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Brad J. Bushman

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  • SPN Mentor

My research focuses on the causes and consequences of human aggression.

My research has challenged such societal myths as: violent media have a trivial effect on aggression; venting anger reduces aggression; violent people suffer from low self-esteem; violence and sex on TV sell products; and warning labels on TV programs reduce audience size.

I am also interested in meta-analysis -- a quantitative approach to reviewing the scientific literature.

My research has been published in top scientific journals (e.g., Science) and has been featured on television (e.g., ABC News; CBS News; Jim Lehrer NewsHour), on radio (e.g., NPR, BBC, CBC), in magazines (e.g., Newsweek, Sports Illustrated), and in newspapers (e.g., New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today).

Primary Interests:

  • Aggression, Conflict, Peace
  • Applied Social Psychology
  • Communication, Language
  • Emotion, Mood, Affect
  • Helping, Prosocial Behavior
  • Personality, Individual Differences
  • Aggression, Conflict, Peace
  • Applied Social Psychology
  • Communication, Language
  • Emotion, Mood, Affect
  • Helping, Prosocial Behavior
  • Personality, Individual Differences

Books:

Journal Articles:

  • Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002). Media violence and societal violence. Science, 295, 2377-2378.
  • Anderson, C. A., Shibuya, A., Ihori, N., Swing, E. L., Bushman, B. J., Sakamoto, A., Rothstein, H. R., Saleem, M., & Barlett, C. P. (2010). Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in Eastern and Western countries: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 151-173.
  • Bremner, R. H., Koole, S. L., & Bushman, B. J. (2011). "Pray for those who mistreat you": Effects of prayer on anger and aggression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(6), 830-837.
  • Bushman, B. J., & Anderson, C. A. (2009). Comfortably numb: Desensitizing effects of violent media on helping others. Psychological Science, 21(3), 273-277.
  • Bushman, B. J., Baumeister, R. F., Thomaes, S., Ryu, E., Begeer, S., & West, S. G. (2009). Looking again, and harder, for a link between low self-esteem and aggression. Journal of Personality, 77(2), 427-446.
  • Bushman, B. J., & Gibson, B. (2011). Violent video games cause an increase in aggression long after the game has been turned off. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2, 29-32.
  • Bushman, B. J., & Huesmann, L. R. (2010). Aggression. In S. T. Fiske, D. T. Gilbert, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (5th ed., Ch. 23, pp. 833-863). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
  • Bushman, B. J., Ridge, R. D., Das, E., Key, C. W., & Busath, G. L. (2007). When God sanctions killing; Effect of scriptural violence on aggression. Psychological Science, 18, 204-207.
  • Bushman, B. J., Rothstein, H. R., & Anderson, C. A. (2010). Much ado about something: Violent video game effects and a school of red herring — Reply to Ferguson and Kilburn (2010). Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 182-187.
  • Bushman, B. J., & Whitaker, J. L. (2010). Like a magnet: Catharsis beliefs attract angry people to violent video games. Psychological Science, 21(6), 790-792.
  • Bègue, L., Bushman, B. J., Giancola, P. R., Subra, B., & Rosset, E. (2010). There is no such thing as an accident, especially when people are drunk. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(10), 1301-1304.
  • Das, E., Bushman, B. J., Bezemer, M. D., Kerkhof, P., & Vermeulen, I. E. (2009). How terrorism news reports increase prejudice against outgroups: A Terror Management account. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 453-459.
  • DeWall, C, N., & Bushman, B. J. (2009). Hot under the collar in a lukewarm environment: Hot temperature primes increase aggressive thoughts and hostile perceptions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(4), 1045-1047.
  • DeWall, C. N., Bushman, B. J., Giancola, P. R., & Webster, G. D. (2010). The big, the bad, and the boozed-up: Weight moderates the effect of alcohol on aggression. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 619
  • Engelhardt, C. R., Bartholow, B. D., Kerr, G. T.,, & Bushman, B. J. (2011). This is your brain on violent video games: Neural desensitization to violence predicts increased aggression following violent video game exposure. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 1033-1036.
  • Gentile, D. A., Anderson, C. A., Yukawa, S., Ihori, N., Saleem, M., Ming, L. K., Liau, A. K., Khoo, A., Bushman, B. J., Huesmann, L. R., & Sakamoto, A. (2009). The effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behaviors: International evidence from correlational, longitudinal, and experimental studies. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35(6), 752-763.
  • Pollard Sacks, D., Bushman, B. J., & Anderson, C. A. (2011). Violent video games and children: Comparing the scientific "experts" in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association. Northwestern University Law Review, 106, 1-12.
  • Reijntjes , A., Thomaes, S., Kamphuis, J. H., Bushman, B. J., Orobio de Castro, B., & Telch, M. J. (2011). Explaining the paradoxical rejection-aggression link: The mediating effects of hostile intent attributions, anger, and decreases in state self-esteem on peer rejection-related aggression in youth. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(7), 955-963.
  • Thomaes, S., Bushman, B. J., Orobio de Castro, B., Cohen, G. L., & Denissen, J. J. A. (2009). Reducing narcissistic aggression by buttressing self-esteem: An experimental field study. Psychological Science, 20(12), 1536-1542.

Courses Taught:

  • Communication in Society
  • Media Effects
  • Meta-Analysis
  • Quantitative Research Methods
  • Research Methods in Social Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Video Games
  • Violence in Society and Violence in the Mass Media
  • Violent Media
  • Communication in Society
  • Media Effects
  • Meta-Analysis
  • Quantitative Research Methods
  • Research Methods in Social Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Video Games
  • Violence in Society and Violence in the Mass Media
  • Violent Media

Brad J. Bushman
School of Communication
Ohio State University
3127 Derby Hall, 154 North Oval Mall
Columbus, OH 43210-1339
United States

Phone: (614) 688-8779
Fax: (614) 292-2055
Skype Name: bjbushman

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