Citation

Tannenbaum PH, Zillmann D. Adv. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 1975; 8: 149-192.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1975, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60250-6

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This chapter presents a report of a program of research on emotional arousal in the facilitation of aggression through communication. It focuses on emotional arousal that many communication messages, especially those presented in highly dramatic format, can elicit in most viewers, and suggests that this arousal can play a significant role in the degree to which the individual will engage in aggressive behavior. Because a major factor motivating the present research is to test an alternative model to account for previous findings, the same basic methodological format has been adopted in the research program as well. The chapter discuses the elementary arousal model, which focuses on the degree of emotional arousal, and it contends that physiological excitation serves to activate or energize behaviors without channeling itself toward any particular behavior. It proposes a more sophisticated theory to incorporate the various cognitive and arousal factors into a single model and demonstrates more specifically how they interact to determine the behavior. As this program of theoretical speculation and research has evolved, three different facets of the problem of the effect of communications on subsequent aggressive behavior have arisen. Each addresses a different phase of the experimental procedure, thus focusing on a different component of the process.

Language: en