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.     

Deciding to defect: the effects of video-game violence on cooperative behavior

This experiment examined the effect of video-game violence on cooperative decision making. Participants (N= 48) were randomly assigned to play either a violent or a nonviolent version of the video game Doom in dyads. Following the video-game task, participants were separated and given an opportunity to choose to cooperate with their partner for mutual gain, withdraw from the interaction, or exploit their partner for their own benefit. Participants in the violent condition were significantly more likely to choose to exploit their partners than participants in the nonviolent condition. These findings suggest that playing violent video games may undermine prosocial motivation and promote exploitive behavior in social interactions.     

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     

Short-Term Violent Video Game Play by Adolescents Alters Prefrontal Activity During Cognitive Inhibition

Prior research has indicated an association between exposure to violent media and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior, potentially as a result of effects on inhibitory mechanisms. However, the role of violence in video games in modulating subsequent neural activity related to cognitive inhibition has received little attention. To examine short-term effects of playing a violent video game, 45 adolescents were randomly assigned to play either a violent or a nonviolent video game for 30 minutes immediately prior to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During the fMRI procedure, participants performed a go/no-go task that required them to press a button for each target stimulus and withhold the response for non-target stimuli. Participants who played the violent game demonstrated a lower BOLD response in right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) when responses were appropriately inhibited. The DLPFC is involved with executive functioning, including suppression of unwanted thoughts and behaviors. In addition, responses in the DLPFC demonstrated stronger inverse connectivity with precuneus in the nonviolent game players. These results provide evidence that playing a violent video game can modulate prefrontal activity during cognitive inhibition.     

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.     

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.     

I wish I were a warrior: the role of wishful identification in the effects of violent video games on aggression in adolescent boys

This study tested the hypothesis that violent video games are especially likely to increase aggression when players identify with violent game characters. Dutch adolescent boys with low education ability (N=112) were randomly assigned to play a realistic or fantasy violent or nonviolent video game. Next, they competed with an ostensible partner on a reaction time task in which the winner could blast the loser with loud noise through headphones (the aggression measure). Participants were told that high noise levels could cause permanent hearing damage. Habitual video game exposure, trait aggressiveness, and sensation seeking were controlled for. As expected, the most aggressive participants were those who played a violent game and wished they were like a violent character in the game. These participants used noise levels loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage to their partners, even though their partners had not provoked them. These results show that identifying with violent video game characters makes players more aggressive. Players were especially likely to identify with violent characters in realistic games and with games they felt immersed in.     

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.     

Appetitive and Defensive Arousal in Violent Video Games: Explaining Individual Differences in Attraction to and Effects of Video Games

Evidence surrounding the attraction to media violence is mixed and the effects of violent video game play on players varies across experimental participants. Differences in both may be explained by differences in experienced positive or negative arousal. This study utilizes the limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing (LC4MP) and the motivation activation measure (MAM), which measures resting activation of the appetitive and aversive arousal systems, to explore the relationship between attraction to media violence, arousal, and aggression. In part 1, a questionnaire found that men and frequent players of violent games expected to enjoy violent games more than nonviolent games. In addition, participants whose scores on the MAM characterized them as risk takers (high scores on appetitive arousal and low scores on aversive arousal) indicated a stronger preference for violent games compared to the other three arousal types, which is in line with the LC4MP. In the experimental portion of the research, after playing a violent game, those participants characterized as risk avoidant (high on aversive arousal and low on appetitive arousal) were significantly less aggressive than all other arousal groups. Overall, results show that individual differences in the appetitive and aversive arousal systems can explain attraction to violent media. Furthermore, arousal resulting from violent video game play can be experienced as pleasant or aversive, and it is this experience of arousal that explains variations in aggressive responses to violent video games.     

Effects of realism on extended violent and nonviolent video game play on aggressive thoughts,feelings, and physiological arousal

Previous research has shown that playing violent video game exposure can increase aggressive thoughts, aggressive feelings, and physiological arousal. This study compared the effects that playing a realistic violent, unrealistic violent, or nonviolent video game for 45 min has on such variables. For the purpose of this study, realism was defined as the probability of seeing an event in real life. Participants (N=74; 39 male, 35 female) played either a realistic violent, unrealistic violent, or nonviolent video game for 45 min. Aggressive thoughts and aggressive feelings were measured four times (every 15 min), whereas arousal was measured continuously. The results showed that, though playing any violent game stimulated aggressive thoughts, playing a more realistic violent game stimulated significantly more aggressive feelings and arousal over the course of play. Aggr. Behav. 35:213–224, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The effect of video game violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence

Past research shows that violent video game exposure increases aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, physiological arousal, aggressive behaviors, and decreases helpful behaviors. However, no research has experimentally examined violent video game effects on physiological desensitization, defined as showing less physiological arousal to violence in the real world after exposure to video game violence in the virtual world. This experiment attempts to fill this gap. Participants reported their media habits and then played one of eight violent or nonviolent video games for 20 min. Next, participants watched a 10-min videotape containing scenes of real-life violence while heart rate (HR) and galvanic skin response (GSR) were monitored. Participants who previously played a violent video game had lower HR and GSR while viewing filmed real violence, demonstrating a physiological desensitization to violence. Results are interpreted using an expanded version of the General Aggression Model. Links between desensitization, antisocial, and prosocial behavior are discussed.     

Playing prosocial video games increases the accessibility of prosocial thoughts

Past research has provided abundant evidence that playing violent video games increases aggressive tendencies. In contrast, evidence on possible positive effects of video game exposure on prosocial tendencies has been relatively sparse. The present research tested and found support for the hypothesis that exposure to prosocial video games increases the accessibility of prosocial thoughts. These results provide support to the predictive validity of the General Learning Model (Buckley & Anderson, 2006) for the effects of exposure to prosocial media on social tendencies. Thus, depending on the content of the video game, playing video games can harm but may also benefit social relations.     

Violent Video Games Induce an Affect Processing Bias

This study investigated the effects of violent video game play and trait hostility on attentional bias toward negatively valenced words. Following video game play, participants completed an emotional Stroop task. Results indicated greater Stroop interference for participants high in trait hostility and for participants playing violent video games. Implications of these findings are discussed with respect to current models of aggressive behavior.     

亲社会视频游戏对国外青少年行为的影响

视频游戏对青少年行为影响的研究焦点主要集中在暴力视频游戏带来的消极影响上。随着研究的深入以及积极心理学的兴起,研究者开始关注亲社会视频游戏对青少年行为的积极影响,并进行了相关的研究,研究大多以一般学习模型为理论框架。一般学习模型认为亲社会视频游戏通过影响与亲社会相关的认知、情感和生理唤醒而对亲社会行为产生作用。已有研究显示,亲社会视频游戏会促进青少年的亲社会行为,同时减少青少年的攻击性行为。研究者们采用多种方法探索亲社会视频游戏影响青少年行为的心理机制,证明了一般学习模型的理论构想。未来研究需要进一步研究性别、人格、文化等因素的影响,并开展相关的认知神经机制研究。     

Violent Video Games Stress People Out and Make Them More Aggressive

It is well known that violent video games increase aggression, and that stress increases aggression. Many violent video games can be stressful because enemies are trying to kill players. The present study investigates whether violent games increase aggression by inducing stress in players. Stress was measured using cardiac coherence, defined as the synchronization of the rhythm of breathing to the rhythm of the heart. We predicted that cardiac coherence would mediate the link between exposure to violent video games and subsequent aggression. Specifically, we predicted that playing a violent video game would decrease cardiac coherence, and that cardiac coherence, in turn, would correlate negatively with aggression. Participants (N = 77) played a violent or nonviolent video game for 20 min. Cardiac coherence was measured before and during game play. After game play, participants had the opportunity to blast a confederate with loud noise through headphones during a reaction time task. The intensity and duration of noise blasts given to the confederate was used to measure aggression. As expected, violent video game players had lower cardiac coherence levels and higher aggression levels than did nonviolent game players. Cardiac coherence, in turn, was negatively related to aggression. This research offers another possible reason why violent games can increase aggression—by inducing stress. Cardiac coherence can be a useful tool to measure stress induced by violent video games. Cardiac coherence has several desirable methodological features as well: it is noninvasive, stable against environmental disturbances, relatively inexpensive, not subject to demand characteristics, and easy to use. Aggr. Behav. 39:64‐70, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Prosocial video games reduce aggressive cognitions

Previous research has shown that playing violent video games increased aggressive tendencies. However, as pointed out by the General Learning Model (GLM) [Buckley, K. E., & Anderson, C. A. (2006). A theoretical model of the effects and consequences of playing video games. In: P. Vorderer & J. Bryant (Eds.), Playing video games motives responses and consequences (pp. 363-378). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum], depending on their content, video games do not inevitably increase but may also decrease aggressive responses. Accordingly, the present research tested the hypothesis that playing prosocial video games decreases aggressive cognitions. In fact, playing a prosocial (relative to a neutral) video game reduced the hostile expectation bias (Experiment 1) and decreased the accessibility of antisocial thoughts (Experiment 2). Thus, these results lend credence to GLMs assumption that the effects of video game exposure depend to a great extent on the content of the game played.     

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.     

Effects of Violent Versus Nonviolent Video Games on Children's Arousal, Aggressive Mood, and Positive Mood

This study investigated the relationship between violent video games and children's mood. A total of 71 children aged 8 to 12 years played a paper-and-pencil game, a nonviolent video game, and a violent video game. Results indicate that arousal, as measured by heart rate and self-reported arousal, increased significantly after playing the violent video game, as compared with the other two game conditions, with girls reporting more arousal than did boys. There was no significant increase in aggressive mood scores for either boys or girls after playing the violent game. Positive mood, as measured by positive affect, showed no significant increases or decreases after playing either video game. However, positive mood, as measured by general mood, showed a significant increase after playing the violent game for both boys and girls, but only as compared with the paper-and-pencil game. Results are interpreted in terms of social learning and cognitive information processing theories of aggression.     

The more you play,the more aggressive you become: A long-term experimental study of cumulative violent video game effects on hostile expectations and aggressive behavior

It is well established that violent video games increase aggression. There is a stronger evidence of short-term violent video game effects than of long-term effects. The present experiment tests the cumulative long-term effects of violent video games on hostile expectations and aggressive behavior over three consecutive days. Participants (N = 70) played violent or nonviolent video games 20 min a day for three consecutive days. After gameplay, participants could blast a confederate with loud unpleasant noise through headphones (the aggression measure). As a potential causal mechanism, we measured hostile expectations. Participants read ambiguous story stems about potential interpersonal conflicts, and listed what they thought the main characters would do or say, think, and feel as the story continued. As expected, aggressive behavior and hostile expectations increased over days for violent game players, but not for nonviolent video game players, and the increase in aggressive behavior was partially due to hostile expectations.     

暴力游戏中射杀动作和血腥成分对玩家和观看者攻击倾向的影响

通过实验考察游戏中的射杀动作成分和血腥成分对玩家和观看者攻击性行为和攻击性认知的影响。被试为72名男性大学生, 选用第三人称45度角的射击类游戏, 将游戏中的射杀动作成分和血腥成分进行分离, 采用竞争反应时任务范式考察攻击性行为, 采用EAST内隐认知范式考察内隐攻击性认知, 结果表明: (1) 玩家比观看者表现出更强的攻击性, 玩家表现出的攻击性行为和攻击性认知均显著强于观看者; (2) 视频游戏中的射杀动作成分导致观看者有更高的游戏卷入, 血腥成分对被试的攻击性影响强于射杀动作成分, 并使被试倾向于将攻击性进行他人归因。