ABSTRACT
Look in the subject index of any psychology textbook, and you will find no more than a smattering of entries for “media.” Chances are that those entries will be associated with exclusively negative aspects of media. Here are three examples that I have plucked at random from the bookshelf. Hogg and Vaughan (1998), renowned European social psychology text, has the following entries under media: aggression, attitude formation, propaganda, sex role stereotypes, violence. Westen (1999), introductory psychology text, has only one: aggression. Hewstone and Stroebe (2001), renowned multi-author social psychology text, fails to list “media” at all, although a quick glance finds “television violence.” Can media’s influence on human behaviour really be all bad?
