Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ames.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!nsc!ames!barry 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- USENET: {ihnp4,vortex,dual,nsc,hao,hplabs}!ames!barry