Konjin, E., Bijvank, M., & Bushman, B. (2007). I Wish I Were a Warrior: The Role of Wishful Identification in the Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggression in Adolescent Boys
Konjin and company argue that violent video games lead to boys exhibiting more aggressive behavior. Through extensive testing, they found that in most cases, when playing a violent videogame, the subject would display more aggressive behavior (administering a violent, loud sound to another that did them non wrong) than they would before they played the game. Should the boy playing violent video games also relate to the main character of said game, then they would display further aggressive behavior.
“Boys in our study who identified strongly with violent characters were willing to administer noise loud enough to permanently damage the ears of another boy who had done nothing to anger them” (Discussion/conclusion).
The testing involved selecting 122 boys from the Dutch education system (roughly aged 15) and having them either play a violent videogame (either a realistic depiction of violence or a fantasy) or a non violent video game (either realistic or fantasy). After which, two boys would be paired up, one having played violent video games and the other playing non violent video games. They were subjected to a reaction test where the winner could blast a shrieking noise into the losers headphones, potentially damaging their ears.
I would like to potentially use this research to help me research what kind of immediate effects early violent video games such as Doom or Mortal Kombat had on society and culture as a whole. It would be interesting to see if this research can be used to prove or disprove the media's sentiment about these older violent games being dangerous for the children.
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