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DOES PLAYING VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES CAUSE

AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR?



Playing by the Rules

Cultural Policy Center, University of Chicago



27 October 2001



Jeffrey Goldstein, Ph.D.

University of Utrecht, The Netherlands







Some social psychologists argue that playing violent video games causes aggressive behavior, among other things (desensitization to violence, disinhibition of violence, belief in a ‘scary world,' acquisition of cognitive schemas supportive of aggression). Three types of evidence are said to converge in support of this conclusion: correlational studies, field studies (which are typically correlational in nature), and laboratory experiments.

Correlational studies can tell us nothing about whether violent video games cause aggression. Even if we accept that there is a correlation between amount of time spent playing (violent) video games and aggressive behavior, there is no reason to think that games are the cause of aggression (Anderson & Dill, 2000; Colwell & Payne, 2000; Roe & Muijs, 1998). Furthermore, some correlational studies find no significant relationship with aggression (e.g., Sacher, 1993; van Schie & Wiegman, 1997).

One purpose of laboratory experiments is to study immediate effects of prior ‘causes.' The focus of this paper is on the quality of experimental evidence used to support the argument that

1. PLAYING (2) VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES CAUSES

(3) AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR

In the typical laboratory experiment, university students are randomly assigned to play a violent video game or a nonviolent video game. The length of play varies from 4 minutes to 75 minutes. Following play, some measure of aggression is administered. We will examine each component of this situation, asking whether subjects have PLAYED a video game, whether the video game can be regarded as VIOLENT, and whether AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR has been measured..

1. PLAYING
violent video games?



Play is a voluntary,...