Andrew J. Weaver

Indiana University Bloomington | IUB · Media School

This experiment explores the relationship between television violence and viewer enjoyment. Over 400 participants were randomly assigned to one of 15 conditions that were created by editing five TV programs into three versions each: A graphically violent version, a sanitized violent version, and a nonviolent version. After viewing, participants rep...

It is widely assumed that children like violence in cartoons, but this assumption has not been supported in existing studies that show nonviolent programs are liked just as much or more than violent programs. The present experiment extended enjoyment of media violence research by testing whether violence and action (independently manipulated) influ...

In this content analysis, we examined violence in Web‐based entertainment. YouTube videos (N = 2,520) were collected in 3 different categories: most viewed, top rated, and random, with additional comparisons between amateur and professional content. Frequencies of violent acts and the context of violence (e.g., characteristics of perpetrator and vi...

Previous research has found that White audiences exhibit less preference for movies with minority casts than for movies with White casts. We conducted two experiments to explore why this race-based bias occurs and how to overcome it. In the first study, we examined potential mediators of the relationship between actors’ race and intention to view m...

The existing research on the appeal of media violence has led to an apparent incongruity: violent content tends to increase selective exposure to media, but violence often decreases enjoyment. In this experiment, we used two independent manipulations to assess the role of violence in both selective exposure and enjoyment in order to examine the rel...

We conducted a meta-analysis of 33 studies that examined the effects of media exposure on relationally aggressive behaviors and cognitions (a total of 66 effect sizes, N = (20,990). Across all types of aggressive content, there was a small positive effect (r = 0.15) on relational aggression. However, a comparison of effects sizes demonstrate that e...

This study examines social comparison-related emotional and enjoyment responses to entertainment television characters. Participants (N = 294) were presented with eight possible programs and chose one for viewing. Afterwards, they reported their emotional responses to the content. Factors including program type (reality, scripted), characters’ soci...

Given the transnational nature of the Arabic satellite television industry and the cultural differences among Arab regions, this experiment examined the role of social identity in Arab viewers' media choices and perceived identification with characters. Overall, Arab viewers identified more with in-group characters (gender and cultural region) and...

News articles about media effects research were presented to 333 participants to experimentally test the effects of three independent variables on perceived credibility of both the journalist and featured scientist: whether the sources in the news story supported or contradicted the findings of the featured scientist, journalist gender, and whether...

We collected behavioral evidence to support the hypothesis that video game conditions have varying influences on hippocampus-dependent memory. Results indicate that participants who played in the video game conditions with clear reward mechanisms performed better on a declarative memory task than those who played in the video game conditions withou...

Over the past several decades, media coverage of both professional and nonprofessional athletes has reached unprecedented levels. Previously unreported information about these individuals, including their behavior on and off the field, is now massively disseminated to the public for consumption. Although the extensive amount of media coverage often...

Content analyses have consistently documented the disproportionate portrayal of Black Americans as criminals in the news. This experiment examines the impact of such portrayals on consumers by investigating the relationship between viewer ethnicity, viewing Black criminal suspects in the news, and beliefs related to public policy. Participants view...

In recent years, the viewing of reality television has become increasingly prevalent among television audiences. However, little is known about the psychological processes at work when viewing these programs. This study examined how social comparisons to cast members influenced emotional responses to reality television programming. Participants (N...

This content analysis of 15 Arabic and 3 Turkish drama serials on transnational Arab television examined the gender portrayals of characters. The analysis of 743 characters found that women were underrepresented, less likely to have recognizable jobs, and more likely than men to be portrayed in sex-typed occupations, activities, and settings. The a...

We conducted a content analysis of news articles (N = 540) to examine whether news coverage of media violence accurately reflects scientific knowledge about exposure to media violence and its effects on viewer aggression. The analysis revealed that over the past 30 years, news articles generally suggested that a link between media violence and aggr...

This study investigated the effect of individuals’ self-reported skill levels on generated violent content. After playing a violent video game, participants (N¼68) completed a questionnaire determining skill level with measures modified from previous game studies. The resulting 4,023 instances of violence were analyzed using techniques adapted from...

Abstract This exploratory study was designed to examine how players make moral choices in video games and what effects these choices have on emotional responses to the games. Participants (n=75) filled out a moral foundations questionnaire (MFQ) and then played through the first full act of the video game Fallout 3. Game play was recorded and conte...

Research suggests that exposure to graphic violence commonly causes unpleasant emotional reactions. Further, research shows that fictional violence may be more palatable than real violence. We explored whether=why fictional content might lead to weaker aversive reactions than real content. In this experiment (N¼200), we manipulated the perceived re...

Over the course of the last decade, many games have shifted from single player to shared social experiences. Yet, most research examining antisocial behavior has focused on coded content and ignored the influence of other players. This paper examines the influence of the behavior of another player on strategy selection, and the formation of expecta...

A primary argument for the widespread production of media violence is that audiences want to watch violent content. This assumption is examined in this meta-analytic review of existing research on both selective exposure to and enjoyment of violence. The results show that violence has a significant effect on both selective exposure and enjoyment, b...

Movie producers are often reluctant to cast more than a few minority actors in otherwise race-neutral movies for fear that the White audience will largely avoid such films. Two experiments were conducted to test the idea that the racial makeup of a cast could influence White audiences' selective exposure to movies. Results revealed that actors' rac...

Despite the importance of life-cycle models to sensation seeking research, past studies have typically focused on adolescents and adults. This is especially problematic for researchers studying the role of media use in the development of risky behaviors (e.g., violent video game consumption and aggressive behavior). To facilitate research with chil...

An important element of news delivery on the World Wide Web today is the near ubiquity of breaking news headlines. What used to be called search engines (e.g., Yahoo! and Lycos) are now “portals” or “hubs,” popular services that use news, weather, and other content features to extend the time users spend on the sites. Traditional models of news dis...