College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Violent games

Playing violent video games can cause increases in aggression and violence according to Craig Anderson.
There's no doubt in Craig Anderson's mind.

"Though there are many complexities in this realm of behavioral research, there is one clear and simple message that parents, educators and public policy makers need to hear," Anderson said. "Playing violent video games can cause increases in aggression and violence."

Recent infamous events may prove Anderson right. Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were fanatic fans of the violent video game Doom. Michael Carneal, who killed three Paducah, Ky., students while they were praying before school in 1997, also honed his skills with arcade-quality point-and-shoot games at home.

Anderson, professor and chairman of the psychology department, has studied the effects of violent video games long before Columbine and Paducah. He first published an article on video game violence in 1987 and will be featured in the April issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology with an article he wrote on the subject with Karen Dill of Lenoir-Rhyne College.

Each study indicates that there are good reasons to expect that the effects of exposure to violent games on subsequent aggressive behavior will be even greater than the well-documented effects of exposure to violent television and movies.

Anderson's and Dill's article, "Video Game Violence and Trait Aggressiveness," is the first violent video game study to appear in a major American Psychology Association (APA) journal.

"There isn't much research specifically on video games," Anderson said. "To effectively make the case that these violent video games aren't good for our kids we have to go back to the television violence research."

That research indicates that exposure to violent television and movies causes increases in aggression and violence. And those effects are not small.

Anderson says the media violence effect on aggression is bigger than the effect of exposure to lead on IQ scores in children, the effect of calcium intake on bone mass, the effect of homework on academic achievement or the effect of asbestos exposure to cancer.

What's worse is that Anderson says that violent video games may actually have a greater impact on aggressive than their television and movie counterparts.

"In TV shows and movies there may be several characters with which an observer can identify, many of which may not behave in a violent fashion," he said. "But in most video games, the player must identify with one violent character whose sole goal is to wound, maim or kill the various enemies in the game.

"The player actually sees the world from that characterÕs perspective."

Anderson says there are several other reasons why video games have a greater effect than TV or film. Video games require an active participation, while people can "zone out" while watching a TV program. And the addictive nature of video games means that their lessons will be repeatedly taught.

Anderson and Dill reached their conclusions after conducting two studies with 200 college students with an average age of 18.5. The first study examined violent video game effects on aggression-related variables.

"This study showed that real-life violent video game play was positively related to aggressive behavior and delinquency," he said. "The relation was stronger for individuals who are characteristically aggressive and for men. Academic achievement was negatively related to overall amount of time spent playing video games."

In the second study, laboratory exposure to a graphically violent video game increased aggressive thoughts and behavior.

"In both studies, men had a more hostile view of the world than women did," Anderson said.

Even before the article is officially published, Anderson's research is making waves. In late March, he appeared before the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, chaired by John McCain, R-Ariz. He was one of six individuals who testified on the impact of interactive violence on children.