|
Abstract
|
In a factorial design, impulsive and reflective children played video games with aggressive or nonaggressive themes. Interpersonal aggression and aggression toward inanimate objects were assessed in a free-play setting and interpersonal aggression was assessed during a frustrating situation. Results indicated that subjects who played the video game with aggressive content exhibited significantly more object aggression during free-play and more interpersonal aggression during the frustrating situation than youngsters who played nonaggressive video games. Aggressive behavior was unaffected by cognitive tempo.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this study by Irwin and Gross was to assess the impact of violent video games on aggressive behavior in young boys.
METHODOLOGY:
A quasi experimental design was employed. The subjects were chosen from all second grade boys at two local elementary schools. Letters were sent to the parents of 150 boys. Of these, 70 parents gave their permission for their children to participate. Of these seventy, ten children were unable to participate due to logistical difficulties in scheduling appointments. The final number of subjects was sixty.
The authors' hypothesized that boys exposed to aggressive video games would exhibit more aggression than boys exposed to non-aggressive video games. The authors also suggested that impulsivity would affect the impact of aggressive video games on behavior. More specifically, they hypothesized that impulsive children who played aggressive video games would exhibit more aggressive behavior than reflective children who played aggressive video games. The video game classified as aggressive was Nintendo's "Double Dragon," a game where players have to physically fight off angry street thugs. The non-aggressive video game was Nintendo's "Excitbike," a motorcycle racing game.
The basic procedure for the experiment was as follows. Before playing the video games, the boys were tested for their impulsivity. Impulsivity was measured by an simple match-to-sample task in which the boys were first shown one picture and then six variants of the initial picture. The boys were asked to choose the picture that matched the first one they were shown. A 2 X 2 factorial design was used to classify the subjects. The subjects were identified by aggressive video/non-aggressive video X impulsivity/reflexivity. There was a total of 15 boys per cell.
Next, the boys were told to play the video games. The determination of who would play each game was made randomly. Before, during, and after playing the game, each subject's heart rate was measured. The researchers measured the subject's heart rate to better control for the differing effects of arousal. The boys were told that they were participating in an experiment testing the effect of video games on heart rate. After playing the game the boys were sent to either a free play room or exposed to a frustrating situation.
The free play room included both aggressive (e.g., inflatable punching doll, foam swords, and Ninja Turtle action figures) and non-aggressive toys (e.g., chalkboard, yo-yo, jump rope, and foam basketballs). The boys in the play room were allowed to play with the toys for a short time until their parents picked them up to go home. This play time was filmed through a two way mirror. Aggressive behavior was categorized as physical aggression toward a confederate, physical aggression toward an inanimate object, verbal aggression toward a confederate, and verbal aggression toward an inanimate object. Physical aggression toward a confederate included such behaviors as hitting, shoving, pinching, pulling at another's clothes, kicking, pulling hair and throwing/smashing objects. Verbal aggression included verbal descriptions of physically aggressive acts being carried out at that time.
The other boys, i.e., those exposed to a frustrating situation, were taken to a room where another boy the same age waited. This confederate remained the same for each subject's observation, was explicitly instructed by the experimenters, and did not significantly alter from these instructions. The subjects were told they would have a coloring contest while they were waiting for their parents to pick them up. They were given pictures to color and told that whoever colored the picture the fastest and stayed within the lines would receive one dollar. The experimenter pulled one pencil from his pocket and gave it to the confederate. He then told the subject that he would have to go and get a pencil for him. As the experimenter left to do so, he instructed the boys not to start until he returned with the other pencil. When he left the confederate began coloring and bragging how he was going to win the dollar. When the experimenter returned he declared that it was unfair that the confederate started early and told the subject that both would get one dollar. During the experimenters absence, the behavior of the subject was observed and categorized, presumably, using the aforementioned strategy. Results were tabulated and analyzed using ANOVA techniques and Wilk's Lambda.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
Results showed that the aggressive video games had the only significant effect on aggressive behavior in the subjects. Response style, i.e., impulsivity/reflexivity, as well as the interaction between video game type and response style did not affect the level of aggression exhibited by the subjects. The researchers found no significant difference in the level of arousal in the subjects' heart rates of those exposed to either video game. The results showed that the aggressive video game significantly increased the level of physical aggression toward inanimate objects, verbal aggression toward inanimate objects, verbal aggression toward a confederate, and physical aggression during frustration situations. A qualitative analysis of the observations showed that many of the behaviors exhibited by the characters in the aggressive video game were imitated by the subjects in the free play room.
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
The authors recommended that, given their findings, parents need to be especially aware of the content of children's video games. They suggested that labelling might assist parents in this regard. The authors claimed that labels describing the level of violent content could better inform parents about the specific behaviors engaged in by the characters in the game. The authors claimed that given their finding that many behaviors in the game were imitated by the subjects, parents could better monitor and control their children's behavior with such labels.
EVALUATION:
No one can deny the importance or the urgency of this topic given the immense popularity of video games. This study makes a solid contribution towards documenting the effects of aggressive video games on aggressiveness in young children. Like most experimental studies however, it suffers from a lack of generalizability. However, given the experimental method chosen, it succeeds at demonstrating the negative effects of violent video games. Of special note is the authors' attempt to examine the influence of response style, i.e., impulsivity/reflexivity, on this effect. Given the widespread popularity of the idea that violence in the media increases aggressive behavior, such an examination is commendable. While the authors found that response style did not affect the impact of aggressive video games on aggressive behavior, their measure impulsivity/reflexivity was rather limited. Nevertheless, future research into basic learning processes would do well to consider such potentially confounding processes.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
Media Violence Effects
Video Game
Aggression Causes
Child Aggression
Male Aggression
Child Male
Late Childhood |