Abstract

This study looked at the relationship between violent video game (VVG) play and aggressive tendencies. Participants were required to be at least 18 years of age or older and were recruited through flyers in the Library and Academic Resource Center and Young Hall on the Lindenwood University campus, as well as through the Lindenwood Participant Pool. Participants took a pretest on Qualtrics measuring aggressive tendencies and after the pretest, participants were systematically chosen to either play Grand Theft Auto V (GTAV); (Rockstar Games, 2014) or Stardew Valley (Barone & Sickhead Games, 2016). Following gameplay, participants then took a posttest on Qualtrics measuring aggressive tendencies again and finished by completing demographic questions. Hypotheses included: 1) VVG causes an increase in aggression in players; 2) People who identify as men will have a higher level of increase in aggression than other genders when playing the VVG whereas there will be no difference between people who identify as men and people who identify as women in level of aggression when playing the calm video game (CVG); 3) People with more experience playing video games will have less increase in aggression compared with less experienced players. Results showed Stardew Valley having higher increase in aggression levels compared to GTAV, men showing less increase in aggression than women when playing both games, and people with more experience with video games having less increase in aggression than less experienced players. The third hypothesis had the only statistically significant finding (t(13) = 2.49, p = .03).

Recommended Citation

Hamilton, Megan (2020) "Do Violent Video Games Stimulate Aggressive Tendencies?," Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal: Vol. 1: Iss. 22, Article 7.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/psych_journals/vol1/iss22/7