Virtually justifiable homicide

The effects of prosocial contexts on the link between violent video games, aggression, and prosocial and hostile cognition

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11105359
AutoresSeth A Gitter (Auburn University Auburn, Alabama, autor de correspondencia), Patrick J Ewell (0000-0002-4781-6344, University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama), Rosanna E Guadagno (0000-0001-8247-5154, National Science Foundation Arlington, Virginia), Tyler F Stillman (0000-0001-7765-4748, Southern Utah University Cedar City, Utah), Roy F Baumeister (0000-0003-1413-3296, Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida)
Año2013
Volumen39
Número5
Páginas346-354
Fecha de publicación2013-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAggressive Behavior (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0096-140X • E-ISSN: 1098-2337
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ab.21487
PMID23650097
OpenAlexW1891813227
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas33

Previous work has shown that playing violent video games can stimulate aggression toward others. The current research has identified a potential exception. Participants who played a violent game in which the violence had an explicitly prosocial motive (i.e., protecting a friend and furthering his nonviolent goals) were found to show lower short-term aggression (Study 1) and show higher levels of prosocial cognition (Study 2) than individuals who played a violent game in which the violence was motivated by more morally ambiguous motives. Thus, violent video games that are framed in an explicitly prosocial context may evoke more prosocial sentiments and thereby mitigate some of the short-term effects on aggression observed in previous research. While these findings are promising regarding the potential aggression-reducing effects of prosocial context, caution is still warranted as a small effect size difference (d = .2-.3), although nonsignificant, was still observed between those who played the explicitly prosocial violent game and those who played a nonviolent game; indicating that aggressive behavior was not completely eliminated by the inclusion of a prosocial context for the violence

Aggression · Cognition · Context (archaeology · Developmental psychology · Injury prevention · Medical emergency · Poison control · Prosocial behavior · Suicide prevention · Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Medicine · Personality Traits and Psychology · Psychology · Social Psychology · Stalking, Cyberstalking, and Harassment