Abstract
In this chapter, we provide a brief review of the research investigating the connection between playing violent video games and aggression, summarizing key approaches and findings from survey research and experimental methodology. We trace through some of the main features of the debate surrounding the topic, present the grounds on which we arrive at our own interpretive position, and make some suggestions for future research. We find that effects are often contingent on (or made stronger or weaker by) features of games themselves and how they are played as well as differences that different users bring to the gaming experience. On balance, we make a case for the interpretation that playing violent video games does contribute a small but meaningful influence on aggression.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adachi, P. J. C., & Willoughby, T. (2011). The effect of violent video games on aggression: Is it more than just the violence? Aggression and Violent Behavior, 16(1), 55–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2010.12.002
Anderson, C. A. (2003, October). Violent video games: Myths, facts, and unanswered questions. American Psychological Association Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/anderson.aspx
Anderson, C. A., Berkowitz, L., Donnerstein, E., Huesmann, L. R., Johnson, J., Linz, D., et al. (2003). The influence of media violence on youth. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 4, 81–110.
Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (1997). External validity of “trivial” experiments: The case of laboratory aggression. Review of General Psychology, 1, 19–41.
Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2001). Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: A meta-analytic review of the scientific literature. Psychological Science, 12(5), 353–359. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00366
Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002). Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology, 53(1), 27–51. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135231
Anderson, C. A., & Carnagey, N. L. (2009). Causal effects of violent sports video games on aggression: Is it competitiveness or violent content? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(4), 731–739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2009.04.019
Anderson, C. A., Shibuya, A., Ihori, N., Swing, E. L., Bushman, B. J., Sakamoto, A., … Saleem, M. (2010). Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and western countries. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 151–173. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018251
Arriaga, P., Adrião, J., Madeira, F., Cavaleiro, I., Maia e Silva, A., et al. (2015). A “dry eye” for victims of violence: Effects of playing a violent video game on pupillary dilation to victims and on aggressive behavior. Psychology of Violence, 5(2), 199–208. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037260
Barlett, C. P., & Rodeheffer, C. (2009). Effect of realism on extended violent and non-violent video game play on aggressive thoughts, feelings, and physiological arousal. Aggressive Behavior, 35, 213–224. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.20279
Baron, R. A., & Richardson, D. R. (1994). Human aggression (2nd ed.). New York: Plenum.
Boxer, P., Groves, C. L., & Docherty, M. (2015). Video games do indeed influence children and adolescents’ aggression, prosocial behavior, and academic performance: A clearer reading of Ferguson (2015). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10, 671–673. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615592239
Brändle, G., Cardaba, M. A. M., & Rivera, R. G. (2015). Violent audiovisual content and social consequences: The moderating role of aggression in adolescents. Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research, 40(2), 199–218. https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2015-0004
Breuer, J., Festl, R., & Quandt, T. (2014). Aggression and preference for first-person shooter and action games: Data from a large-scale survey of german gamers aged 14 and above. Communication Research Reports, 31(2), 183–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/08824096.2014.907146
Bushman, B. J., Gollwitzer, M., & Cruz, C. (2015). There is broad consensus: Media researchers agree that violent media increase aggression in children, and pediatricians and parents concur. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3, 200–214. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000061
Bushman, B. J., & Huesmann, L. R. (2014). Twenty-five years of research on violence in digital games and aggression revisited: A reply to Elson and Ferguson (2013). European Psychologist, 19, 47–55. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000164
Bushman, B. J., Rothstein, H. R., & Anderson, C. A. (2010). Much ado about something: Violent video game effects and a school of red herring: Reply to Ferguson and Kilburn (2010). Psychological Bulletin, 136, 182–187. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018718
Calvert, S. L., Appelbaum, M., Dodge, K. A., Graham, S., Nagayama Hall, G. C., et al. (2017). The American Psychological Association task force assessment of violent video games: Science in the service of public interest. American Psychologist, 72(2), 126–143. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0040413
Carnagey, N. L., & Anderson, C. A. (2005). The effects of rewards and punishment in violent video games on aggresive affect, cognition, and behavior. Psychological Science, 16, 882–889. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01632.x
DeCamp, W. (2015). Impersonal agencies of communication: Comparing the effects of video games and other risk factors on violence. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 4(4), 296–304. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000037
Dittrick, C. J., Beran, T. N., Mishna, F., Hetherington, R., & Shariff, S. (2013). Do children who bully their peers also play violent video games? A Canadian national study. Journal of School Violence, 12(4), 297–318. https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2013.803244
Elson, M., & Ferguson, C. J. (2014). Twenty-five years of research on violence in digital games and aggression: Empirical evidence, perspectives and a debate gone astray. European Psychologist, 19, 33–46. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000147
Elson, M., Mohseni, M. R., Breuer, J., Scharkow, M., & Quandt, T. (2014). Press CRTT to measure aggressive behavior: The unstandardized use of the competitive reaction time task in aggression research. Psychological Assessment, 26, 419–432. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035569\
Engelhardt, C. R., Bartholow, B. D., & Saults, J. S. (2011). Violent and nonviolent video games differentially affect physical aggression for individuals high vs. low in dispositional anger. Aggressive Behavior, 37, 539–546. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.20411
Exelmans, L., Custers, K., & Van den Bulck, J. (2015). Violent video games and delinquent behavior in adolescents. Aggressive Behavior, 41(3), 267–279. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21587
Ferguson, C. J. (2010). Media violence effects and violent crime: Good science or moral panic? In C. J. Ferguson (Ed.), Violent crime: Clinical and social implications. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Ferguson, C. J. (2015a). Pay no attention to that data behind the curtain: On angry birds, happy children, scholarly squabbles, publication bias, and why betas rule metas. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(5), 683–691. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615593353
Ferguson, C. J. (2015b). Do angry birds make for angry children? A meta analysis of video game influences on children’s and adolescents’ aggression, mental health, prosocial behavior, and academic performance. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(5), 646–666. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615592234
Ferguson, C. J., & Beresin, E. (2017). Social science’s curious war with pop culture and how it was lost: The media violence debate and the risks it holds for social science. Preventative Medicine, 99, 69–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.02.009
Ferguson, C. J., & Dyck, D. (2012). Paradigm change in aggression research: The time has come to retire the general aggression model. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 17, 220–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2012.02.007
Ferguson, C. J., Ivory, J. D., & Beaver, K. M. (2013). Genetic, maternal, school, intelligence, and media use predictors of adult criminality: A longitudinal test of the catalyst model in adolescence through early adulthood. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma, 22, 447–460. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926771.2013.785457
Ferguson, C. J., & Kilburn, J. (2010). Much ado about nothing: The misestimation and overinterpretation of violent video game effects in eastern and western nations: Comment on Anderson et al. (2010). Psychological Bulletin, 136, 174–178. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018566
Ferguson, C. J., Rueda, S. M., Cruz, A. M., Ferguson, D. E., Fritz, S., & Smith, S. M. (2008). Violent video games and aggression: Causal relationship or byproduct of family violence and intrinsic violence motivation? Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35(3), 311–332. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854807311719
Ferguson, C. J., & Rueda, S. M. (2009). Examining the validity of the modified Taylor competitive reaction time test of aggression. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 5, 121–137. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-009-9069-5
Ferguson, C. J., San Miguel, C., Garza, A., & Jerabeck, J. M. (2012). A longitudinal test of video game violence influence on dating and aggression: A 3-year longitudinal study of adolescents. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 46(2), 141–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.10.014
Ferguson, C. J., Smith, S. M., Miller-Stratton, H., Fritz, S., & Heinrich, E. (2008). Aggression in the laboratory: Problems with the validity of the modified Taylor competitive reaction time test as a measure of aggression in media violence studies. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 17, 118–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926770802250678
Festl, R., Scharkow, M., & Quandt, T. (2013). Problematic computer game use among adolescents, younger and older adults. Addiction, 108(3), 592–599. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.12016
Fikkers, K. M., Piotrowski, J. T., Weeda, W. D., Vassen, H. G. M., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2013). Double dose: High family conflict enhances the effect of media violence exposure on adolescents' aggression. Societies, 3(3), 280–292. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc3030280
Fox, J., & Potocki, B. (2015). Lifetime video game consumption, interpersonal aggression, hostile sexism, and rape myth acceptance: A cultivation perspective. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 31(10), 1912–1931. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260515570747
Furuya-Kanamori, L., & Doi, S. A. R. (2016). Angry bird, angry children, and angry meta analysts: A reanalysis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(3), 408–414. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616635599
Gentile, D. A., Lynch, P. J., Linder, J. R., & Walsh, D. A. (2004). The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors and school performance. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2003.10.002
Giumetti, G. W., & Markey, P. M. (2007). Violent video games and anger as predictors of aggression. Journal of Research in Personality, 41(6), 1234–1243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2007.02.005
Greitemeyer, T., & Mügge, D. O. (2014). Video games do affect social outcomes a metaanalytic review of the effects of violent and prosocial video game play. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 578–589. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213520459
Gunter, W. D., & Daly, K. (2012). Causal or spurious: Using propensity score matching to detangle the relationship between violent video games and violent behavior. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 1348–1355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.02.020
Hilgard, J., Engelhardt, C. R., & Rouder, J. N. (2017). Overstated evidence for short-term effects of violent games on affect and behavior: A reanalysis of Anderson et al (2010). Psychological Bulletin, 143(7), 757–774. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000074
Ivory, A. H., Ivory, J. D., & Lanier, M. (2017). Video game use as risk exposure, protective incapacitation, or inconsequential activity among university students: Comparing approaches in a unique risk environment. Journal of Media Psychology, 29(1), 42–53. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000210
Kirsh, S. J. (2012). Children, adolescents, and media violence: A critical look at the research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Konijn, E. A., Bijvank, M. N., & Bushman, B. J. (2007). I wish I were a warrior: The role of wishful identification in the effects of violent video games on aggression in adolescent boys. Developmental Psychology, 43(4), 1038–1044. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.43.4.1038
Lam, L. T., Cheng, Z. H., & Liu, X. M. (2013). Violent online games exposure and cyberbullying/victimization among adolescents. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(3), 159–165. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2012.0087
Lemmens, J. S., Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2011). Psychological causes and consequences of pathological gaming. Computers in Human Behavior, 27, 144–152. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-010-9558-x
Lin, J. H. (2013). Identification matters: A moderated mediation model of media interactivity, character identification, and video game violence on aggression. Journal of Communication, 63(4), 682–702. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12044
Lishner, D. A., Groves, C. L., & Chrobak, Q. M. (2015). Are violent video game-aggression researchers biased? Aggression and Violent Behavior, 25, 75–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2015.07.010
Macy, H.G. (2017, Feb. 7). Grand Theft Auto 5 has now sold-in 75 million copies. IGN, Accessed 10 April 17 at http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/02/07/grand-theft-auto-5-has-now-sold-in-75-million-copies.
Markey, P. M., Markey, C. N., & French, J. E. (2015). Violent video games and real-world violence: Rhetoric versus data. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 4(4), 277–295. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000030
McCarthy, R. J., Coley, S. L., Wagner, M. F., Zengel, B., & Basham, A. (2016). Does playing video games with violent content temporarily increase aggressive inclinations? A pre-registered experimental study. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 67, 13–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2015.10.009
McGloin, R., Farrar, K. C., Krcmar, M., Park, S., & Fishlock, J. (2016). Modeling outcomes of violent video game play: Applying mental models and model matching to explain the relationship between user differences, game characteristics, enjoyment, and aggressive intentions. Computers in Human Behavior, 62, 442–451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.04.018
Minoti, M. (2017, Feb. 9). Activision Blizzard hits record $2 billion in sales driven by Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Hearthstone. Venture Beat, Accessed 10 April 17 at https://venturebeat.com/2017/02/09/activision-blizzard-hits-record-2-billion-in-sales-driven-by-call-of-duty-overwatch-and-hearthstone/.
Möller, I., & Krahé. (2009). Exposure to violent video games and aggression in german adolescents: A longitudinal analysis. Aggressive Behavior, 35(1), 75–89. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.20290
Olson, A. (2012). 10 things parents should know about Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Wired, Accessed 10 April 17 at https://www.wired.com/2012/11/10-things-black-ops-2/.
Rothstein, H. R., & Bushman, B. J. (2015). Methodological and reporting errors in meta-analytic reviews make other meta-analysts angry: A commentary on Ferguson (2015). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10, 677–679. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615592235
Rudaksikira, E., Muula, A. S., & Siziya, A. S. (2008). Variables associated with physical fighting among U.S. high school students. Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health, 4, 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/1745-0179-4-16
Saar, M.S. (2014, Dec. 9). Grand Theft Auto 5 and the culture of violence against women. Huffington Post, Accessed 10 April 17 at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/malika-saada-saar/grand-theft-auto-v-and-the-culture-of-violence-against-women_b_6288528.html
Saleem, M., Anderson, C. A., & Gentile, D. A. (2012). Effects of prosocial, neutral, and violent video games on children’s helpful and hurtful behaviors. Aggressive Behavior, 38(4), 281–287. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21428
Savage, J. (2004). Does viewing violent media really cause criminal violence? A methodological review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 10, 99–128. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854808316487
Slater, M. D., Henry, K. L., Swaim, R. C., & Anderson, L. L. (2003). Violent media content and aggressiveness in adolescents: A downward spiral model. Communication Research, 30(6), 713–736. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650203258281
Tang, W. Y., & Fox, J. (2016). Men’s harassment behavior in online video games: Personality traits and game factors. Aggressive Behavior, 42(6), 513–521. http://dx.doi.org.silk.library.umass.edu/10.1002/ab.21646
Valkenburg, P. M. (2015). The limited informativeness of metaanalyses of media effects. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10, 680–682. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615592237
Velez, J. A., Greitemeyer, T., Whitaker, J. L., Ewoldsen, D. R., & Bushman, B. J. (2016). Violence video games and reciprocity: The attenuating effects of cooperative game play on subsequent aggression. Communication Research, 43(4), 447–467. http://dx.doi.org.silk.library.umass.edu/10.1177/0093650214552519
Willoughby, T., Adachi, P. J. C., & Good, M. (2012). A longitudinal study of the association between violent video game play and aggression among adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 48(4), 1044–1057. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026046
Ybarra, M. L., Huesmann, L. R., Korchmaros, J. D., & Reisner, S. L. (2014). Cross-sectional associations between violent video game playing and weapon carrying in a national cohort of children. Aggressive Behavior, 40, 345–358. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21526
You, S., Kim, E., & No, U. (2015). Impact of violent video games on the social behaviors of adolescents: The mediating role of emotional competence. School Psychology International, 36(1), 94–111. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034314562921
Zumbach, J., Seitz, C., & Bluemke, M. (2015). Impact of violent video game realism on the self-concept of aggressiveness assessed with explicit and implicit measures. Computers in Human Behavior, 53, 278–288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.07.018
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Scharrer, E., Kamau, G., Warren, S., Zhang, C. (2018). Violent Video Games Do Contribute to Aggression. In: Ferguson, C. (eds) Video Game Influences on Aggression, Cognition, and Attention. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95495-0_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95495-0_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-95494-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-95495-0
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)