Hear No Evil, See No Evil: The Effect of Auditory and Visual Stimuli on Perceptions of Violence and Feelings of Aggression

Abstract

Countless studies have demonstrated that exposure to violence increases aggressive behavior. The present study expanded this research by examining the effects of auditory (hearing) and visual (seeing) stimuli on perceptions of violence and personal aggression. College students were exposed to an auditory, visual, or both auditory and visual clip of a violent film. Perceptions of violence in the film and personal feelings of aggression were measured. Results indicated that participants perceived a film clip to be more violent when they could only hear it, followed by when they could only see it, as compared to when they could both hear and see the film. Participants in the visual and auditory conditions also reported feeling more aggressive than participants in the auditory-visual condition. Results suggest that media representations of violent content can influence viewers’ perceptions and feelings of aggression even in the absence of explicit modeled behaviors.