Playing Violent Video Games Causes Risk of Increased Aggression

Psychologists have confirmed in a study compiling results of nearly a decade of research projects that playing violent video games is linked to aggressive and callous behavior.

The link between video game violence and real-life aggression has, and will continue to be, one of the most hotly debated subjects in the video game industry.

“Scientists have investigated the use of violent video games for more than two decades but to date, there is very limited research addressing whether violent video games cause people to commit acts of criminal violence“, said Mark Appelbaum, task force chair.

The official findings of the task force, which can be read in full here, also show that violent games tend to lead to aggressive cognitions and affect and a decrease in pro-social behavior, empathy and sensitivity to aggression.

The findings are based on a review of literature published between 2005 and 2013 focused on violent video game use, including four meta-analyses that reviewed over 150 research reports published before 2009.

Once more, it was reiterated that rather than just violent video game playing, there a wealth of risk factors leading to violent and potentially criminal behavior. In addition, the resolution urges developers to design games that are appropriate to users’ age and psychological development, and voices APA’s support for more research to address gaps in the knowledge about the effects of violent video game use.

They also criticised a lack of research on the effects of violent video games on children younger than 10, or their impact over the whole course of a child’s development. “Considering the APA’s long-standing bias against and attacks on video games, this slanted report is not surprising”.

“As a researcher in this field, I thought you might be curious to know that there are actually a lot of problems with this report, how the task force was comprised, and the basis for its conclusions on research”. Among them, that there are too few studies looking at how violent video games are affecting males and females.

A positive association between violent video game use and increased aggressive behavior was found in most (12 of 14 studies) but not all studies published after the earlier meta‐analyses.

Appelbaum acknowledged “some variation among the individual studies”, but said that “a strong and consistent general pattern has emerged from many years of research that provides confidence in our general conclusions”. It replaces a 2005 resolution on the same topic. The organization has a habit of supporting and highlighting anti-game research.

The psychologists identified shortcomings in the literature, including a failure to look for differences in the behaviour of boys and girls who play violent video games.

“Many people would like to link first-person shooter video games and mass murders or even single murders, but that’s virtually impossible to do from a scientific research point of view”, he said.