Citation

Ivory JD, Kalyanaraman S. Commun. Rep. 2009; 22(1): 1-12.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/08934210902798536

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

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.