Paper Info
Title
The interaction of contextual realism and fantasy tendency on aggressive behavior following violent video game play: An indirect test of violent content effects
Abstract
The current study employed a novel experimental paradigm to test the effect of violent video game content on aggressive behavior. This was accomplished by leveraging player engagement with the game's content as opposed to direct manipulation of violent content. Participants reported on their dispositional tendency to engage in fantasy activities after playing either a realistic or fantasy version of the same game. A two-way interaction revealed that participants who regularly engage with fantasy were more likely to administer aversive noise “blasts” to another person after playing the fantasy game, compared to the realistic game. A mediated moderation test revealed that this increase in aggression was due in part to increased player engagement with the game's content. Specifically, participants predisposed to engage with the violent game tended to behave more aggressively following game play as a function of that engagement. The findings provide supporting evidence for violent content effects and detail a novel method for assessing violent and other media content effects.
Year
DOI
Venue
2019
10.1016/j.chb.2019.04.006
Computers in Human Behavior
Keywords
Field
DocType
Video games,Violence,Aggression,Realism,Fantasy,Engagement
Social psychology,Fantasy,Psychology,Moderated mediation,Realism,Aggression
Journal
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
98
0747-5632
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
0
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Christopher L. Groves100.34
Courtney Plante200.68
David A. Lishner300.34