We all know that watching violence on TV or in the movies can affect how violently people act in the real world. Researchers have been studying this phenomenon for years, and based on their findings, concerned citizens have lobbied for and won such things as content rating systems and parental controls on televisions and computers to control access to certain kinds of materials. But now there's another problem to worry about: Contagious Meanness. Check out this story on the latest research. In this study, subjects who had recently viewed scenes of physical aggression (from the movie Kill Bill) and those who had viewed scenes of relational aggression (from the movie Mean Girls) both reacted with considerably more aggression to an incident in which they themselves were treated rudely. Subjects who had viewed scenes without aggression (from the movie What Lies Beyond) responded with significantly less aggression to the same rude incident. Studies like this raise interesting questions about how the time many of us spend on the internet might be affecting our "real life" behavior. What happens to your own mood when you participate in on-line discussions where a lot of "flaming" or other kinds of verbal aggression are going on? It's pretty easy to get sucked into playing the flame game yourself when something you read pushes your buttons--just watch how often on-line discussions about religion or politics (or just about anything else, really) degenerate into flame wars once one person goes in that direction. But is that as far as it goes? Or does getting your aggression pump primed on the internet cause you to be more verbally aggressive in your real life, too? And what other sorts of problems could it be causing? Maybe you're the sort who turns your aggression inwards by putting yourself down or even doing something to sabotage or hurt yourself, instead of expressing anger or frustration at others. Or maybe you stuff those feelings by reaching for something to eat? It would be worse than ironic if the places you go on-line to relax or get support for your healthy habits end up becoming part of the problem... What do you think about all this? |
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