1999/01/01 by Brad J. Bushman, Roy F. Baumeister, Angela D. Stack · 4 citations
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · Neuroscience · Psychology · #Social and Intergroup Psychology #Media Influence and Health #Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment #Catharsis #Anger #Psychology #Aggression #Social psychology #Punching #Action (physics) #Self-fulfilling prophecy #Punishment (psychology) #Psychoanalysis
paper · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.76.3.367
openalex publication_date 1999/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01
Does media endorsement for catharsis produce a self-fulfilling or a self-defeating prophecy? In Study 1, participants who read a procatharsis message (claiming that aggressive action is a good way to relax and reduce anger) subsequently expressed a greater desire to hit a punching bag than did participants who read an anticatharsis message. In Study 2, participants read the same messages and then actually did hit a punching bag. This exercise was followed by an opportunity to engage in laboratory aggression. Contrary to the catharsis hypothesis and to the self-fulfilling prophecy prediction, people who read the procatharsis message and then hit the punching bag were subsequently more aggressive than were people who read the anticatharsis message.