Study 1: Experimental Study of Violent Video Games With Elementary School and College Students
This chapter presents Study 1, which examined the effects of exposure to the mildest form of violent video games (cartoonish children's games) on short-term aggressive behavior by children and college students. In this experimental study, some of children and some of the college students were randomly assigned to played a children's game with violent or one without violent content. Some of the college students played a teen-rated violent game. Afterwards, all of the participants played another computer game in which they set punishment levels that they thought would be delivered to another participant. Actually, there was no other person receiving the punishments. The main finding was that playing a violent video game increased the severity of punishments that participants tried to deliver to another person by more that 40%. Even college students playing children's violent games became more aggressive. Other findings are reported concerning the effects of past media habits, parental involvement, having TVs and video games in the bedroom, and attitudes towards violence.
Keywords: short-term effects, aggression, experimental, video game effects, adult involvement
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