Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior: Potential Sex

Differences
During recent years, violence among children and adolescents has become more
noticeable with incidents of youth violence claiming the lives of schoolchildren and
their teachers. Traditional explanations which see aggressive youths as abnormal
isolated individuals with serious psychological disorders are being replaced with
theories relating to the influence of media violence on the aggressive behaviour of
children and adults in particular video games which are growing is use and violent
themes. Several recent studies suggest that playing violent video games leads to
both short-term and long-term increases in aggression-related outcomes for game
players. A causal relationship between violent video games and aggression has
been accumulating, but it is still currently unclear whether video game effects are
similar in males and females. Although males are generally more aggressive than
females environmental cues to aggression may be equally powerful in both sexes.
Previous studies have been weighted to younger children and have involved games
that would not be currently regarded as violent.

In this study the hypothesis was that participants who played the violent video game
would display more aggression than would participants who played the nonviolent
video game. Differences in effect on male and female was not hypothesised. 43
male and female college students who were not habitual game players were chosen
and asked to play either a violent game -Mortal Kombat or a non violent game PGA
Tournament Golf. After ten minutes of playing the game the participants were given
a Retaliation reaction time task, in which each participant was led to believe that he
or she was competing with another person to see who could respond most quickly,
the computer determined each outcome and punishment was given for losing. In
phase 1 the player was told the punishment level was set by their opponent and in
phase 2 the player was told they would set the punishment level for their opponent.
The severity of punishment that each participant set for his or her opponent was
used as the measure of aggressive behaviour.

Participants were told they were taking part in a study of reaction time and were
randomly assigned to either the violent or nonviolent video game condition. Each
game lasted 10 minutes. Players were led to believe they were networked together
and were given instruction on how to set the levels of punishment. Players were
given computer messages to reinforce the idea that they were competing against an
opponent. During their debriefing, none of the participants indicated any suspicion
concerning the task or the confederate (who was female).

Analysis of the mean intensity settings showed that participants who played Mortal
Kombat set higher levels of noise punishment than did those who played PGA
Tournament Golf . Also, men set higher noise levels than women. Analysis of how
often high-intensity settings were used showed that participants who played Mortal
Kombat used such levels more often than did participants who played PGA
Tournament Golf. In addition, men set high noise levels more often than women
did. The effects of playing the violent video game were again stronger for men than
for women. However, simple effects tests examining the video game effect
separately for men and women showed that the effect was present for both women
and men.

The results of this experiment supported the prediction that playing violent video
games would increase aggressive behaviour. Participants who played the violent
video game later showed more aggression toward an opponent during the retaliation
task than did participants who played the nonviolent game. However, the results for
men versus women offered a more complex picture of video game effects. Whereas
both measures of aggression indicated that men who played Mortal Kombat
responded more aggressively during the retaliation task than did men who played
PGA Tournament Golf, women who played the violent game used a higher number
of high-intensity noise settings, but did not set higher mean punishment levels
overall, than did women who played the nonviolent game. The findings suggest that
young men may be more affected by violent video games than are young women. A
possible reason is that because men are more aggressive than women in reaction
time task. Reliable gender differences after provocation were obtained. The results
do not point clearly to a simple gender explanation of the current findings.

Differences in the aggressive styles of males and females have been attributed to
the influence of sex roles in determining appropriate aggressive responses; physical
aggression is viewed as more appropriate for men, whereas verbal or psychological
aggression is viewed as more appropriate for women. In addition the choice of video
games may have contributed to the sex differences in aggression that found. Mortal
Kombat was chosen for the violent game primarily because of its sustained
popularity and realistic aggressive content. However, nearly all of the characters in
the game are male, so our male participants may have identified more with the
characters and been more engaged by the game than were our female participants,
resulting in a larger impact on men. Also, statements made by some participants
during debriefings suggested that women did not like playing the PGA Tournament
Golf game, whereas men did. In other words, the golf game may have been a poor
choice for a control game. These possibilities suggest that the women in the
experiment may have been both less engaged in the games than the men and less
likely to use the noise intensity settings to express their aggression. This research
was limited, the sample was small, the duration of game was just 10 minutes which
might not have been long enough for the violent game to have a large effect on
women. The confederate being a women may have affected the result too. Previous
research suggests that people are more likely to behave aggressively toward same-
sex targets than opposite-sex targets. This reasoning would suggest, however, that
women should have been more aggressive than men in the current experiment, and
the results clearly showed that they were not. It is important to note that gender of
target differences generally diminish following provocation.

It is generally thought that playing violent video games can increase aggressive
thoughts, feelings and behaviour and is more harmful than violent television or films,
which are already known to influence aggressive behaviour. The problem with video
games is that they are interactive, and require the player to identify with the
aggressive character. Craig Anderson, from Iowa State University of Science and
Technology, suggests that the reason for this is that playing video games is more
active than watching television or film, it also provides a forum for learning and
practising aggressive solutions to conflict situations. He suggested also that these
aggressive lessons learned through playing games would be likely to last longer term
as players learn problem solving techniques. However, as Dr Cumberbatch says:
"You cannot simulate in a laboratory the complex social problems that people are
concerned about, and overall the actual evidence supporting a link between media
violence and real violence is very weak."
he suggest that research shows that some people were stimulated simply by the fast
pace of action films, rather than their violent content.
The question should be asked whether in fact it is the video game that creates
violence or is it just releasing aggressive nature already inherent within the players
personality teenagers, for example, going through puberty, are easily upset,
depressed, have little concern for others, break rules and act without thinking are
more influenced by violent games than those with other personality traits.
Christopher J. Ferguson suggests that video games "are harmless for the vast
majority of kids but are harmful to a small minority with pre-existing personality or
mental health problems." Teenagers who are highly neurotic, less agreeable and
less conscientious have a greater propensity to be negatively affected by violent
video games. Video game play however is not all bad. Other studies featured in the
journal have demonstrated that video games can be helpful in the treatment of
patients with diabetes, asthma and chronic pain and playing of video games helps to
train fast reactions especially important in some situations where good hand to eye
coordination is required eg pilot. (Christopher Ferguson). Ferguson also suggests
that as video games have become more popular, children are having fewer
behaviour problems, are less violent and score better on standardized tests.
Aggressive behaviour therefore is not being created by the video game maybe just
released. In contrast, Patrick Markey has shown that video game violence can
increase aggression in some individuals, depending on their personalities. In his
research he showed that a certain combination of personality traits can help predict
which young people will be more adversely affected by violent video games.
"Previous research has shown us that personality traits like psychoticism and
aggressiveness intensify the negative effects of violent video games (Markey).
Markey used the most popular psychological model of personality traits, called the
Five-Factor Model, to examine these effects. The model scientifically classifies five
personality traits: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness
and conscientiousness. The teenagers who were highly neurotic, less agreeable
and less conscientious tended to be most adversely affected by violent video games,
whereas participants who did not possess these personality characteristics were
either unaffected or only slightly negatively affected by violent video games. It is
therefore their predisposition that makes them susceptible to violent media of any
sort.
In considering these latter studies we can go some way to looking at the distinction
between male and female players naturally men tend to show more aggressive
nature than women who tend to have a more nurturing role. Men are much more
likely to engage in Physical Aggression and women are in Verbal Aggression. This
is because men and women experience aggression differently (Cambell & Muncer
(1987). Women view their aggression as often coming from a loss of self-control
usually brought on by stress and men view aggressive acts as an exercise in control
brought on by a challenge. So, men view their aggressive acts as positive whereas
women are more likely to feel more guilt and concern after being aggressive
(Bjorkqvist, Lagerspatz, & Kaukainen, 1992)
In conclusion, despite general acceptance that violent media increases violent
behaviour it is inconclusive that violent video games should take more blame than
other media. Studies have shown both positive and negative effects and have
strongly suggested that the level and type of behaviour is more likely to be strongly
influenced by predisposition and motivation of the players. Behaviour coming from
innate aggression, issues of maturity and sexual approach to violence are more
likely to be enhanced by the game rather than behaviour being created by the
game.