An Investigation of the Relationship Between Violence and Emotion Perception: Evidence from Turkish Cinema

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2025.736

Keywords:

violence, cinema, emotion perception, language, word rating, psycholinguistics

Abstract

Violence has been a significant phenomenon throughout human history and has been studied across various disciplines. With the rise of interdisciplinary approaches, it has become a central issue in many fields. Adapting a psycholinguistic perspective, this study examines how films with violent content influence people’s perception of emotions. It was hypothesized that the violent content in film the participants saw would alter their perception of the emotional content of the words they were shown. To this end, they performed a rating task on a list of positive, negative, and neutral words before and after watching a violent film. A comparison of pre- and post-ratings revealed that valence ratings decreased for all word types after watching the film, while arousal ratings remained unchanged. These findings suggest that exposure to violent content can influence how emotional words are perceived. The results provide valuable insights into the impact of violence on emotional processing.

References

Abisel, N. (2000). Yeşilçam filmlerinde kadının temsilinde kadına yönelik şiddet. In N. B. Çelik (Ed.), Televizyon, kadın ve şiddet. KİV Yayınları.

Abisel, N. (2005). Türk sineması üzerine yazılar. Phoenix Yayınları.

Akbal Süalp, Z. T. (2005). “Kent, imge, özne” ve “dışarlıklı” “zaman mekânlar.” III. Mimarlık ve Felsefe Toplantısı: Zaman Mekân/Mekân Zaman. İTÜ.

Akbal Süalp, Z. T. (2009). Yabanıl, dışarlıklı ve lümpen “hiçlik” kutsamaları. In D. Bayrakdar (Ed.), Türk film araştırmalarında yeni yönelimler VIII: Sinema ve politika. Bağlam Yayınları.

Altınay, A. G., & Arat, Y. (2007). Türkiye’de kadına yönelik şiddet. Punto Yayıncılık.

Anderson, C. A. (1997). Effects of violent movies and trait hostility on hostile feelings and aggressive thoughts. Aggressive Behavior, 23(3), 161–178. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1098-2337(1997)23:3<161::AID-AB2>3.0.CO;2-P

Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002). The effects of media violence on society. Science, 295(5564), 2377–2378. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1070765

Arendt, H. (1970). On violence. Harcourt, Brace & Jovanovich.

Aydın, Ö. (2012). İfade özgürlüğüne vurulmuş pranga: Simgesel şiddet. Umut Vakfı Hukukun Gençleri Sempozyum Dizisi-3: Hukuk Felsefesi (pp. 1–7). https://www.umut.org.tr

Bhalla, M., & Proffitt, D. R. (1999). Visual–motor recalibration in geographical slant perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 25, 1076–1096.

Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L. J. D. (1992). An invitation to reflexive sociology. University of Chicago Press.

Bourdieu, P. (2001). Masculine domination. Stanford University Press.

Bradley, M. M., & Lang, P. J. (1999). Affective norms for English words: Instruction manual and affective ratings. https://pdodds.w3.uvm.edu/teaching/courses/2009-08UVM-300/docs/others/everything/bradley1999a.pdf

Bushman, B. J. (1995). Moderating role of trait aggressiveness in the effects of violent media on aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(5), 950–960. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.69.5.950

Bushman, B. J. (2002). Does venting anger feed or extinguish the flame? Catharsis, rumination, distraction, anger, and aggressive responding. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(6), 724–731. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167202289002

Büker, S., & Kıran, A. (1999). Televizyon reklamlarında kadına yönelik şiddet. Alan Yayıncılık.

Clore, G., Martin, L. L., & Clore, G. L. (2001). Affective feelings as feedback: Some cognitive consequences. In L. L. Martin & G. L. Clore (Eds.), Theories of mood and cognition: A user’s guidebook (pp. 63–84). Erlbaum.

Clore, G. L., & Huntsinger, J. R. (2007). How emotions inform judgment and regulate thought. Trends in Cognitive Neuroscience, 11(9), 393–399. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2007.08.005

Clore, G. L., & Huntsinger, J. R. (2009). How the object of affect guides its impact. Emotion Review, 1(1), 39–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073908097185

Codispoti, M., Surcinelli, P., & Baldaro, B. (2008). Watching emotional movies: Affective reactions and gender differences. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 69, 90–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.03.004

Connell, R. W. (2002). Masculinities and men’s health. In B. Baron (Ed.), Gender in interaction: Perspectives on femininity and masculinity in ethnography and discourse. John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Damasio, A. R. (2005). Descartes’ error. Penguin Books.

Debarbieux, E. (2006). Violence à l’école: Un défi mondial? Armand Colin.

Edison, T. (Director). (1895). The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots [Film].

Erdal Aytekin, P. (2015). Zeki Demirkubuz Sinemasında Şiddet: Masumiyet ve Kader. Ankara Üniversitesi İlef Dergisi, 2(2), 155-178. https://doi.org/10.24955/ilef.305321

Erkılıç, S., & Erkılıç, H. (2013). Barda: Şiddet bağlamında barın içi ve dışı. Selçuk İletişim, 5(3), 205–219. https://doi.org/10.18094/si.38533

Eron, L. D. (1982). Parent–child interaction, television violence, and aggression of children. American Psychologist, 37(2), 197–211. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.37.2.197

Fromm, E. (1964). The heart of man: Its genius for good and evil. Harper & Row.

Gerbner, G., Morgan, M., & Signorielli, N. (1999). Profiling television violence. In International media monitoring (pp. 335–365). Hampton Press.

Griffith, D. W. (Director). (1915). The birth of a nation [Film]. David W. Griffith Corp., Epoch Producing Corporation.

Griffith, D. W. (Director). (1916). Intolerance: Love’s struggle throughout the ages [Film].

Gürhan, N., Erdoğan, G., & Seyran, F. (2020). Cinsel şiddet. MEYAD Akademi, 1(1), 59–65. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/meyadakademi/issue/62718/949175

Güz, H. (2007). Şiddet ve gençliğin şiddeti algılaması. Çocuk ve Ergene Yönelik Şiddetin Önlenmesi Sempozyumu. AEM Kitap.

Havuzlu, Z. Ö. (2001). Türk sinemasında şiddet ve cinsellik olgularının işleniş biçimi ve bu olguların Türk toplumuna etkileri (Master's thesis, Mimar Sinan University).

Huesmann, L. R., Moise-Titus, J., Podolski, C. L., & Eron, L. D. (2003). Longitudinal relations between children’s exposure to TV violence and their aggressive and violent behavior in young adulthood: 1977–1992. Developmental Psychology, 39(2), 201–221. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.39.2.201

Karabağ, İ. (2010). Dil ve şiddet. İkaros Yayınları.

Kaufman, M. (1987). The construction of masculinity and the triad of men’s violence. In M.

Kaufman (Ed.), Beyond patriarchy: Essays by men on pleasure, power, and change (pp. 1–29). Oxford University Press

Kazancı, D. (2025). 2000 Sonrasi Türk Sinemasında Kadına Şiddetin Değerlendirilmesi. Karadeniz Uluslararası Bilimsel Dergi (66), 122-142. https://doi.org/10.17498/kdeniz.1665320

Keleş, S. (2015). 2000 sonrası Türk sinemasında şiddet. Nişantaşı Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 3(2), 180–214.

Kissler, J., & Koessler, S. (2011). Emotionally positive stimuli facilitate lexical decisions—An ERP study. Biological Psychology, 86(3), 254–264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.12.006

Köknel, Ö. (2000). Bireysel ve toplumsal şiddet. Altın Kitaplar Yayınevi.

Krug, E. G., Dahlberg, L. L., Mercy, J. A., Zwi, A. B., & Lozano, R. (Eds.). (2002). World report on violence and health. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int

Méliès, G. (Director). (1902). A trip to the moon [Film].

Mutlu, E. (1997). Televizyon, çocuklar ve şiddet. İstanbul Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Dergisi, 4, 41–77.

Olafson, K. M., & Ferraro, F. R. (2001). Effects of emotional state on lexical decision performance. Brain and Cognition, 45(1), 15–20. https://doi.org/10.1006/brcg.2000.1248

Oskay, Ü. (2000). XIX. yüzyıldan günümüze kitle iletişiminin kültürel işlevleri: Kuramsal bir yaklaşım. Der Yayınları.

Porter, E. S. (Director). (1903). The great train robbery [Film]. Warner Bros.

Pratt, N. L., & Kelly, S. D. (2008). Emotional states influence the neural processing of affective language. Social Neuroscience, 3(3–4), 434–442. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470910802102170

Schacht, A., & Sommer, W. (2009). Emotions in word and face processing: Early and late cortical responses. Brain and Cognition, 69(3), 538–550. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2008.11.005

Simavi, S. (Director). (1917). The Claw [Film]. Müdafaa-i Milliye Cemiyeti.

Smelik, A. (2008). And the mirror cracked: Feminist cinema and film theory. Palgrave Macmillan.

Söğüt, F. (2020). Türk sineması ve şiddet: son dönem Türk filmlerinde şiddetin sunumu üzerine bir araştırma. Atatürk Üniversitesi Güzel Sanatlar Enstitüsü Dergisi, 26(44), 246-257. doi: https://doi.org/10.35247/ataunigsed.674233

Stossel, S. (1997). The man who counts the killings. The Atlantic Monthly, 279(5), 86–100. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/05/the-man-who-counts-the-killings/376850/

Taylor, S. E. (1991). Asymmetrical effects of positive and negative events: The mobilization–minimization hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 110(1), 67–85. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.110.1.67

Teksoy, R. (2007). Rekin Teksoy’un Türk sineması kitabı. Oğlak Yayıncılık.

Ünsal, A. (1996). Genişletilmiş bir şiddetin tipolojisi. Cogito Dergisi – Şiddet, 6–7, 29–36.

Downloads

Published

2025-12-03

How to Cite

Keleş, S., & Mergen, F. (2025). An Investigation of the Relationship Between Violence and Emotion Perception: Evidence from Turkish Cinema. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 13(2), 426–459. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2025.736

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 2 (2025): Fall

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Semra Keleş, Filiz Mergen

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
    1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
    with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
  4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
  6. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
  7. The Author represents and warrants that:
    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
    4. the Work has not previously been published;
    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
  8. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.

Revised 7/16/2018. Revision Description: Removed outdated link. 

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC