RACE, MEDIA, AND VIOLENCE - DIFFERENTIAL RACIAL EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE TO VIOLENT NEWS STORIES

An experiment was conducted to assess whether effects of exposure to v iolent media information would vary as a function of target person rac e. Participants were exposed to violent or nonviolent media informatio n and subsequently made judgments of a violent act committed by a Blac k, White, or race unspecified man. The most relevant findings indicate d that perceptions did not vary as a function of violence exposure for the White and race unspecified defendant. On the other hand, for Blac k defendants, participants exposed to violent information made attribu tions of his behavior that were more dispositional than those exposed to nonviolent information. The findings also indicated that when compa red to men, women tended to make attributions of defendant behavior th at were more dispositional. Finally, when compared to attributions of the White defendant's behavior, attributions of the Black defendant we re more dispositional.