Psychoticism in the effect of prolonged exposure to gratuitous media violence on the acceptance of violence as a preferred means of conflict resolution

Within a prolonged-exposure, delayed-measurement paradigm, respondents consumed films that featured no violence, old-style violence, gratuitous violence, or horror. Both male and female respondents had been classified as low vs high in psychoticism weeks prior to consumption. Delayed measures were: (1) the acceptance of violence as a means of conflict resolution; (2) crime apprehension; (3) evaluation of police brutality; and (4) the endorsement of the death penalty for perpetrators of violent crime. Female respondents, whether low or high in psychoticism, were not appreciably affected by the consumption of any of the violent genres. Similarly, male respondents in the lower half of psychoticism were not appreciably affected. In contrast, male respondents in the upper half of psychoticism, estimated to represent half the population, were significantly affected: Consumption of gratuitous violence consistently fostered greater acceptance of violence as a means of conflict resolution. Consumption of old-style violence and horror did not. Crime apprehension was not appreciably affected by genres differing in amount and type of violence featured. Neither were evaluations of police brutality. However, respondents, especially male respondents and respondents in the upper half of psychotoicism, endorsed the death penalty more strongly after gratuitous violence than after consumption of alternative genres. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.