Does viewing justified violence lead to devaluing others?

Abstract

Viewing violent media has been shown to increase aggressive behavior, affect, and cognition. Viewing “justified” violence (the target is believed to be deserving of the violence) further increases the risk of aggression. The present study investigated whether viewing justified violence primes thoughts of devalued others, an inflated sense of self, or both. Participants viewed one of three eight-minute video clips depicting either justified violence, non-justified violence, or no violence. Participants' reaction times to four types of computer-presented sentences were then measured: sentences either valued the self, valued others, devalued the self, or devalued others. Viewing justified violence resulted in reaction time patterns that devalued others, but had no effect upon reaction times to self-relevant sentences. The possibility that viewing justified violence, by priming devaluing thoughts of others, may impact interpersonal behavior in non-conscious and automatic ways is discussed.