Is It Only the Violence?

Self-reported and physiological stress indicators and the moderating role of the Dark Tetrad in violent and non-violent gaming

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

The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees free speech except in the most extreme cases. Video games are correctly labeled as “speech,” but numerous psychological studies suggest that playing these games leads to an increase in addictive and aggressive behaviors. Because of this, experts are divided as to whether or not video games should be legally censored. Our research has sought to determine the attitudes of the general public regarding whether legal restrictions on game content are advisable. This project involved a survey of 350 adult gamers who responded to questions about violent content and video game ratings. We analyzed the attitudes of gamers toward violence in video games and whether or not they believe that the effects of video games can trigger violence in real life. This study also analyzed various options for state and federal legislators to increase the restrictions on retail sales of violent video games to minors through the use of the video game rating system. Finally, we concluded that it is not the government’s role to restrict the access of minors to video games. It is the parents’ job to monitor their children’s gaming habits.

The impact of violent video games (VVGs) on youth remains unclear given inconsistent results in past literature. Most previous experimental studies have been done with college students, not youth. The current study examined the impact of VVGs in an experimental study of teens (12-18). Participants were randomized to play either a violent or non-violent video game. Teens also reported their levels of stress and hostility both before and after video game play. Hostility levels neither decreased nor increased following violent game play, and Bayesian analyzes confirmed that results are supportive of the null hypothesis. By contrast, VVG exposure increased stress, but only for girls. The impact of VVGs on teen hostility is minimal. However, players unfamiliar with such games may find them unpleasant. These results are put into the context of Uses and Gratifications Theory with suggestions for how medical professionals should address the issue of VVG play with concerned parents.

Mate value is tied to appearance and age in women, and social status and wealth in men. Theory surrounding self-perceived mate value suggests that mate value shows relatively little situational plasticity. Here we challenge this concept by asking participants to compete in video games to test (a) whether self-perceived and actual performance affects subjective mate value, and (b) whether subjective mate value affects mate preferences. By randomly allocating participants to play either a violent or nonviolent game in three separate experiments, we show that both men and women who played a violent game had significantly lower self-perceived performance, and as a result, reported a lower self-perceived mate value. We also demonstrate that this effect led to different preferences for short-term mating partners, mainly among women. Our results strongly suggest that mate value in humans is situationally dynamic and responds to recent contest experiences, as it does in nonhumans. We discuss our results with reference to online multiplayer digital gaming experiences and how variation in self-perceived mate value affects mating market dynamics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) Public Significance Statement—People’s perceptions of their own quality as romantic partners (i.e., their mate value) often depends on physical attractiveness for women or social status for men. Here we show that self-perceived mate value is not a fixed trait but varies according to subjective performance in a competitive video game. Compared with people who played nonviolent video games, the men and women that played a violent video game believed they performed more poorly and rated themselves as having a relatively lower mate value. These experiments provide evidence that people’s perception of their quality as romantic partners varies according to the social experiences they have and their performance in online contests. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

To investigate how playing a violent/nonviolent television game during the evening affects sympathetic and parasympathetic reactions during and after playing as well as sleep quality during the night after playing. In total, 19 boys, 12-15 years of age, played television games on two occasions in their homes and participated once without gaming. Heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV) and physical activity were measured during gaming/participating and the night to follow using a portable combined heart rate and movement sensor. A sleep diary and questionnaires about gaming experiences and session-specific experiences were filled in. Criteria for Selection of Games: Violent game involves/rewards direct physical violence (no handguns) against another person, and nonviolent game involves/rewards no violence; same game design ('third-person game'); conducted in the same manner; no differences concerning motor activity; similar sound and light effects; no sexual content, violence against women or racial overtones. During violent (vs. nonviolent) gaming, there was significantly higher activity of the very low frequency component of the HRV and total power. During the night after playing, very low frequency, low frequency and high frequency components were significantly higher during the violent (vs. nonviolent) condition, just as total power. There were no significant differences between the three conditions (violent/nonviolent/no gaming) with respect to an index reflecting subjectively perceived sleep difficulties. Nor was there any difference between violent and nonviolent condition for any single sleep item. Violent gaming induces different autonomic responses in boys compared to nonviolent gaming--during playing and during the following night--suggesting different emotional responses. Subjectively perceived sleep quality is not influenced after a single gaming experience. Future studies should address the development of the autonomic balance after gaming over longer time than a night, physiological adaptation to frequent gaming and potential gender differences.

Introduction: The purpose of the present study is to graphically and comprehensively illustrate the data on the impact of violent video games on the behavior of children and adolescents. Materials and Methods: This visualization system was designed based on the Schneider principle using the results of a clinical study carried out by psychologists at the Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, United States that included 242 children aged 8 to 12 years in three groups. All groups played different versions of the Minecraft game, then using data recorded in an Excel file on the Figshare site, four variables were depicted. The variables including finding the gun, length of time the gun was held, the number of trigger pulls, as well as demographic or control characteristics of age and gender of the children were evaluated. Results: Visualization was designed in the Processing software environment and it was easy to compare the three groups using the color, shape, and coordinate channels. Accordingly, it appeared that violent behaviors in children who experienced gun play were greater than those played the sword; both of them showed more violent behaviors compared to the group who played the non-violent version. Violent behaviors were also more prevalent in male children in all three groups. In other words, girls in the 8-12 age group in all three groups were less likely to exhibit post-game aggression. Conclusion: In this study, data on the impact of violent video games on the behavior of children and adolescents were graphically and comprehensibly visualized based on the Schneider Principle and revealed that violent behaviors in children who experienced violent video games were higher than those in the control group. Violent behaviors were also more prevalent in male children in all three groups.

Research on video game violence has found largely consistent evidence that violence in video games tends to be associated with an increase in antisocial behavior. However, this body of work has mostly ignored one prominent feature of many violent games: moral decision making. It is possible that the influence of video game violence could change when moral decisions are brought into the context. One way video games change behavior is through changes in players' self-perceptions, a process called identity simulation. In addition, a perspective called moral license predicts that these effects should not necessarily be consistent across behaviors, in that people should try to balance selfishness with keeping the moral high ground across many behaviors. Therefore, moral choices (or immoral choices) in a video game may predict less moral (or more moral) behaviors right after the game. However, later behavior may revert yet again, creating a cycle of pro- and antisocial behaviors. The present experiment asks participants to make moral choices in a video game, and then measures their behavior on two subsequent tasks. Results indicate that taking what participants perceive to be the more moral mind-set in the video game predicts more antisocial behavior on the first task, but more pro-social behavior on the next task. These results support identity simulation and moral license processes in a video game and moral behavior context, and indicate that there may be greater complexity in video game violence effects than previously understood.

This systematic review analyses the relationships between violence, hate speech, discrimination, and video games. A comprehensive search of the Web of Science and Scopus databases identified 47 relevant studies published between 2018 and 2023. The review examines how video games may provide fertile ground for online violence, hate speech, and discrimination, while also exploring their potential as educational tools. Key findings suggest that exposure to violent video game content can increase aggressive cognitions and behaviours, particularly when combined with competitive gameplay. However, prosocial aspects of gaming may promote positive intergroup attitudes and reduce prejudice. Hate speech and discriminatory behaviours remain prevalent issues in online gaming communities, disproportionately affecting marginalised groups. The article highlights the complex interactions between game content, individual factors, and sociocultural contexts in shaping player experiences and behaviours. While video games pose risks, they also offer opportunities for fostering empathy, cultural understanding, and critical thinking, if they are thoughtfully designed. The findings underscore the need for evidence‐based interventions to mitigate online hate and maximise the educational potential of video games.

This study explores whether people's perceptions of violent video games' potential for negatively affecting others and their support for censoring such games are influenced by whether people consider specific or abstract content and persons. In a 2 (content abstraction) × 3 (person abstraction) between-subjects experiment, 122 undergraduate students from two eastern U.S. universities estimated effects of either a specific violent game or violent games in general on a specific person, others on their campus, or others in the United States, then rated their support for censoring violent video games. Findings indicate that content abstraction influences perceived effects and censorship support.

This chapter presents Study 1, which examined the effects of exposure to the mildest form of violent video games (cartoonish children's games) on short-term aggressive behavior by children and college students. In this experimental study, some of children and some of the college students were randomly assigned to played a children's game with violent or one without violent content. Some of the college students played a teen-rated violent game. Afterwards, all of the participants played another computer game in which they set punishment levels that they thought would be delivered to another participant. Actually, there was no other person receiving the punishments. The main finding was that playing a violent video game increased the severity of punishments that participants tried to deliver to another person by more that 40%. Even college students playing children's violent games became more aggressive. Other findings are reported concerning the effects of past media habits, parental involvement, having TVs and video games in the bedroom, and attitudes towards violence.

In the past 2 decades, correlational and experimental studies have found a positive association between violent video game play and aggression. There is less evidence, however, to support a long-term relation between these behaviors. This study examined sustained violent video game play and adolescent aggressive behavior across the high school years and directly assessed the socialization (violent video game play predicts aggression over time) versus selection hypotheses (aggression predicts violent video game play over time). Adolescents (N = 1,492, 50.8% female) were surveyed annually from Grade 9 to Grade 12 about their video game play and aggressive behaviors. Nonviolent video game play, frequency of overall video game play, and a comprehensive set of potential 3rd variables were included as covariates in each analysis. Sustained violent video game play was significantly related to steeper increases in adolescents' trajectory of aggressive behavior over time. Moreover, greater violent video game play predicted higher levels of aggression over time, after controlling for previous levels of aggression, supporting the socialization hypothesis. In contrast, no support was found for the selection hypothesis. Nonviolent video game play also did not predict higher levels of aggressive behavior over time. Our findings, and the fact that many adolescents play video games for several hours every day, underscore the need for a greater understanding of the long-term relation between violent video games and aggression, as well as the specific game characteristics (e.g., violent content, competition, pace of action) that may be responsible for this association.

In June 2011 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that video games enjoy full free speech protections and that the regulation of violent game sales to minors is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court also referred to psychological research on violent video games as "unpersuasive" and noted that such research contains many methodological flaws. Recent reviews in many scholarly journals have come to similar conclusions, although much debate continues. Given past statements by the American Psychological Association linking video game and media violence with aggression, the Supreme Court ruling, particularly its critique of the science, is likely to be shocking and disappointing to some psychologists. One possible outcome is that the psychological community may increase the conclusiveness of their statements linking violent games to harm as a form of defensive reaction. However, in this article the author argues that the psychological community would be better served by reflecting on this research and considering whether the scientific process failed by permitting and even encouraging statements about video game violence that exceeded the data or ignored conflicting data. Although it is likely that debates on this issue will continue, a move toward caution and conservatism as well as increased dialogue between scholars on opposing sides of this debate will be necessary to restore scientific credibility. The current article reviews the involvement of the psychological science community in the Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association case and suggests that it might learn from some of the errors in this case for the future.

Research on players’ reasons for video gaming, their video game preferences, and the behavioural effects of video gaming on the players tends to study those issues separately. This study attempts to explore all those issues collectively with the aim of facilitating game designers to develop appealing educational games for university students without inflicting negative behavioural impacts on the students. Relevant data from 100 undergraduates were collected from an online survey. Cluster analysis of the eight major reasons for playing video games resulted in grouping the respondents into five clusters. The cluster that rated peer effect as the major reason for playing is male-dominated whereas the cluster that rated family influence as the major reason is female-dominated. A similar analysis of the respondents’ video game genre preferences reveals that the cluster favouring fighting and battle games is male-dominated, whereas the cluster favouring family entertainment games is female-dominated. Both genders enjoy playing challenging adventure-strategy games. Most respondents perceived that their cognitive functioning had improved through video gaming, but no conclusion can be drawn as to whether video gaming can improve their social and psychological functioning. Except for poor sleeping habits, most respondents had not experienced any significant negative effects from playing video games. No statistical evidence supports that playing violent video games would induce aggressive behaviours. As games that involve a high demand for players’ motor skills may not be a good choice for educational games and violent games may induce poor sleep quality, it is concluded that challenging adventure games and strategy games are suitable educational game genres for undergraduate students.

Video game violence has become a highly politicized issue for scientists and the general public. There is continuing concern that playing violent video games may increase the risk of aggression in players. Less often discussed is the possibility that playing violent video games may promote certain positive developments, particularly related to visuospatial cognition. The objective of the current article was to conduct a meta-analytic review of studies that examine the impact of violent video games on both aggressive behavior and visuospatial cognition in order to understand the full impact of such games. A detailed literature search was used to identify peer-reviewed articles addressing violent video game effects. Effect sizes r (a common measure of effect size based on the correlational coefficient) were calculated for all included studies. Effect sizes were adjusted for observed publication bias. Results indicated that publication bias was a problem for studies of both aggressive behavior and visuospatial cognition. Once corrected for publication bias, studies of video game violence provided no support for the hypothesis that violent video game playing is associated with higher aggression. However playing violent video games remained related to higher visuospatial cognition (r (x) = 0.36). Results from the current analysis did not support the conclusion that violent video game playing leads to aggressive behavior. However, violent video game playing was associated with higher visuospatial cognition. It may be advisable to reframe the violent video game debate in reference to potential costs and benefits of this medium.