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The purpose of this study was to test the effects of viewing justified and unjustified real film violence on aggressive behavior. The basic research paradigm developed by Berkowitz was used. Subjects were angered by an instigator (the experimenter's accomplice) by means of electrical shocks; the subjects saw a nonviolent film segment, a violent film segment, or no film; the subjects then were allowed to return shocks to the instigator. Measures of the subject's aggressive behavior included numbers of shocks returned and shock intensity. The results showed that angered college students who viewed justified real film violence returned significantly more shocks and more intense shocks than angered subjects viewing unjustified real or fictional film violence, a nonviolent film, or no film. The findings suggest that the effects of increased aggression demonstrated for angered viewers of justified fictional violence are also applicable to angered viewers of real film violence.

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