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Female Responses To Provocation After Exposure To Aggressive and Erotic Films

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Dolf Zillmann

Indiana University

Edna F. Einsiedel

Syracuse University

Female college students were exposed to a neutral, aggressive, or erotic film. They then were either provoked or not provoked in a game situation which provided an immediate opportunity for retaliation. Both instigation and retaliation were operationalized in the delivery of noxious noise to the opponent. Benevolent behavior, operationalized in the delivery of pleasant sounds, was a response alternative to noxious noise. Physiological reactions to the films were measured These measures revealed that the erotic film was significantly more arousing than the aggressive film. The neutral film held an intermediate position and did not differ significantly from the other two. For subjects who were not provoked, the prior viewing of films did not differentially affect the delivery of noxious stimulation. For provoked subjects, however, those who had seen the erotic film delivered noxious noise significantly more often than those who had seen the aggressive film or the neutral film. The findings are best accounted for in terms of excitation-transfer theory, which states that an emotion such as anger will be intensified by arousal lingering on from prior experiences. The aggressive film did not intensify retaliation, presumably because it was not arousing to the female subjects. The need to study women independently of men in media-violence research was discussed.

Communication Research, Vol. 5, No. 4, 395-412 (1978)
DOI: 10.1177/009365027800500402


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