Concord McNair Scholars Research Journal Volume 9 (2006) Table of Contents Kira Bailey Mentor: Rodney Klein, Ph.D. The Effects of Violence and Competition in Sports Video Games on Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Physiological Arousal Laura Canton Mentor: Tom Ford, Ph.D. The Use of Benthic Macroinvertebrates to Assess Water Quality in an Urban WV Stream Patience Hall Mentor: Tesfaye Belay, Ph.D. Gene Expression Profiles of Toll-Like Receptors (TLRs) 2 and 4 during Chlamydia Infection in a Mouse Stress Model Amanda Lawrence Mentor: Tom Ford, Ph.D. Fecal Coliforms in Brush Creek Nicholas Massey Mentor: Robert Rhodes Appalachian Health Behaviors Chivon N. Perry Mentor: David Matchen, Ph.D. Stratigraphy of the Avis Limestone Jessica Puckett Mentors: Darla Wise, Ph.D. and Darrell Crick, Ph.D. Screening of Sorrel (Oxalis spp.) for Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activity Sandra L. Rodgers Mentor: Jack Sheffler, M.F.A. Rembrandt’s Path to Master Painter Crystal Warner Mentor: Roy Ramthun, Ph.D. Social Impacts of Housing Development at the New River Gorge National River 2 Ashley L. Williams Mentor: Lethea Smith, M.Ed. Appalachian Females: Catalysts to Obtaining Doctorate Degrees Michelle (Shelley) Drake Mentor: Darrell Crick, Ph.D. Bioactivity of Extracts Prepared from Hieracium venosum 3 Running head: SPORTS VIDEO GAMES The Effects of Violence and Competition in Sports Video Games on Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Physiological Arousal Kira Bailey Concord University Abstract Research over the past few decades has indicated that violent media, including video games, increase aggression (Anderson, 2004). The current study was investigating the effects that violent content and competitive scenarios in video games have on aggressive thought, feelings, and level of arousal in male college students. Four video games were used in this study, two violent and two nonviolent. One of the games in each pair was competitive and the other game was noncompetitive. It was hypothesized that participants who played the violent competitive game would have higher levels of arousal, as measured by heart rate and blood pressure, aggressive thoughts, as measured by the Word Completion Task (Anderson, et al., 2004), and aggressive feelings, as measured by the State Hostility Scale (Anderson & Morrow, 1995) than those who played any of the other games. The data shows that heart rate decreased in participants playing the violent competitive video game significantly more than for the participants playing the nonviolent competitive game, which did not support the hypothesis. Blood pressure decreased among participants in all groups. No other significant effects were found for heart rate and no significant effects were found between any of the groups on the State Hostility Scale or the Word Completion Task. 4 The Effects of Violence and Competition in Sports Video Games on Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Physiological Arousal The media tends to exert an unnatural and often unhealthy influence on our thoughts and actions. People are likely to mimic everything portrayed in the media from diets to fashion to how to get a date. Unfortunately, no behavior is out of the realm of replication, and this is especially worrisome when the behaviors are violent and aggressive. Numerous studies over the past few decades have documented the effect that the violent content in various forms of media can have on behavior (Anderson, 2004; Thomas, 1982). Although the conclusions are not well-accepted, or even well-known among the public, the research indicates that violent media increases aggressive thoughts (Anderson & Dill, 2000), feelings (Carnagey & Anderson, 2005), and behavior (Bartholow & Anderson, 2002). Video games are one specific example of media influence, and may be particularly powerful due to their interactive nature. As more realistic games are created it becomes an important task to understand how they affect behavior. In the wake of an unsettling number of school shootings, society is faced with the possibility that violent video games may have a negative influence on behavior. Social scientists have sought to understand if and how these seemingly harmless games influence behavior. It is helpful to define certain terms when discussing the effects of media violence on aggressive or hostile behavior. Violence, as it is represented in video games, involves using a body part, weapon, or any other object to wound or kill an opponent (Jurica, Alanis, & Ogletree, 2002). One study reported that 71% of video games featured in arcades contained some form of violence (Lachlan, Smith, & Tamborini, 2005). 5 Similarly, Dietz (1998) reported that 80% of the most popular Nintendo and Sega Genesis video games required the use of violence to attain goals. Aggression is defined by most researchers as behavior intended to harm another individual who is motivated to avoid that harm (Anderson & Bushman, 2001). There are two important points this definition suggests. First, that intention is necessary to label a behavior as aggressive. Unintentionally harming someone would not be considered aggressive behavior. Second, the victim or intended victim is motivated to avoid the harm. Some instances of violent behavior, such as sadistic and masochistic practices and “fight club” groups, by this definition, would not be considered aggressive because the people involved are not trying to avoid the harm. While researchers agree on how to define the important terms, there has been no such agreement on the specific video games used in studies or even a systematic analysis of which video game genres to study. Lachlan, Smith, and Tamborini’s (2005) analysis of the top 60 most played video games did look for violent content across genres. They included sports, first-person shooter, fantasy, fighter-style, and racing video games. Violent characters and themes were presented in many of the games they analyzed. The basic method used in experimental studies was to have a fighter-style or first- person shooter game for the violent scenario and a puzzle game for the nonviolent scenario (Anderson, 2004; Anderson & Dill, 2000). Beyond this general formula there is no consistency in which specific titles are used. While this would suggest that several games in these particular genres have the effect of increasing violence, the results cannot be generalized to other video game genres or to the differences between fighter-style/first person shooter games and nonviolent games that are not puzzles. 6 A few studies have extended the literature to look at online role-playing games, both first-person shooter and fantasy. Schneider, Lang, Shin, and Bradley (2004) used a first-person shooter computer game that they found increased aggression, but the same was not true of a violent fantasy personal computer (PC) game used by Williams and Skoric (2005). While these studies branched out a little further to incorporate a different game medium, the PC, there are still a large number of video game genres that have received little, if any, experimental attention. In addition, the effects of several different methodological factors have not been clearly determined. The amount of time spent playing a game in the study is one of those factors that differ between the methodologies of video game studies. Within the short- term exposure studies there is some variability in how long participants play the game before being tested for aggression. The time interval generally falls somewhere between ten and thirty minutes (Deselms & Altman, 2003; Anderson & Dill, 2000). Although these studies reported similar findings, the nuances of time effects have not been completely worked out. For many researchers, twenty minutes of game play is the general rule to follow (Anderson, 2004). Whether there are differences between playing for 20, 30, 50, or more minutes has received little attention. The literature shows that aggressive behavior, aggressive thought, aggressive affect, and physiological arousal have been used most often to measure video game effects. These variables have been studied in both correlational and experimental research (Anderson & Dill, 2000; Bushman & Anderson, 2002). Short-term and long-term exposure to violent video games has also been shown to affect these variables (Deselms & Altman, 2003). The effects of time seem to differ depending on the age group, however, with children being more affected by short-term exposure to video game 7 violence and adolescents and adults showing more aggression after long-term exposure (Bushman & Huesmann, 2006). Long-term exposure has had various meanings depending on the study; it has been used to describe the effects of playing a video game for an hour as well as playing for hours each day for months (Anderson, 2004). In regards to aggressive behavior, the evidence from the research shows that violent video games can have a negative impact on children, adolescents, and young adults and that the measures used in these studies translate into aggressive behavior outside of the laboratory (Anderson & Bushman, 2001). Anderson and Dill (2000) for instance, used both correlational methods and an experimental design to support the connection between violent video games and aggressive behavior in undergraduate students. Long term exposure to violent video games was highly correlated with delinquent behavior and people who played a violent game displayed more aggression immediately afterwards than those who played a nonviolent video game. Another correlational study revealed that