This study tests whether playing violent video games leads to desensitization and increased cardiovascular responding. In a laboratory experiment, 42 men spent 20 min playing either a high- or low-violence version of a “first-person shooter” game. Arousal (heart rate, respiration rate) was measured continuously. After playing the game, emotional responses to aversive and aggressive stimuli - pictures from Lang, Bradley, and Cuthbert’s (1999) International Affective Picture System - were assessed with self-ratings and physiological measurement (skin conductance). Results showed no differences in the judgments of emotional responses to the stimuli. However, different effects of game violence emerged in the physiological reactions to the different types of stimulus material. Participants in the high-violence condition showed significantly weaker reactions (desensitization) to aversive stimuli and reacted significantly more strongly (sensitization) to aggressive cues. No support was found for the arousal hypothesis. Post-hoc analyses are used to discuss possible moderating influences of gaming experience and player’s trait aggressiveness in terms of the General Aggression Model ( Anderson & Bushman, 2001 ) and the Downward Spiral Model ( Slater, Henry, Swaim, & Anderson, 2003 ).

Research on the origins of conduct problems such as disruptive, aggressive, and delinquent behaviour has focused mainly on deficits and risk factors. Protective factors have received more attention only recently in the context of resilience research. In the present study cross-sectional and longitudinal (2-year interval) comparisons were made of two groups of 14 to 17-year-olds from residential homes. Both groups have grown up under accumulated stressful life events and circumstances (multiproblem milieu). One group (N=66) has so far shown no serious behavioral and emotional problems (Resilients); the other (N= 80) has developed manifest disorders, particularly in the externalising syndrome. Potential protective factors (intelligence, temperament, self-related cognitions, coping styles, experience with reference persons, social support, social climate, etc.) were recorded with tests, questionnaires, and interviews. Protective factors functioned additively, subtypes could not be differentiated. Findings from the longitudinal survey showed somewhat lower effects in personal resources and were only partially consistent with the cross-sectional comparison. Possible reasons for these discrepancies are discussed, and it is suggested that the construct of resiliency in multi-problem milieus requires a dynamic, development and context-related interpretation.

This study examines social information processing and experiences of aggression in social contexts as predictors of different forms of aggressive behavior. A sample of 102 boys (aggressive, average, competent, and victimized students) was investigated with a prospective design in Grade 7/8 and again in Grade 9/10. Results show an aggressive-impulsive response repertoire strongly predicted self-reported and teacher-reported physical aggression, verbal aggression, violent offenses, general aggression, and other forms of delinquency. Positive evaluations of aggressive responses showed a weaker effect, and attributions of hostility and aggressive/egocentric goal setting had no impact. Perceived aggression in the family, in the peer group, in media consumption, and (less consistently) at school predicted verbal aggression as well as physical aggression and violent offenses. Multivariate analyses revealed both mediating and independent effects of social information processing and experiences of aggression in social contexts. Results are discussed from methodological and theoretical perspectives.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the validity of biographical data in psychological diagnosis, and several meta-analyses have confirmed their effectiveness in specific applications. In contrast, the present meta-analysis (based on 116 studies with 165 independent validities) addresses the recent discussion on methodological artifacts in the development and validation of biographical instruments. Threats to validity are identified in (I) general issues of research design and (h) specific techniques used to construct and validate biographical data. The effects on estimated mean validity of both methodological artifacts and situational moderator variables were compared, and it WdS demonstrated that they cannot be treated independently. The meta-analysis also showed that a validity of ,220 still remained after making corrections for all analysed artifacts, and that not all methodological criticisms were justified. * Partly cross-validated, partly corrected for shrinkage. Key. RR = range restriction, Re1 = measurement error, E = external key. Received I7 December 1992;final version received 10 February I995 Applied Psychology, 40, 383-385. development of biodata keys: The influence of social desirability.

Early exposure to negative environmental impact shapes individual behavior and potentially contributes to any mental disease. We reported previously that accumulated environmental risk markedly decreases age at schizophrenia onset. Follow-up of matched extreme group individuals (≤1 vs. ≥3 risks) unexpectedly revealed that high-risk subjects had >5 times greater probability of forensic hospitalization. In line with longstanding sociological theories, we hypothesized that risk accumulation before adulthood induces violent aggression and criminal conduct, independent of mental illness. We determined in 6 independent cohorts (4 schizophrenia and 2 general population samples) pre-adult risk exposure, comprising urbanicity, migration, physical and sexual abuse as primary, and cannabis or alcohol as secondary hits. All single hits by themselves were marginally associated with higher violent aggression. Most strikingly, however, their accumulation strongly predicted violent aggression (odds ratio 10.5). An epigenome-wide association scan to detect differential methylation of blood-derived DNA of selected extreme group individuals yielded overall negative results. Conversely, determination in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of histone-deacetylase1 mRNA as 'umbrella mediator' of epigenetic processes revealed an increase in the high-risk group, suggesting lasting epigenetic alterations. Together, we provide sound evidence of a disease-independent unfortunate relationship between well-defined pre-adult environmental hits and violent aggression, calling for more efficient prevention.