What are the psychological motives that make watching violent television so appealing? In this webinar, Drs. Sheldon Solomon and Jonathan Bassett review psychological theories that explain why audiences are drawn to violent television and the impact violent television has on us.
Drawing on insights from both Separation Theory and Terror Management Theory, Solomon and Basset explain how our attraction to watching fictional violence is rooted in sensation seeking, a desire for mastery over perceived dangers, and a need to believe in a just world. They also offer a novel interpretation that views the need to manage existential anxiety as an important force underlying the consumption of violent TV.
This presentation will focus on:
• The ways in which viewing violent television can augment psychological defenses against existential anxiety, thereby making the consumption of fictional violence reinforcing, to the extent that it helps viewers minimize fears of death.
• How variation in the way violence is presented, as well as individual personality factors, can influence whether viewers embrace or challenge the conventional cultural ideologies used to justify or condemn onscreen depictions of violence.
• Potential negative effects of watching television violence that include: becoming callous to the suffering of others, desensitization to the consequences of violence, complacency and acceptance of conventional ideologies used to rationalize violence.
• The means through which the possible adverse impact of viewing violent television might be minimized.
Length: 90 minutes
