The third-person effect in perceptions of the influence of television violence

This study examines the third-person effect (the belief that others are mor e affected by media messages than oneself) for two different effects of tel evised violence, mean world perceptions and aggression, using attribution t heory as an explanatory framework. In telephone interviews with a random sa mple of 253 community residents, third-person effects, as predicted, were o bserved for both aggression and mean world perceptions, but were larger for the more socially undesirable influence on aggression and for more distant others (in the U.S. rather than the local community). In addition, those w ho compared themselves favorably with others perceived a larger third-perso n effect for aggression. The study also explores the role of other factors in the third-person effect, including demographics and liking for and expos ure to televised violence.