Abstract

An experiment was conducted to examine effects of trait aggressiveness and repeated exposure to sexually violent films on desensitization toward female violence victims. From a pool of 395 under­-graduate male students who completed the Korea version of the Aggression Questionnaire as part of battery of tests given in testing sessions, 30 individuals who scored above the 75th percentile on the scale, and 30 who scored below the 25th percentile, were contacted and scheduled as participants. The results obtained are as follows: First, three days following exposure to the final film, high trait aggressive individuals were more likely to show anxiety and displeasure than were low trait aggressive individuals. Second, high trait aggressive individuals enjoyed the slasher films significantly more than did low trait aggressive indi­viduals. Third, high trait aggressive individuals were much more likely to evaluate the victim as more responsible for her own violence than were low trait aggressive individuals. Longterm, frequent exposure to violent media may cause high trait aggressive viewers to become more easily desensitized during subsequent exposures.