The effect of video game competition and violence on aggressive behavior: Which characteristic has the greatest influence?

Abstract

This study is the first to our knowledge to isolate the effect of video game violence and competitiveness on aggressive behavior. Method: In Pilot Study 1, a violent and nonviolent video game were matched on competitiveness, difficulty, and pace of action, and the effect of each game on aggressive behavior was then compared using an unambiguous measure of aggressive behavior (i.e., the Hot Sauce Paradigm) in Experiment 1. In Pilot Study 2, competitiveness was isolated by matching games on difficulty and pace of action, and systematically controlling for violence. The effect of video game competition on aggressive behavior was then examined in Experiment 2. Results: We found that video game violence was not sufficient to elevate aggressive behavior compared with a nonviolent video game, and that more competitive games produced greater levels of aggressive behavior, irrespective of the amount of violence in the games. Conclusion: It appears that competition, not violence, may be the video game characteristic that has the greatest influence on aggressive behavior. Future research is needed to explore the mechanisms through which video game competitiveness influences aggressive behavior, as well as whether this relation holds in the long-term.

Electronic Gaming and Psychosocial Adjustment

“…Researchers disagree sharply on the effects of games on children, some finding links to hostility measures, 29 some report null effects, 30 and still others argue the links may exist but are small and detectable only at some levels or kinds of engagement. 31 If indeed the overall effects of high levels of game engagement are weakly related to children' s conduct problems, as is suggested in the present findings, this may explain part of why studies extrapolating from convenience samples of university students demonstrate inconsistent results.…”

Propuestas teóricas en la investigación sobre acoso escolar: una revisión

“…Violent video games seem to have the same effect, although it is not the violence itself, but the de-anales de psicología, 2013, vol. 29, nº 2 (mayo) gree of competitiveness involved, which increases aggression in children and adolescents (Adachi & Willoughby, 2011). However, for exposure to violent models to have a learning effect, their behavior should also be associated with a reward, and this has not been empirically studied yet.…”

A Practical Guide to Using Digital Games as an Experiment Stimulus

“…In order to make such claims, it would be of utmost importance to make sure that the compared games would not differ in quality, that the pace of the game is similar in both cases and that the overall gaming experience is equally engaging in both cases, as all these factors might affect arousal levels (cf. Adachi & Willoughby 2011). Often this has proved to be a challenging requirement to meet.…”

“…Particularly for researchers that are personally less familiar with games there is a significant risk of overlooking how seemingly separate game features combine and influence the playing experience, that is, failing to identify game-specific features that confound the main effect (c.f. Adachi & Willoughby [2011] discussing the possibility that it is competition, not violent content, that accounts for game-induced aggression). An agreement on desirable procedure can help mitigate these issues and make work more accessible and comparable across discipline borders.…”