Playing violent video games like Doom,
Wolfenstein 3D or Mortal Combat can increase
aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior both in
laboratory settings and in actual life, according
to two studies in the April issue of the American
Psychological Association's (APA) Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology.
Violent video games may be more harmful than
violent television and movies because they are
interactive, very engrossing and require the
player to identify with the aggressor, say the
researchers.
"One study reveals that young men who are
habitually aggressive may be especially vulnerable
to the aggression-enhancing effects of repeated
exposure to violent games," said psychologists
Craig A. Anderson, Ph.D., and Karen E. Dill, Ph.D.
"The other study reveals that even a brief
exposure to violent video games can temporarily
increase aggressive behavior in all types of
participants."
The first study involved 227 college students
who completed a measure of trait aggressiveness
and reported their actual aggressive behaviors
(delinquency) in the recent past. They also
reported their video game playing habits.
"We found that students who reported playing
more violent video games in junior and high school
engaged in more aggressive behavior," said lead
author Anderson, of Iowa State University. "We
also found that amount of time spent playing video
games in the past was associated with lower
academic grades in college."
In the second study, 210 college students
played either a violent (Wolfenstein 3D) or
nonviolent video game (Myst). A short time later,
the students who played the violent video game
punished an opponent (received a noise blast with
varying intensity) for a longer period of time
than did students who had played the nonviolent
video game.
"Violent video games provide a forum for
learning and practicing aggressive solutions to
conflict situations," said Dr. Anderson. "In the
short run, playing a violent video game appears to
affect aggression by priming aggressive thoughts.
Longer-term effects are likely to be longer
lasting as well, as the player learns and
practices new aggression-related scripts that can
become more and more accessible for use when
real-life conflict situations arise."
"One major concern is the active nature of the
learning environment of the video game," say the
authors. "This medium is potentially more
dangerous than exposure to violent television and
movies, which are known to have substantial
effects on aggression and violence."
Article: "Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts,
Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and in
Life," Craig A. Anderson, Ph.D., Iowa State
University of Science and Technology and Karen E.
Dill, Ph.D., Lenoir-Rhyne College, Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 78, No. 4.
(Editor's Note: Full text of the article is
available at this
website.)
[Contact: Karen E. Dill
Ph.D.]
24-Apr-2000