The popularity of Facebook has generated numerous discussions on the individual-level effects of social networking. However, we know very little about people's perceptions of the effects of the most popular social networking site, Facebook. The current investigation reports the findings from a survey designed to help us better understand young people's estimates of the perceived negative effects of Facebook use on themselves and others in regard to three outcome categories: (1) personal relationships, (2) future employment opportunities, and (3) privacy. Congruent with Davidson's third-person effect theory, respondents, when asked about the three outcome categories, believed that the use of Facebook had a larger negative impact on others (e.g., "your closest friends," "younger people," "people in your Facebook network of friends," and "Facebook users in general") than on themselves. Overall, results were inconclusive when it came to the link between the third-person perceptual gap and support for enhanced regulation of Facebook. Implications and limitations of this research are discussed.

This study found that a week of prime-time programming on the broadcast networks yielded 4,347 commercial messages (either for products/services or movie trailers/television program promotions), of which 536 (12.3%) contained some form of aggression (physical, verbal, or "fortuitous"). Those 536 messages then formed the sample used in this content analysis. Among the key findings, it was found that just over half of the commercials combined aggression with humor. Humor was more common when the aggression was fortuitous. Psychoanalytic humor was the most frequently employed humor technique, followed by incongruity and then superiority.The study of the presence of aggression in television programs is very common, but considerably less frequent are analyses of aggression appearing in television commercial content (commercials for products and services as well as promotional messages for television programs and movie releases). Yet a cursory glance at commercial content shows that there are depictions of harm or injury experienced by characters. In fact, anecdotal observation suggests that such depictions are often played for laughs, with the advertised product or service shown as a solution to a problem depicted comically through injury. The combination of aggression and humor has the potential to contribute to desensitization and aggressive behavior by making light of harm. This study documents aggression in a sample of commercial ) is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her research interests include media effects on children, representations of gender in the media, and media literacy.Angela Paradise (M.A., University of Massachusetts, Amherst) is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her research interests include media violence, video games, and media literacy.Qianqing Ren (M.A., Beijing Foreign Studies University) is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her research interests include effects of advertising and marketing, media literacy, and quantitative research methods. content drawn from prime-time television and measures its co-occurrence with the humorous intent of the commercial.The unpredictability of potential exposure of children to aggression in commercial content makes this a worthy issue to research. Unlike programs that now bear ratings that caution parents about objectionable content, commercials and movie trailers show up on screen quickly and largely without warning. If that commercial content contains aggression, children may be incidentally exposed, despite the best efforts of even the most vigilant parents.

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This chapter explores the complex relationship between exposure to media violence, aggression, and desensitization across various effects dimensions, from physiological and cognitive to affective and behavioral. The impact of contextual factors of media violence is explored, supported by a discussion of Leone's work on “ratings creep.” Susceptibility to media violence is also discussed, informed by Paradise's videogame research dealing with trait aggression and playing style. The authors conclude that the relationship between exposure to media violence, aggression, and desensitization is not linear. Short‐term increases in responsiveness to violent media – suggesting aggression‐causing effects – can cede to decreased responses – indicative of a desensitization effect – over time. It is this pattern, the authors assert, that is most likely to guide future research into these phenomena.