About the Program
The Aggression Research Program, directed by L. Rowell Huesmann and Eric F. Dubow studies the etiology and prevention of aggressive and antisocial behavior. The group’s focus is on understanding the development of aggressive and antisocial behavior from a cognitive, information-processing perspective. The program emphasizes the integration of laboratory experiments, longitudinal survey studies, and randomized clinical field trials to advance our knowledge of aggression. However, the program also serves as the locus for connecting a variety of other research efforts addressing related issues such as peer-relations, the effects of arousal and emotions on social judgment, and the effects of the mass media on behavior. Research projects in the program are or have been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Child Health and Development, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, the program is associated with the NSF supported Center for the Analysis of Pathways from Childhood to Adulthood.
Information for Parents & Teachers
- UNDERSTANDING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF GRAPHIC AND VIOLENT MEDIA ON CHILDREN AND TEENS
- “Effects of Playing Violent Video Games on Youth: A Three-Year Longitudinal Study” (PDF).This is a pdf version of a powerpoint used at a talk about the results of a recently completed Video Game Violence study. The talk was given by Professor Huesmann to the Stockbridge Michigan School Board
- “Children See, Children Do” (YouTube), a thought provoking video, was launched as a television/cinema campaign by NAPCAN, Australia’s National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. NAPCAN Credits (PDF)
- Screen Violence and Real Violence: Understanding the Link! (PDF), lecture paper.
- Media Violence: A Demonstrated Public Health Threat to Children (PDF), published in the Harvard Mental Health Letter, 12(12), 5-7
- “What are your children watching?” podcast interview (mp3)
- See video interview with Rowell Huesmann about media violence
News
- National Academy of Sciences, Sackler Colloquium Scientific Panel on Effects of Violent Video Games (YouTube), October 15, 2015, University of California at Irvine
- Connecticut School Shooting (PDF), December 2012
- Current research on Exposure of Children to Political Violence, “The Hidden Costs of War: Middle East violence and its effect on children”
- UM Record Podcast interview, “Why Empathy is Declining Among College Students,” highlights research by Sara Konrath (RCGD Asst. Research Professor), Ed O’Brien (UM Grad Student) and Courtney Hsing (UM student), all working with the RCGD Aggression Research Group. The Washington Post featured this same research in a May 31 article, “College students losing their sensitive side” and the New York Times followed it up June 29 with, “From student, less kindness for stranger?“
- Dara Greenwood, published an article in Scientific American, “Grand Theft Auto is good for you? not so fast…” discussing what research reveals about video game violence and its consequences for children.
- The American Psychological Association published in their Psychological Bulletin “Nailing the coffin shut on doubts that violent video games stimulate aggression: comment on Anderson et al. (2010)” (PDF) by L. Rowell Huesmann.