Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
Published on: September 28, 2018
Comfortably numb: desensitizing effects of violent media on helping others
Brad J Bushman1, Craig A Anderson
1Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 426 Thomson St., Ann Arbor, MI 48106, USA. bbushman@umich.edu
Abstract:
Two studies tested the hypothesis that exposure to violent media reduces aid offered to people in pain. In Study 1, participants played a violent or nonviolent video game for 20 min. After game play, while completing a lengthy questionnaire, they heard a loud fight, in which one person was injured, outside the lab. Participants who played violent games took longer to help the injured victim, rated the fight as less serious, and were less likely to "hear" the fight in comparison to participants who played nonviolent games. In Study 2, violent- and nonviolent-movie attendees witnessed a young woman with an injured ankle struggle to pick up her crutches outside the theater either before or after the movie. Participants who had just watched a violent movie took longer to help than participants in the other three conditions. The findings from both studies suggest that violent media make people numb to the pain and suffering of others.
Related Concept Videos
Desensitization and Tachyphylaxis
Several...
Milgram's Obedience to Authority
Bystander Effect
Aggression
Group Design
Bullying

