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From: barry@ames.UUCP (Kenn Barry)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Rape - Another Solution
Message-ID: <1099@ames.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 21-Aug-85 22:23:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: ames.1099
Posted: Wed Aug 21 22:23:54 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 25-Aug-85 01:39:58 EDT
References: <7@decwrl.UUCP>
Organization: NASA-Ames Research Center, Mtn. View, CA
Lines: 37

From Jym Dyer (decwrl!dyer):
>> It's important to remember that it has never been shown that vicarious viol-
>> ence (movies, books, etc.) causes violent behavior[.]
>
>	100% Wrong.  Psychologists deal with a lot of uncertainties, but there
>is one thing that has been demonstrated again and again:  observing aggressive
>behavior results in increased aggressive behavior.

	Your use of the word "aggressive" rather than "violent" suggests
to me that I was unclear. I meant to say only that vicarious violence
has never been linked to violent antisocial behavior. I make a great
distinction between violence, which is almost always anti-social, and
aggression, which can be interpreted in a less negative way. Think, for
instance, of those want ads for salesmen that ask for "aggressive go-
getter types". I have seen at least some of the studies you refer to,
and it seemed to me that they were defining "aggressive" behavior as
something closer to "assertive" than violent. If a child chooses more
aggressive forms of play after watching a violent film, that seems quite
different to me than having the child punch out a playmate. Aggressivness
is only anti-social when it's acted out in an anti-social way, such as
with violence.

>	There is, as you say, controversy.  Some of it has to do with the defin-
>ition of "aggressive."  Some of it has to do with individual differences:  you
>can demonstrate that a group of schoolchildren will become twice as aggressive
>after viewing aggressive behavior, but you can't demonstrate that Pat hit Sandy
>because of a certain episode of The A-Team.
 
	Precisely. I think we are in agreement, and I simply want to
affirm that I meant to assert no more than what you are here agreeing
with.

-  From the Crow's Nest  -                      Kenn Barry
                                                NASA-Ames Research Center
                                                Moffett Field, CA
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