College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Media star

Brad Bushman is back on TV, this time on the Discovery Channel.
While many of us dream of being on television, it's not the top item on Brad Bushman's things to do list.

"It's sort of a distraction," the associate professor of psychology said. "But one of the goals of research should be to disseminate knowledge. So the attention I've gotten from the media is good, but it does use up a lot of my time.

"There is many other things I would rather do."

Right now however, Bushman has become a media star. In recent years he has been interviewed live on PBS' "Jim Lehrer NewsHour." He has appeared on ABC's "20/20" twice having been interviewed by John Stossel. He's been heard on National Public Radio and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek magazine and The New York Times.

On Nov. 15, Bushman's latest foray into the television world will be broadcast on the Discovery Channel when "Rage to Revenge" is broadcast. The program looks into what factors turn hatred into violence and includes Bushman's research on violence and aggression.

"Some of my articles have been published in some of the best scientific journals," he says, "and once it gets out in the media, others tend to pick the story up."

The Discovery Channel's hour-long program was originally filmed and broadcast on the BBC in Great Britain. Well-known journalist Forrest Sawyer will anchor the U.S. version.

The first segments of "Rage to Revenge" tells the stories of crimes committed by law abiding citizens until their rage drove them to revenge. The program also looks at other research efforts in this field.

During the later stages of the program Bushman talks about the research he conducted on aggression. In the experiment involving 700 college students, he deliberately sets out to make them angry.
The students are paired up, but separated into small rooms where they are told to write a short essay about a controversial subject.

After they are finished they are asked to read their partners essay and write comments on it. It's at that point when Bushman gathers the essays and hands out ones he's written, all of which are highly reactionary. As the students read the substituted essays they become more and more angry. Half of the students are told to vent their anger on a punching bag, while the other half just sit there. After venting or sitting quietly, the students then turn their attention to computers and start playing a video game.

"If conventional wisdom is true, then people who vent their anger by hitting a punching bag should get rid of that anger and behave less aggressively than those who do nothing at all," Bushman says in the program.

But Bushman's results did not fortify that theory. Instead Bushman found that students who vented their anger were at least twice as aggressive, sending their partner louder and longer noises than they were receiving.

The media seem interested in Bushman's studies because they focus on activities and emotions of everyday people. Yet Bushman feels there is another reason.

"The research I do dispels a lot of public myths," he said. "Our studies involve hundreds and sometimes even thousands of people and it takes a lot of time and effort. The studies are also not hypothetical. We make them angry and by hitting the punching bag we find out if they actually become less aggressive.

"Not many people do this type of research. As a result those of us that do get a lot of exposure."