Abstract
Exposure to violent video games (VVE) has been shown to increase aggression in the player. In the present two experiments, we tested whether this effect spreads within a social network. In Experiment 1, using data from a previous study that showed an effect of VVE on aggression in a Competitive Reaction Time Task (Greitemeyer, 2014), we assigned the blasts of noise selected by players to new participants. Afterwards, they selected these parameters themselves. VVE had a causal effect on retaliatory aggression, showing that the effect of VVE may spread on non-players. In Experiment 2, 200 participants played either a violent or nonviolent video game and participated in a Cold Water Task (CWT) in which they assigned the time another person has to keep the hand in painfully cold water. Two-hundred new participants were yoked to one of the video game participants and had to keep their hand in the water for the indicated duration. Afterwards, they assigned the time to the video game participant (retaliation) or to another person (displaced aggression). Although VVE had no significant impact, we found that higher CWT duration led participants to behave more aggressively not only when retaliating, but also, to a lesser extent, in the displaced aggression condition. Implications of the spreading effect of aggression in the context of VVE are discussed.
Highlights
Over the last decades, researchers have taken an interest in the relationship between media usage, personality, and behavior
Video game condition and unprovoked aggression were used as predictors for retaliatory aggression
Existing correlational (Greitemeyer, 2018) and longitudinal (Greitemeyer, in press; Verheijen et al, 2018) studies support the claim that violent video game exposure (VVE)-related aggression spreads within social networks, but, to the best of our knowledge, no such experimental study has tested this idea so far
Summary
Researchers have taken an interest in the relationship between media usage, personality, and behavior. This is especially true for violent media and its ties to aggression. According to Anderson and Bushman (2002: 28), aggression is ‘any behavior directed toward another individual that is carried out with the proximate intent to cause harm.’. Abundant research has focused on the effects of violent video game exposure (VVE). We provide the first experimental test of the idea that VVE does have an impact on the player, and on individuals with whom the player is connected Recent meta-analyses (Anderson et al, 2010; Greitemeyer & Mügge, 2014) showed that VVE leads to a small-to-medium increase in aggression. In the present research, we provide the first experimental test of the idea that VVE does have an impact on the player, and on individuals with whom the player is connected
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