nonaggressive communication. Under these conditions, neither the effect of the aggressive nor that of the violent communication differed appreciably from the effect of the neutral communication. In contrast, the effect of the erotic communication significantly exceeded the effects of all other communications, yielding more intense aggressiveness. Measures of excitatory changes were also obtained. The differentiation of these measures coincided with the differentiation of measured aggressiveness, thus lending support for the excitation-transfer paradigm, which was employed as an explanatory mechanism. The relative strength and the short-lived nature of the aggression-enhancing immediate impact of aggressive and violent communications are discussed.

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