Solving the puzzle of null violent media effects.

Abstract

Over the past half-century, many professional and scientific organizations have issued statements about the harmful effects of violent media on children and adolescents. Most pediatricians, media researchers, and parents also believe that violent media can be harmful. Although most studies report significant violent media effects, some report null effects. In this article, we address the puzzle of why some studies obtain null effects. Some possible factors include the use of inappropriate or excessive number of covariates, small samples, trait measures when state measures are more appropriate, poor predictor and outcome measures, and poor procedures to control for suspicion. We also discuss statistical, methodological, and theoretical issues that underlie some “failures” to replicate in experimental, cross-sectional, and longitudinal studies. The differences between studies that do and do not report significant violent media effects are explainable; sometimes they are intentional because different scholars have different objectives. We offer best practice suggestions for conducting violent media research, which we hope will be useful for editors, reviewers, researchers, pediatricians, politicians, parents, and others trying to evaluate violent media research. Finally, we also show the importance of our analyses and suggestions for other media research, for other research topics, and for the replication crisis in psychology.

Further tests of the media violence–aggression link: Replication and extension of the 7 Nations Project with multiple Latinx samples.

“…The reviews from major scientific organizations and meta-analyses from most media violence scholars remain consistent in reporting a significant relationship between media violence exposure and aggression; however, disagreement remains among some scholars over the interpretation of the results of such reviews (Ferguson et al, 2020). It is clear that more research into this relationship is needed to help clarify the conflicting data, perhaps by identifying characteristics that are unique to replication failures (Bushman & Anderson, 2021; Kim et al, 2021).…”

The transmission of gender stereotypes through televised patterns of nonverbal bias.

“…Our approach in these studies may also contribute to the body of work on media effects. Recent work on media effects has led to some debate on when, how, and if television and other forms of media actually influence viewers’ beliefs and behavior (Bushman & Anderson, 2021; Coyne et al, 2019; Ferguson, 2015; Ferguson et al, 2017). In our studies, we documented a roughly medium-sized effect of media on intersubjective norms, but not personal beliefs.…”

“…We tested these hypotheses in the context of media effects, where there remains debate about if and how media content influences children and adults (Bushman & Anderson, 2021; Coyne et al, 2019; Ferguson, 2015; Ferguson et al, 2017). In Study 1, we quantified the extent to which U.S. children’s TV programming includes a nonverbal bias.…”

“…Although not central to our primary hypotheses, several elements of our study designs have implications for research on media effects. Recent work on media effects has led to debates on the extent to which TV and other forms of media actually influence viewers’ beliefs and behavior (Bushman & Anderson, 2021; Coyne et al, 2019; Ferguson, 2015; Ferguson et al, 2017). Our approach departs from standard media effects studies in several ways, and may therefore offer an alternative means of characterizing media effects.…”

Competitive game motivation and trait aggression among Chinese adolescent players of Glory of the King: The mediating role of avatar identification and game aggression

“…Conversely, some studies have shown that gaming violence is not an antecedent of aggressive behavior (Drummond et al, 2020; Ferguson, 2007; Ferguson et al, 2008; Kuhn et al, 2019). Nevertheless, the technical report of the American Psychological Association task force on violent media and numerous theories supported that violent video game use is a risk factor for adverse outcomes (APA, 2015; Bushman & Anderson, 2021). Of course, as Gotz et al (2021) note, psychological phenomena are most likely determined by a multitude of causes.…”