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The idea that what we watch, listen to, or read can change our fundamental morality is an enduring topic of interest for media scholars. This concern was present from the beginnings of the scientific study of media, when Frances Fenton (1911) was concerned with the influence of newspaper reading on anti-social behavior. Indeed, one of the first large-scale mass communication research projects, the Payne Fund Studies (1929–1932), was driven by a concern that the moral standards of children were being eroded by messages in film (Lowery & DeFleur, 1995). This social concern continues today, and can be seen in heated public debates about online deception, violent and pornographic media, violent video games, and sexually explicit lyrics in music. Throughout this research, there have been varied approaches to understanding the relationship between the media and morality. This chapter provides an …