Violent video games and anger as predictors of aggression

Considerable research has demonstrated that playing violent video games can increase aggression. The theoretical framework upon which a good deal of this research has rested is known as the General Aggression Model (GAM; [Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002). Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 27–51]). The current study tested an assumption of the GAM by examining if the dispositional trait of anger moderated the relation between violent video games and aggression. A total of 167 undergraduate students (79 females, 88 males) first completed a measure of anger and were then randomly assigned to play either a non-violent or violent video game. After the video game play period, participants completed ambiguous story stems in order to assess aggression. Consistent with predictions of the GAM, anger significantly moderated the effect of video game violence on aggression. Specifically, participants who were angry were more affected by violent video games than participants who were not angry.     

Are the effects of Unreal violent video games pronounced when playing with a virtual reality system?

This study was conducted to analyze the short-term effects of violent electronic games, played with or without a virtual reality (VR) device, on the instigation of aggressive behavior. Physiological arousal (heart rate (HR)), priming of aggressive thoughts, and state hostility were also measured to test their possible mediation on the relationship between playing the violent game (VG) and aggression. The participants--148 undergraduate students--were randomly assigned to four treatment conditions: two groups played a violent computer game (Unreal Tournament), and the other two a non-violent game (Motocross Madness), half with a VR device and the remaining participants on the computer screen. In order to assess the game effects the following instruments were used: a BIOPAC System MP100 to measure HR, an Emotional Stroop task to analyze the priming of aggressive and fear thoughts, a self-report State Hostility Scale to measure hostility, and a competitive reaction-time task to assess aggressive behavior. The main results indicated that the violent computer game had effects on state hostility and aggression. Although no significant mediation effect could be detected, regression analyses showed an indirect effect of state hostility between playing a VG and aggression.     

Experimental study of the differential effects of playing versus watching violent video games on children's aggressive behavior

There is great concern about the effects of playing violent video games on aggressive behavior. The present experimental study was aimed at investigating the differential effects of actively playing vs. passively watching the same violent video game on subsequent aggressive behavior. Fifty-seven children aged 10-13 either played a violent video game (active violent condition), watched the same violent video game (passive violent condition), or played a non-violent video game (active non-violent condition). Aggression was measured through peer nominations of real-life aggressive incidents during a free play session at school. After the active participation of actually playing the violent video game, boys behaved more aggressively than did the boys in the passive game condition. For girls, game condition was not related to aggression. These findings indicate that, specifically for boys, playing a violent video game should lead to more aggression than watching television violence.     

Immersive Virtual Environments Versus Traditional Platforms: Effects of Violent and Nonviolent Video Game Play

An experiment focused on the effects of platform (desktop computer, immersive virtual environment; IVE), content (violent, nonviolent), and player gender on video game play outcomes. Results revealed an interaction such that participants reported higher levels of aggressive feelings when playing a violent video game in an IVE compared to violent game play on a desktop platform or nonviolent game play on either platform. Physiological results supported these findings. No gender effects were found, nor did platform intensify any effects for nonviolent game play. The findings suggest that the intensifying effects of IVEs for game play and aggression are content specific and provide further evidence that attention to playing platform is crucial in understanding violent video game effects.     

The lone gamer: Social exclusion predicts violent video game preferences and fuels aggressive inclinations in adolescent players

Violent video game playing has been linked to a wide range of negative outcomes, especially in adolescents. In the present research, we focused on a potential determinant of adolescents’ willingness to play violent video games: social exclusion. We also tested whether exclusion can predict increased aggressiveness following violent video game playing. In two experiments, we predicted that exclusion could increase adolescents’ preferences for violent video games and interact with violent game playing fostering adolescents’ aggressive inclinations. In Study 1, 121 adolescents (aged 10–18 years) were randomly assigned to a manipulation of social exclusion. Then, they evaluated the violent content of nine different video games (violent, nonviolent, or prosocial) and reported their willingness to play each presented video game. The results showed that excluded participants expressed a greater willingness to play violent games than nonviolent or prosocial games. No such effect was found for included participants. In Study 2, both inclusionary status and video game contents were manipulated. After a manipulation of inclusionary status, 113 adolescents (aged 11–16 years) were randomly assigned to play either a violent or a nonviolent video game. Then, they were given an opportunity to express their aggressive inclinations toward the excluders. Results showed that excluded participants who played a violent game displayed the highest level of aggressive inclinations than participants who were assigned to the other experimental conditions. Overall, these findings suggest that exclusion increases preferences for violent games and that the combination of exclusion and violent game playing fuels aggressive inclinations.

     

暴力电子游戏的短期脱敏效应：两种接触方式比较

比较主、被动接触暴力电子游戏的脱敏效应,以44名男性大学生为被试,利用生物反馈仪测量被试主动参与游戏或被动观看游戏录像前后,及随后观看暴力视频过程中皮电与心率的变化（脱敏效应的生理指标）。结果表明：（1）暴力电子游戏可以产生脱敏效应。接触游戏15分钟后,暴力游戏组观看暴力视频过程中皮电的增加值明显小于非暴力游戏组;（2）游戏的接触方式对于脱敏效应的程度无显著影响,但主动参与组对于游戏内容知觉到更高的愉快与更低的沮丧     

Comfortably Numb: Desensitizing Effects of Violent Media on Helping Others

ABSTRACT— Two studies tested the hypothesis that exposure to violent media reduces aid offered to people in pain. In Study 1, participants played a violent or nonviolent video game for 20 min. After game play, while completing a lengthy questionnaire, they heard a loud fight, in which one person was injured, outside the lab. Participants who played violent games took longer to help the injured victim, rated the fight as less serious, and were less likely to "hear" the fight in comparison to participants who played nonviolent games. In Study 2, violent- and nonviolent-movie attendees witnessed a young woman with an injured ankle struggle to pick up her crutches outside the theater either before or after the movie. Participants who had just watched a violent movie took longer to help than participants in the other three conditions. The findings from both studies suggest that violent media make people numb to the pain and suffering of others.     

Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior: Potential Sex Differences

Evidence of the effects of playing violent video games on subsequent aggression has been mixed. This study examined how playing a violent video game affected levels of aggression displayed in a laboratory. A total of 43 undergraduate students (22 men and 21 women) were randomly assigned to play either a violent (Mortal Kombat) or nonviolent (PGA Tournament Golf) video game for 10 min. Then they competed with a confederate in a reaction time task that allowed for provocation and retaliation. Punishment levels set by participants for their opponents served as the measure of aggression. The results confirmed our hypothesis that playing the violent game would result in more aggression than would playing the nonviolent game. In addition, a Game × Sex interaction showed that this effect was larger for men than for women. Findings are discussed in light of potential differences in aggressive style between men and women.     

Violent and nonviolent video games produce opposing effects on aggressive and prosocial outcomes

Experimental studies routinely show that participants who play a violent game are more aggressive immediately following game play than participants who play a nonviolent game. The underlying assumption is that nonviolent games have no effect on aggression, whereas violent games increase it. The current studies demonstrate that, although violent game exposure increases aggression, nonviolent video game exposure decreases aggressive thoughts and feelings (Exp 1) and aggressive behavior (Exp 2). When participants assessed after a delay were compared to those measured immediately following game play, violent game players showed decreased aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior, whereas nonviolent game players showed increases in these outcomes. Experiment 3 extended these findings by showing that exposure to nonviolent puzzle-solving games with no expressly prosocial content increases prosocial thoughts, relative to both violent game exposure and, on some measures, a no-game control condition. Implications of these findings for models of media effects are discussed.     

The influence of violent and nonviolent computer games on implicit measures of aggressiveness

We examined the causal relationship between playing violent video games and increases in aggressiveness by using implicit measures of aggressiveness, which have become important for accurately predicting impulsive behavioral tendencies. Ninety‐six adults were randomly assigned to play one of three versions of a computer game that differed only with regard to game content (violent, peaceful, or abstract game), or to work on a reading task. In the games the environmental context, mouse gestures, and physiological arousal—as indicated by heart rate and skin conductance—were kept constant. In the violent game soldiers had to be shot, in the peaceful game sunflowers had to be watered, and the abstract game simply required clicking colored triangles. Five minutes of play did not alter trait aggressiveness, yet an Implicit Association Test detected a change in implicit aggressive self‐concept. Playing a violent game produced a significant increase in implicit aggressive self‐concept relative to playing a peaceful game. The well‐controlled study closes a gap in the research on the causality of the link between violence exposure in computer games and aggressiveness with specific regard to implicit measures. We discuss the significance of importing recent social–cognitive theory into aggression research and stress the need for further development of aggression‐related implicit measures. Aggr. Behav. 36:1–13, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life

Two studies examined violent video game effects on aggression-related variables. Study 1 found that real-life violent video game play was positively related to aggressive behavior and delinquency. The relation was stronger for individuals who are characteristically aggressive and for men. Academic achievement was negatively related to overall amount of time spent playing video games. In Study 2, laboratory exposure to a graphically violent video game increased aggressive thoughts and behavior. In both studies, men had a more hostile view of the world than did women. The results from both studies are consistent with the General Affective Aggression Model, which predicts that exposure to violent video games will increase aggressive behavior in both the short term (e.g., laboratory aggression) and the long term (e.g., delinquency).     

Grand Theft Auto IV comes to Singapore: effects of repeated exposure to violent video games on aggression

Given the increasingly dominant role of video games in the mainstream entertainment industry, it is no surprise that the scholarly debate about their impact has been lively and well attended. Although >100 studies have been conducted to examine the impact of violent video games on aggression, no clear consensus has been reached, particularly in terms of their long-term impact on violent behavior and aggressive cognitions. This study employs a first-ever longitudinal laboratory-based experiment to examine longer-term effects of playing a violent video game. One hundred thirty-five participants were assigned either to the treatment condition where they played a violent video game in a controlled laboratory setting for a total of 12 hours or to the control group where they did not play a game. Participants in the treatment group played Grand Theft Auto IV over a period of 3 weeks and were compared with a control group on the posttest measures of trait aggression, attitudes toward violence, and empathy. The findings do not support the assertion that playing a violent video game for a period of 3 weeks increases aggression or reduces empathy, but they suggest a small increase in proviolence attitudes. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

The Effect of Violent Videogame Playtime on Anger

Studies have found evidence that, after playing violent videogames for 20 min, people experience a mean short‐term increase in aggression, hostility, and anger. The current research investigated whether or not players habituate during longer, more realistic lengths of play. Participants (N = 98) were randomly assigned to play the game Quake III Arena for either 20 or 60 min. Participants in the long condition showed a smaller change in state anger (CSA) from pre‐ to post‐gameplay than those in the short condition, although this did not reach significance. Change in scores for gamers (not novice players) showed that short gaming led to a larger increase in anger ratings than long gaming. When the results for violent videogame players were analysed separately, there was no significant increase in anger post‐gameplay—irrespective of length of time playing. Results also supported the hypotheses that females would show a significantly larger CSA than males and that participants previously unexposed to violent videogames would show a significantly larger CSA than exposed participants.     

Violent and nonviolent video games differentially affect physical aggression for individuals high vs. low in dispositional anger

Although numerous experiments have shown that exposure to violent video games (VVG) causes increases in aggression, relatively few studies have investigated the extent to which this effect differs as a function of theoretically relevant individual difference factors. This study investigated whether video game content differentially influences aggression as a function of individual differences in trait anger. Participants were randomly assigned to play a violent or nonviolent video game before completing a task in which they could behave aggressively. Results showed that participants high in trait anger were the most aggressive, but only if they first played a VVG. This relationship held while statistically controlling for dimensions other than violent content on which game conditions differed (e.g. frustration, arousal). Implications of these findings for models explaining the effects of video games on behavior are discussed.     

Aversive images cause less perceptual interference among violent video game players: evidence from emotion-induced blindness

ABSTRACT

Previous research has assessed links between violent video game playing, aggression, and desensitization in the moral domain, but here we find that frequent violent video game play additionally may be linked with differences in perceptual processing. In an emotion-induced blindness task – wherein graphic images typically outcompete and impair perception of targets – violent video game players suffered less perceptual disruption following aversive images than non-players did, despite no group difference following neutral images. This difference persisted when controlling for sex and other violent media consumption and despite no group differences in trait aggression, disgust propensity, or disgust sensitivity. Importantly, the recruitment method ensured that participants were not aware of links between the experiment and their videogame playing history. Although a causal relationship has yet to be established, the findings suggest that violent video game players might sometimes, literally see the world differently.     

Cyber-dehumanization: Violent video game play diminishes our humanity

Across two studies we show that engaging in violent video game play diminishes perceptions of our own human qualities. In addition, when other players are the targets of this violence it reduces our perceptions of their humanity also. In Study 1, we demonstrate that playing Mortal Kombat against another player reduces the perceived humanity of the self as well as the humanity of one's opponent (compared to playing a non-violent game). In Study 2 we replicate this effect on perceived humanity of the self when playing a violent game with a co-player. However, we find no dehumanization of co-players who are not the targets of violence. We demonstrate these effects cannot be reduced to mood, self-esteem, gender, or other characteristics of the game such as excitement and enjoyment. The findings provide a broader perspective from which to view previous work on the adverse effects of violent video games.     

暴力视频游戏中不同攻击动机对玩家攻击性的影响

分别采用词汇按键反应任务和EAST范式测查了攻击性认知的流畅性和内隐攻击性评价,旨在考察游戏中攻击动机对攻击性的影响,结果发现：暴力视频游戏的影响效应不仅与暴力内容有关,还受制于攻击动机和玩家的暴力游戏经验;且长期玩暴力游戏会使被试对暴力产生脱敏,表现为攻击性认知的流畅性低,对攻击的评价更积极。本研究表明,暴力视频游戏对个体攻击性的影响需综合考虑多种因素。     

Running from the shadow: psychological distancing from others to deny characteristics people fear in themselves

Four experiments tested the hypothesis that people distance themselves from others who display characteristics they fear in themselves. In Study 1, participants were given false feedback that they were high or low in repressed anger and were given information about a person who became angry and responded in a violent or nonviolent manner. High anger feedback participants distanced themselves only from the violent person. In Study 2, high anger feedback led to distancing from a violent other but not a dishonest other, whereas dishonesty feedback led to distancing from a dishonest other but not a violent other. The results of Studies 3 and 4 replicated and extended the distancing effect with an anger induction: Participants who were insulted distanced themselves from an angry/violent person, and verbalizing their emotions about being insulted eliminated this effect. Implications for understanding defenses against undesirable self-attributions are discussed.     

电脑游戏与青少年问题行为、家庭各因素的关系研究

本研究着眼于探讨6、8、10年级的中学生的电脑游戏活动,以及游戏时间、游戏暴力程度、行为问题、父母教养方式、家庭收入等因素的相互作用。结果显示,6年级学生较之8和10年级学生有较少的行为问题。研究也发现,学生玩游戏时间越多,玩游戏的历史越长,具有行为问题的可能性越多。此外,那些游戏暴力指数较高的学生所得到的来自父母的温暖指数较少,有较多的问题行为。在游戏的暴力指数方面,女孩比男孩要低得多。父亲教养方式中的温暖和惩罚因子、母亲教养方式中的温暖、椎绡和惩罚因子可用于预测孩子的问题行为。     

This is your brain on violent video games: Neural desensitization to violence predicts increased aggression following violent video game exposure

Previous research has shown that media violence exposure can cause desensitization to violence, which in theory can increase aggression. However, no study to date has demonstrated this association. In the present experiment, participants played a violent or nonviolent video game, viewed violent and nonviolent photos while their brain activity was measured, and then gave an ostensible opponent unpleasant noise blasts. Participants low in previous exposure to video game violence who played a violent (relative to a nonviolent) game showed a reduction in the P3 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) to violent images (indicating physiological desensitization), and this brain response mediated the effect of video game content on subsequent aggressive behavior. These data provide the first experimental evidence linking violence desensitization with increased aggression, and show that a neural marker of this process can at least partially account for the causal link between violent game exposure and aggression.