The effect of media violence on aggression: A meta-analysis and a test of replicability of publications from 2015 to 2022
Date
2024-05
Authors
Kim, El-Lim
Major Professor
Advisor
Gentile, Douglas A
Anderson, Craig A
Crede, Marcus
Marsee, Monica A
Vogel, David L
Committee Member
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Altmetrics
Abstract
Media violence is one of the well-known and widely studied risk factors of aggression. More accumulated research has been published since 2015, after the concerns over replicability of psychological studies and increased support for open science practices. The present meta-analysis reviewed the research studies on media violence effects published between 2015 and 2022 to validate scientific evidence on media violence effects. In addition, a test of replicability was conducted. Based on the meta-analytic review of 109 source articles (k = 123, N = 107,803), media violence exposure was associated with more aggressive affect, cognition, and behaviors. Such effect was not moderated by study characteristics. Furthermore, the positive relation between media violence and aggression-related outcomes was present across all demographic groups (e.g., age, sex, race), indicating that media violence effect was not limited to specific populations. The pooled effect size estimates were greater for studies conducted in Asia compared to studies conducted in the U.S. or Western Europe. The z-curve analysis results demonstrated that the replicability of media violence studies was above average replicability of social psychology studies, with the expected replicability rate of 63%, though more efforts should be placed to increase the replicability.
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dissertation