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11. FRIGHT REACTIONS TO MASS MEDIA 295

tion transfer (e.g., Zillmann, 1978) in responses to emotion-evoking films
have demonstrated that excitatory residues from prior arousing experi-
ences can combine with responses to unrelated, subsequently presented
movie scenes and thereby intensify emotional reactions to the movie (e.g.,
Zillmann, Mody, & Cantor, 1974).
This reasoning leads to the expectation that factors within a frightening
presentation that tend to produce arousal may combine with the depic-
tion of fear-evoking stimuli to increase the viewer’s arousal and thus the
intensity of the fear experienced while viewing. Producers of frightening
movies employ a variety of stylistic devices, including music and sus-
pense, to intensify the audience’s fright (see, e.g., Björkqvist & Lagerspetz,
1985; Cantor, Ziemke, & Sparks, 1984).

DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES AND MEDIA-INDUCED FEAR

A large body of research has examined two major developmental issues in
fright reactions to media: (a) the types of mass media stimuli and events
that frighten children at different ages, and (b) the strategies for preventing
or reducing unwanted fear reactions that are most effective for different-
aged children. Experiments and surveys have been conducted to test
expectations based on theories and findings in cognitive development
research. The experiments have had the advantage of testing rigorously
controlled variations in program content and viewing conditions, using a
combination of self-reports, physiological responses, the coding of facial
expressions of emotion, and behavioral measures. For ethical reasons, only
small excerpts from relatively mild stimuli are used in experiments. In con-
trast, the surveys have investigated the responses of children who were
exposed to a particular mass media offering in their natural environment,
without any researcher intervention. Although less tightly controlled, the
surveys permit the study of responses to much more intensely frightening
media fare.

Developmental Differences in the Media Stimuli That Produce Fright

One might expect that as children get older, they become less and less sus-
ceptible to all media-produced emotional disturbances. However, this is
not the case. As children mature cognitively, some things become less
likely to disturb them, whereas other things become potentially more
upsetting. This generalization is consistent with developmental differ-
ences in children’s fears in general. According to a variety of studies using
diverse methodologies, children from approximately 3 to 8 years of age
are frightened primarily by animals; the dark; supernatural beings, such