The Effect of Watching Violent Movies on Physiological Arousal and Aggressive Feelings

This study was a semi-experimental research for assessing effects of watching violent movies on physiological arousal and aggressive feelings of university students in Tehran. The method is "posttest-only control group" design, and was carried out on students of IRIB University. 60 students were selected by simple random sampling. The students (30 girls and 30 boys) of 18 to 25 years old were chosen and randomly were divided into two equal groups of control and test. 15 minute clip of violent movies was played for the test group and 15 minute clip of wildlife documentaries was played for the control group. During the watching of these clips, their heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), skin conductance (SC), muscle tension (MT), respiration rate (RR), and skin temperature (ST) were measured. At the end of watching, their aggressive feeling was evaluated with "state hostility scale" questionnaire. The results showed that watching violent movies has a significant effect on increasing of skin conductance, muscle tension, respiration rate and aggressive feelings of this group of students. But their heart rate, heart rate variability, and skin temperature did not change during the watching of violent movies.