Violent Video Games Encourage Aggression: Study

The long-held assumption that violent video games encourage violent behavior has recently received new supporting evidence from the scientific community. According to a new study, regularly playing violent video games increases aggressive tendencies in a gamer, but this does not necessarily mean a rise in actual violence.

According to the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics, the regular playing of violent video games resulted in greater levels of aggression and acceptance of aggression among gamers, compared to non gamers.

To reach this conclusion, the researchers assessed gaming habits and aggressive tendencies of 3033 students ranging from 8 to 17 years of age. Because three of the twelve schools involved in the study were all-boys schools, nearly three fourths of these children were male.

Through an annual questionnaire, researchers were able to track the children's self-reported measures of gaming habits, aggressive behavior, and aggressive cognition over the course of three years. According to the study, aggressive cognition was measured through responses to questions concerning aggressive fantasy, reaction of provocation (verbally), acceptance of aggression, and empathy.

While results concerning physical aggression remained inconclusive, researchers reported a strikingly clear data-set that demonstrated that violent video games encouraged the growth of aggressive cognitions. This was best seen in an increased level of acceptance of aggression and violent fantasy.

Interestingly, video game play did not appear to lower empathy among the study participants -- a surprising result that hints at a need for more research.

Previous analyses of international research published in Psychological Science and conducted by researcher involved in this most recent study found that positive aspects of media such as pro-social video game heroes encouraged helpful, caring, and cooperative behaviors in adolescents, regardless of culture.

The researchers concluded their study explaining the importance of their findings.

"Given that more than 90% of youths play video games, understanding the psychological mechanisms by which they can influence behaviors is important for parents and pediatricians and for designing interventions to enhance or mitigate the effects," the researchers wrote.

The aggression study was published in JAMA Pediatrics on March 24.

The pro-social media study was published in Psychological Science on December 11, 2013.