Do Violent Video Games Increase Aggression and Reduce Helping Behaviors?
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Abstract
Video games are one of the most widely consumed types of entertainment media, and it is necessary to understand their impact on the audience. Thus, the present study aimed to observe the impacts of violent video games on aggressive and prosocial behavior. To this end, 67 participants (mean age: 23.6, SD = 4.88, 69.7% women), divided into two groups, played a violent or neutral game for 20 minutes and answered a Tangram assignment task to measure behavior. The results demonstrated effects on the players’ aggressive behaviors when compared to participants who played a neutral game. However, there were no statistically significant differences regarding the reduction in helping behavior, therefore only partially corroborating the hypotheses. Thus, the results highlight that violent games can be a risk factor for the development of behaviors of the same nature. Furthermore, the need for further studies to investigate possible mediators of this relationship is highlighted.
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