Abstract:

The first part of the article is a review of the impact violent images have on TV viewers. The second part is an experimental investigation, aiming to test the hypothesis that beeing in a negative mood as the result of watching violent news on TV, perceive the surrounding world as beeing more risky and dangerous and consequently they will evaluate the infractional state as beeing significantly more negative than the subjects beeing in positive mood as the result of watching commically elaborated news. Our results confirm this hypothesis.

Keywords: televised violence, emotional aggression, negative affect, negative mood, network model of emotion