Violent Video Games: Does Playing Them Make Today's Youth More Aggressive: A Study of Grade 9 Boys

Violent Video Games: Does Playing Them
Make Todays Youth More Aggressive: A

Study Of Grade 9 Boys
Trevor Petrinchuk
University of Manitoba
PSYC 2250 D01
Assignment # 3
Abstract
There has been much debate over the past twenty years
as to whether or not playing violent and gory video
games will increase the likelihood of aggression in
adolescence.
The participants were split into two groups at random.
The control group/experiment group
Abstract Continued
Control group will play super Mario
3D World (Rated E for everyone )
Experiment group will play Grand
Theft Auto V ( Rated M for Mature)
Each participant will play the game
for 1 hour then answer 5 questions
Introduction
The video game industry is growing at an
exponential rate across the United States with
over 10.5 billion dollars in sales in 2009
according to the Entertainment Software Rating
Board
Video games have received considerable attention in the last
several years due to the increased amounts of school
shootings in the past decade (Barlett, Anderson, & Swing,
2009).
Introduction
Continued
In 2001, a study was conducted which suggested that exposure to
violent video games can desensitize its players to acts of violence in
making them more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior. (Engelhardta,
Bartholowa, Kerra, & Bushmanb, 2011).
A study done in 2014 showed that the controlled
amount of violence across conditions and showed that
active video game playing exacerbates the effects of
violence on short-term aggression (Lin, 2013; Polman et
al., 2008).
Introduction
Continued
The most consistent finding: children younger than 10
years show increased aggression immediately after
playing violent video games (Vastag ,2004)
Is there a correlation between violent video
games and risky behavior, or can any video
game violent or not, promote aggression?
Method
25 students responded that they would be
willing to partake in the study. Only the
data of 20 was used.
. A letter of consent was also sent to each
of the participants parents as they are
minors, as well, because one the games,
Grand Theft Auto V contained mature
subject matter and sexual content.
Method Continued (The Games)

The control group was to play Super Mario 3D Land,
which has a rating of E (E for everyone) by the
Entertainment Software Ratting Board (ESRB).
Players play as a character named Mario, who is
tasked at collecting stars to reach the goal.
Each stage, your character gains fun power ups like
capes and cat suits to help you reach your goal. There
is mild cartoon violence and comical mischiefs
according to the ESRB (jumping on turtles to help
reach your goal).
Method Continued (The Games)

The experiment group was to play Grand Theft Auto
V, which is ratted M (for mature).
In this game, players play as a male
protagonists who need to complete various
missions by stealing cars, shooting police
officers and having sexual intercourse with
prostitutes.
Procedure
The participants were randomly assigned to the groups
by drawing numbers 1-10 for the control group and
numbers 11-20 for the experiment group.
Each participant was then brought to a room that was
equipped with a TV, game system and chair.
They would play the game for 60 minutes
Procedure Continued
The 5 Survey Questions
-After playing the video game I would be likely to
engage in a high adrenaline activity such as skydiving?
-Would you purchase this game or one similar to it?
-I related to the character in the game I played?
- If I was an emergency situation would I step in?
Questions Continued
After playing the game I felt? (1 relaxed
while 5 is very stimulated).
They then had ten minutes to complete the
survey and hand it into the research
associates.
Results
The results of the participants who played Super Mario 3D Land
showed two major negative correlations between them.
After playing the game, would they like to do a high adrenaline
activity such as sky diving and how they felt after the game with a true
value -.711.
The second major negative correlation was, In an emergency
situation would I be likely to step in, and I related to the character in
the game I played, with a true value -.735
With the highest standard deviation coming from would they buy the
game, (SD=1.17379)
Result Sections
There were two major correlations in the
participants who played Grand Theft Auto V
I related to the character in the game I played, and, After
playing the video game I would like to do a high adrenaline
activity like sky diving, with a true value of -.696.
After playing the video game, I would like to do
a high adrenaline activity like sky diving, and,
In an emergency situation would I be likely to
step in, with a true value of -.290.
Results
Results Continued
The mean of the two groups total answers
were the Grand Theft Auto V was (M=3.90),
while the Super Mario 3D Land was (M=
2.06). This shows that the experiment
group were much more likely to answer the
questions aggressively.
Discussion
Flaws.
The sample size was rather small with only twenty participants and
they were all of the same age.
A larger sample size would have possibly provided a different result.
The thought of adding a third portion to the study of having the Super
Mario 3D Land Group and the Grand Theft Auto V group engage in a
game of dodge ball. This would allow the researchers to observe the
participants behavior along with the survey data to see how accurate
the given responses were.
Discussion Continued
The participants in the Super Mario 3D Land group exhibited
much lower scores on the survey when it came to feeling
very stimulated, and willingness to step into an emergency
situation and getting involved in risky behavior, while the
Grand Theft Auto V group scored much higher in feeling
very stimulated, willingness to step into an emergency
situation and getting involved in risky behavior.
References
Vastag,B(2004) Does video game violence sow aggression? The Journal of American Medical
Association. 291,1822-1824
. Barlett C.P., Harris. R J.& Baldassaro R,(2007) Longer You Play, the More Hostile You Feel:
Examination of First Person Shooter Video Games and Aggression During Video Game Play.
AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR 33,486497
Engelhardta,. Bartholowa B.D.,.Kerra G.T&. Bushmanb B.J, (2011) This is your brain on violent
video games: Neural desensitization to violence predicts increased aggression following violent
video game exposure. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 47,10331036
http://www.esrb.org/about/video-game-industry-statistics.jsp Retrieved November 17th 2014
Barlett, C. P., Anderson, C. A., & Swing, E. L. (2009). Video game effectsconfirmed,suspected,
and speculative: A review of the evidence. Simulation Gaming, 40, 377403.
Lin, J.-H. (2013). Do video games exert stronger effects on aggression than film? The role of
media modality and identification on the association of violent content and aggressive
outcomes. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 535543.

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Violent Video Games: Does Playing Them

Make Todays Youth More Aggressive: A

Method Continued (The Games)

Method Continued (The Games)

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