%0 Journal Article
%T Effects of Weapons on Aggressive Thoughts, Angry Feelings, Hostile Appraisals, and Aggressive Behavior: A Meta
%A Arlin J. Benjamin
%A Brad J. Bushman
%A Sven Kepes
%J Personality and Social Psychology Review
%@ 1532-7957
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1088868317725419
%X A landmark 1967 study showed that simply seeing a gun can increase aggression¡ªcalled the ¡°weapons effect.¡± Since 1967, many other studies have attempted to replicate and explain the weapons effect. This meta-analysis integrates the findings of weapons effect studies conducted from 1967 to 2017 and uses the General Aggression Model (GAM) to explain the weapons effect. It includes 151 effect-size estimates from 78 independent studies involving 7,668 participants. As predicted by the GAM, our na£¿ve meta-analytic results indicate that the mere presence of weapons increased aggressive thoughts, hostile appraisals, and aggression, suggesting a cognitive route from weapons to aggression. Weapons did not significantly increase angry feelings. Yet, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis indicated that not all na£¿ve mean estimates were robust to the presence of publication bias. In general, these results suggest that the published literature tends to overestimate the weapons effect for some outcomes and moderators
%K weapons effect
%K aggression
%K General Aggression Model
%K social priming
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1088868317725419