Scientific consensus contradicts this claim.

What's still open

What the evidence found 3 findings
Based on 12 sources:
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin peer-reviewed View
Science Direct peer-reviewed View
ScienceAlert news View
Bushman (2002) Study unknown View
Catharsis, aggression, and persuasive influence: self-fulfilling or self peer-reviewed View
My Scholarly Goop blog View
Iowa State Daily news View
KATV news View
PubMed peer-reviewed View
ResearchGate peer-reviewed View
PMC peer-reviewed View
ScienceDirect peer-reviewed View
Based on 13 sources:
Psychology Today blog View
Science Alert news View
Radical Honesty blog View
Facebook post blog View
Instagram post blog View
Facebook post blog View
ScienceAlert news View
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
University of Michigan Research institutional View
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin peer-reviewed View
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology peer-reviewed View
University of Michigan Research peer-reviewed View
Ohio State University Emotional Fitness institutional View
Based on 14 sources:
PMC (PubMed Central) peer-reviewed View
ScienceAlert news View
American Heart Association institutional View
PMC article on emotion and cortisol peer-reviewed View
Clinical Psychology Review news View
PubMed study peer-reviewed View
PubMed peer-reviewed View
ResearchGate peer-reviewed View
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
IOP Science peer-reviewed View
PMC (PubMed Central) peer-reviewed View
PMC (PubMed Central) peer-reviewed View
Harvard Health Publishing institutional View
What research hasn't answered 3 gaps
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin peer-reviewed View
Science Direct peer-reviewed View
ScienceAlert news View
Bushman (2002) Study unknown View
Catharsis, aggression, and persuasive influence: self-fulfilling or self peer-reviewed View
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin peer-reviewed View
Science Direct peer-reviewed View
ScienceAlert news View
Bushman (2002) Study unknown View
Catharsis, aggression, and persuasive influence: self-fulfilling or self peer-reviewed View
Sources 18 findings
argumentation Unknown
argumentation Unknown
argumentation Unknown
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
2002 Bushman argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
Bushman argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
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Generated by reaso.ai's editorial pipeline: claim restated, scientific consensus classified via 3-run majority vote, 18 findings enriched with attribution and study type, narrative written in neutral voice. No individual researcher has signed off on this specific analysis — see methodology for how the pipeline works. Built with Claude Sonnet by Anthropic. Updated April 16, 2026. How we do this →

Written by AI. Sources are linked for verification.