Increased physical aggression has been linked to playing violent video games, although there are those who dispute these links. A recent study has shown there is strong evidence for this link.
With the aim of examining how violent video games affected physical aggression in the real world, Dartmouth researchers carried out twenty-four studies involving seventeen thousand participants, aged between nine and nineteen. The studies were carried out between 2010 and 2017. The researchers were looking for incidents such as quarreling with peers or being caught fighting with other people.
The study addressed three specific criticisms of the link between physical aggression and violent video games.
Severe aggression measures excluded
One of the critiques on this subject was that previous meta-analyses over-estimated the effects of video games since the experiments only included the non-serious measures of aggression. To address this claim, the Dartmouth researchers examined cases that only involved evident physical aggression. From the findings, it was clear that playing violent video games leads to anger and hostility.
Exclusion of other predictors of aggression
The second critique was that the investigators did not consider other variables that could lead to aggressive behavior. To respond to this claim, the researchers compared all investigations that included and did not include information on the claimed variables. The researchers discovered that the data has a minor or no effect on the relationship between the games and the alleged behavior.
Publication bias
Critics also argued that publication bias was the reason behind the exaggerated effect of violent games on aggression. They claimed that studies that do not find a connection between rough sports and hostile behavior were not published. According to the various tests that were conducted by the researchers, there was no publication bias.
From all the findings made in all the studies, it was evident that those who play violent video games can become more deviant and engage themselves in other risky activities. However, the effect depends on the victim’s ethnic group. In this case, the lead Author Jay G. Hull, the Dartmouth Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the associate dean of faculty for the social sciences at Dartmouth explains that people from the Western culture such as whites and Asians were the more affected than those from the Eastern and Hispanic cultures.
“Although no single research project is definitive, our research aims to provide the most current and compelling responses to key criticisms on this topic. Based on our findings, we feel it is clear that violent video game play is associated with subsequent increases in physical aggression,” the researchers said.
Science Converse Ice Breaker
“Can playing violent video games really make you more violent?”
- There are multiple studies that support this, but there are vocal critics who dispute this
- In 2018, Dartmouth researchers analyzed 24 studies involving 17,000 participants, and found clear evidence of link between violent video game play and increased physical aggression
- “I hope our findings prompt skeptics to reevaluate their position, especially since some of our other research indicates that violent video game play may increase deviance with implications for multiple risk behaviors,” said one of the researchers.
This study was published in the October 2018 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Reference: Metaanalysis of the relationship between violent video game play and physical aggression over time.
https://www.pnas.org/content/115/40/9882
