Talking smack: Verbal aggression in professional wrestling

Communication Studies

Volumn 59, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 242-258

  Tamborini, Ron ^a   Chory, Rebecca M ^b   Lachlan, Ken ^c   Westerman, David ^b   Skalski, Paul ^d  

^a MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c BOSTON COLLEGE   (United States)

^d CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Media Effects; Professional Wrestling; Television Violence; Verbal Aggression

Indexed keywords

EID: 77955145675     PISSN: 10510974     EISSN: 17451035     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10510970802257689     Document Type: Article

References (46)

1. Anderson, C. A., Carnagey, N. L., & Eubanks, J., (2003). Exposure to violent media: The effects of songs with violent lyrics on aggressive thoughts and feelings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 960–971.
2. Arms, R. L., Russell, G. W., & Sandilands, M. L., (1979). Effects of viewing aggressive sports on the hostility of spectators. Social Psychology Quarterly, 42, 275–279.
3. Bandura, A., (2002). Social cognitive theory of mass communication. In J., Bryant & D., Zillmann (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 121–153). Mahwah, NJ: LEA.
4. Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. A., (1963). Imitation of film-mediated aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 66, 3–11.
5. Berkowitz, L., (1962). Aggression: A social psychological analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill.
6. British Broadcasting Standards Commission. (2001). How do audiences perceive TV and video wrestling? Retrieved January 27, 2004, from http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/consumer_audience_research/tv_audience_reports/wrestling_how_do_viewers_perceiv
7. Chory, R. M., (2000). Effects of exposure to verbally aggressive television on aggressive behavior and beliefs. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University.
8. Chory-Assad, R. M., (2004). Effects of television sitcom exposure on the accessibility of verbally aggressive thoughts. Western Journal of Communication, 68, 431–453.
9. Chory-Assad, R. M., (2005, November). Differences in television viewers' involvement: Identification with and attraction to liked versus disliked characters. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Boston, MA.
10. DuRant, R. H., Champion, H., & Wolfson, M., (2006). The relationship between watching professional wrestling on television and engaging in date fighting among high school students. Pediatrics, 118, 265–272.
11. Eyal, K., & Rubin, A. M., (2003). Viewer aggression and homophily, identification, and parasocial relationships with television characters. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 47, 77–98.
12. Gerbner, G., Gross, L., Morgan, M., Signorielli, N., & Shanahan, J., (2002). Growing up with television: Cultivation processes. In J., Bryant & D., Zillmann (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 43–67). Mahwah, NJ: LEA.
13. Greenberg, B. S., Edison, N., Korzenny, F., Fernandez-Collado, C., & Atkin, C. K., (1980). Anti-social and pro-social behaviors on television. In B. S., Greenberg (Ed.), Life on television: Content analysis of U.S. TV drama (pp. 99–128). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
14. Gunter, B., Harrison, J., & Wykes, M., (2003). Violence on television: Distribution, form, context, and themes. Mahwah, NJ: LEA.
15. Gunter, B., (2006). Sport, violence, and the media. In A. A., Raney & J., Bryant (eds.), Handbook of Sports and Media (pp. 353–364). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
16. Infante, D. A., (1987). Aggressiveness. In J. C., McCroskey & J. A., Daly (Eds.), Personality and interpersonal communication (pp. 157–194). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
17. Infante, D. A., Chandler, T. L., & Rudd, J. E., (1989). The test of an argumentative skill deficiency model of interpersonal violence. Communication Monographs, 56, 163–173.
18. Infante, D. A., & Wigley, C. J., III (1986). Verbal aggressiveness: An interpersonal model and measure. Communication Monographs, 53, 61–69.
19. Joy, L. A., Kimball, M. M., & Zabrack, M. L., (1986). Television and children's aggressive behavior. In T. M., Williams (Ed.), The impact of television: A natural experiment in three communities (pp. 303–603). Orlando, FL: Academic Press Inc.
20. Kassing, J. W., Billings, A. C., Brown, R. S., Halone, K. K., Harrison, K., Krizek, B., et al. (2004). Communication in the community of sport: The process of enacting, (re)producing, consuming, and organizing sport. In P. J., Kalbfleisch (Ed.), Communication yearbook 28 (pp. 373–409). Mahwah, NJ: LEA.
21. Krippendorf, K., (1980). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
22. Lachlan, K., & Tamborini, R., (2008). The effect of perpetrator motive and dispositional attributes on enjoyment of television violence and attitudes toward victims. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 52(1), 136–152.
23. Lemish, D., (1997). The school as a wrestling arena: The modeling of a television series. The European Journal of Communication Research, 22, 395–418.
24. Lemish, D., (1998). “Girls can wrestle too”: Gender differences in the consumption of a television wrestling series. Sex Roles, 38, 833–849.
25. Neuendorf, K. A., (2002). The content analysis guidebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
26. Noveck, J., (2006, March). Survey finds profanity a curse of today's U.S. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved July 30, 2007, from http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/122198
27. Paik, H., & Comstock, G., (1994). The effects of television violence on antisocial behavior: A meta-analysis. Communication Research, 21, 516–546.
28. Parents' Television Council. (2001, June 24). Statement by PTC founder L. Brent Bozell on the latest incident of TV wrestling violence related death. Press release. Author. Retrieved October 14, 2001, from www.parenttv.com
29. Poniewozik, J., (2005). The decency police. Time, March 28.
30. Potter, W. J., (1999). On media violence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
31. Potter, W. J., & Vaughan, M., (1997). Antisocial behaviors in television entertainment: Trends and profiles. Communication Research Reports, 14, 116–124.
32. Potter, W. J., & Ware, W., (1987). An analysis of the contexts of antisocial acts on prime-time television. Communication Research, 14, 664–686.
33. Raney, A. A., (2003). Professional wrestling and human dignity: Questioning the boundaries of entertainment. In H., Good (Ed.), Desperately seeking ethics (pp. 161–176). New York: Scarecrow Press.
34. Roskos-Ewoldsen, D. R., Roskos-Ewoldsen, B., & Carpentier, F. R. D., (2002). Media priming: A synthesis. In J., Bryant & D., Zillmann (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 97–120). Mahwah, NJ: LEA.
35. Schank, R. C., & Abelson, R., (1977). Scripts, plans, goals, and understanding. Hillsdale, NJ: LEA.
36. Shapiro, B., (1999, May 17). The guns of Littleton. The Nation, 268, 4–5.
37. Shapiro, M. J., (1989). Representing world politics: The sport/war intertext. In J., Derain & M. J., Shapiro (eds.), International/Intertextual Relations (pp. 69–96). Lexington, MA: Lextington Books.
38. Shrum, L. K., (2002). Media consumption and perceptions of social reality. In J., Bryant & D., Zillmann (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 69–95). Mahwah, NJ: LEA.
39. Smith, S. L., Nathanson, A. I., & Wilson, B. J., (2002). Prime-time television: Assessing violence during the most popular viewing hours. Journal of Communication, 52, 84–111.
40. Smith, S. L., Wilson, B. J., Kunkel, D., Linz, D., Potter, W. J., Colvin, C. M., et al. (1998). Violence in television programming overall: University of California, Santa Barbara study. National television violence study (Vol. 3, pp. 5–220). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
41. Tamborini, R., Skalski, P., Lachlan, K., Westerman, D., Davis, J., & Smith, S. L., (2005). The raw nature of televised professional wrestling: Is the violence a cause for concern? Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 49, 202–220.
42. United States Securities and Exchange Commission. (2006). World wrestling entertainment, inc. shareholders report. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
43. Weekly ratings. (2006, September 11). Broadcasting and Cable Weekly, 52.
44. Williams, T. M., Zabrack, M. L., & Joy, L. A., (1982). The portrayal of aggression on North American television. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 12, 360–380.
45. Wilson, B. J., Kunkel, D., Linz, D., Potter, W. J., Donnerstein, E., Smith, S. L., et al. (1997). Violence in television programming overall: University of California, Santa Barbara study. In National Television Violence Study (Vol. 1, pp. 3–268). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
46. Wotring, C. E., & Greenberg, B. S., (1973). Experiments in televised violence and verbal aggression: Two exploratory studies. Journal of Communication, 23, 446–460.