The Effect Of Cooperative Gameplay On Aggression And Prosociality In Violent Video Game Play

The aim of this study was to determine what impact (if any) the context (isolated vs. social) of playing different types (violent vs. non-violent) of video games have on people's aggression and positive social behaviors. Participants were randomly assigned to play either a violent video game or a non-violent video game in an isolated context or with another player for 30 minutes, after which they completed the same questionnaires again. Data were then collected on behavioral tasks measuring aggression and prosociality. This experiment failed to find significant effects of violent video game exposure on aggression. Participants who played a violent video game cooperatively scored higher on self-report scales of public prosociality after gameplay. Additionally, participants who played a non-violent game cooperatively scored higher on self-report scales of altruism after gameplay than participants who played a violent video game cooperatively.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A. in Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2015

Author dc:creator

• Beene, Jeremiah Nathaniel

Contributors dc:contributor

• John N. Young
• Karen A. Christoff
• Todd A. Smitherman

• Aggression
• Media
• Prosocial
• Video Games
• Violence
• Clinical Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/809

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:egrove.olemiss.edu:etd-1808