A colleague who's a recent Ph.D. in Communication passes on this message on the
topic:

"Perhaps the best collection of work that has come out in the last five years is
an edited book called Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research. It is
probably the best single collection of work on media effects. The book is edited
by some of the best people in the discipline. In regard to catharsis theory, a
man by the name of
Seymore Feschbach studied it long ago (1960-1975 or around there). He is a
psychologist who claims to have found a cathartic effect when viewing aggressive
television. However, his research has been questioned and nobody really thinks
this takes place. It really is not studied now. Perhaps the person who has
written the most in opposition to Feschbach is another psychologist by the name
of Leonard Berkowitz. He studies the theory of priming and uses aggressive
movies as his stimulus."

Jim Marsden
Bryant College

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University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu