Possible Effects of Videogames on Aggressive Behavior in Children

A relationship exists between television watching in children and aggression (Eron, Huesman, Brice, Fischer, & Mermelstein, 1983; Feshbach, 1972; Mcintyre, Teevan, 1972; Singer & Singer, 1983); children viewing violent television programs behave more aggressively than children viewing non violent programs. A relationship has also been indicated between sports and aggression (Fisher, 1976; Goldstein, 1979; Lefebvre, Leith, & Bredemeier, 1980). The present study studied the relationship between videogame play and aggression that children, after playing a videogame that had been judged violent, would display more aggressive behavior than after playing a videogame that had been judged nonviolent. Subjects (10 male and 10 female) were recruited from local youth organizations and from personal contacts, made by the experimenter in Hays, Kansas. All subjects played the violent and the nonviolent videogames in order to serve as their own control. A control dial (CD), enabling subjects to change the brightness level on a confederate\u27s television set, was used to obtain the dependent measure of either aggressive or nonaggressive behavior. Behavioral measures were obtained under three different conditions: a) baseline, b) after playing a game judged to be violent and c) after playing a game judged to be nonviolent. The hypotheses were not confirmed. The reverse was found; subjects responded more aggressively following non violent videogame play and less aggressively following violent videogame play