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The Moderating Role of Media Interactivity on The THE MODERATING ROLE OF MEDIA INTERACTIVITY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VIDEO GAME VIOLENCE AND AGGRESSION AND THE MEDIATING MECHANISMS OF CHARACTER IDENTIFICATION AND SELF-CONCEPT By Jih-Hsuan Lin A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Communication Arts and Sciences- Media and Information Studies 2011 ABSTRACT THE MODERATING ROLE OF MEDIA INTERACTIVITY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VIDEO GAME VIOLENCE AND AGGRESSION AND THE MEDIATING MECHANISMS OF CHARACTER IDENTIFICATION AND SELF-CONCEPT By Jih-Hsuan Lin This study proposed and tested a media interactivity model drawing upon recent theoretical arguments about character identification within the General Aggression Model (GAM). The model examined the moderating effect of media interactivity on the relationship between video game violence and short-term aggression. In addition, character identification and automatic self-concept were hypothesized as the mediating mechanisms of the effect of media interactivity on short-term aggression. As a part of this work, a scale designed to measure character identification was developed and tested. Drawing from the social cognitive theory, the Monadic Identification Scale consists of 15 items which loaded into four factors (Enactive Experiences, Goal Identification, Real Life Identification, and Outcome Identification) predicted by the theory. A total of 169 male undergraduate students participated in the experiment, which had a 2 (media interactivity: play vs. watch) × 2 (violence: violent vs. non-violent) factorial design. The results showed that media interactivity and violence significantly affected participants‘ short-term aggressive affect. Media interactivity also had a main effect on systolic and diastolic blood pressure. A conditional moderating effect—in that participants who played the violent video game displayed greater aggressive affect and blood pressure than participants who watched the recorded violent game play—was also found. Moreover, Enactive Experiences Identification fully mediated the effect of media interactivity on aggressive affect, after controlling for the Outcome Identification as a suppressor. Participants who played the video games exhibited a higher level of identification than recorded game play watchers, which led to higher aggressive affect. An interaction effect between media interactivity and violence was found for automatic self-concept. Media interactivity enhanced both positive and negative effects, in which active video game players in violent and non-violent conditions associated themselves both with more aggressive and more peaceful concepts than those who watched the recorded game play. However, self-concept did not significantly mediate the interaction effect of media interactivity and violence on short-term aggression. The current study extended existing literature and further demonstrated that media interactivity exhibited significant influence on media effects after controlling violence content. Future research should continue testing the proposed media interactivity model as well as the antecedents and consequences of the mediating mechanisms. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Four years of doctoral education is like a wonderful adventure, and I could have not come this far armed with an optimistic attitude alone. Without all the help and encouragement from my family, friends, and dear professors, none of this would have been possible. I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my parents, Yum-Ting Lin and Mei-Ying Li, and my sister, Jih-Ping Lin, who have supported me with faith and continuous encouragement throughout my graduate career. I would have not even had the chance to come to MSU without their unfailing support. Their rigorous working attitude is the best model for me to conduct my research. This is the debt I will never be able to repay but will always be thankful for. Throughout my journey as a Ph.D. student, I am extremely lucky and honored to have been advised by Dr. Robert LaRose. His unceasing belief in me and wonderful application of positive reinforcement gave me confidence to overcome my writing obstacles (or leaving the writing hell). His unique insights combined with extensive knowledge have always given me new perspectives and have brought me to higher levels to examine theories and academic issues. His passion for research and great humor made doing research fun and enjoyable. He cares deeply for his students and has helped me grow so much in this academic journey. Words cannot express my gratitude to Dr. LaRose. This dissertation could have not been completed without his great input and encouragement. I would also like to thank Dr. Wei Peng for her great work on media interactivity on positive media effects, which inspired me to launch this research path. Her rigorous and diligent research attitudes served as an excellent model for me to conduct my own study. I am also honored to iv work for her as a research assistant for various fun, yet tremendously important projects. I am extremely appreciative of the other members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Nicole Ellison and Dr. Joe Walther, who have given me great comments and suggestions to improve my research. I am very lucky to have had their collective wisdom with generous donation of time and excellent questions. I would also like to thank the graduate school and College of Communication Arts and Sciences for providing me the Dissertation Completion Fellowship and 2010 Summer Excellence Research Fellowship. With these fellowships, I was able to reduce my workload, which gave me more time to focus on my dissertation. In addition, the fellowships support me to purchase equipment required for conducting this study and provide rewards and incentives for participants in my experiments. I am deeply indebted to the people who helped me with data collection, which was essential to my dissertation. Dr. Corey Bohil, the MIND lab manager, has generously provided me the lab and expensive software (i.e., E-prime). Without his generous support, my experiment would have never proceeded so smoothly. My best friend, Alexander Abbott, has provided wonderful input for the experimental design. He has also greatly helped administering the experiment and reviewing my writing. I also thank Justin Ceckowski for his important help on choosing the game stimuli and conducting the pilot experiment. In addition to the data collection, I would like to thank Jason Huang from the CSTAT center. His knowledge of using various types of advanced analyses provided me excellent guidance on my data analyses. I am extremely appreciative of his time and excellent consulting, which have greatly improved my dissertation. Finally, I thank God for providing me so many great people and friends who enabled me to v grow and have this wonderful adventure. Entering MSU was unexpected, yet tremendously appreciated, and I feel extremely lucky to have been able to work with excellent professors. I also thank all my dear friends, Grace Chen, Rui Zhang, Christine Shyu, Kris Wang, Lena Liao, and their lovely babies. Their friendships and support have given me a happy and healthy journey in the past years. So, what‘s next? Finding a husband? (I think that will be harder than getting a Ph.D.). No matter where my career takes me, I will always diligently conduct research with all the great memories and knowledge that I was lucky to have had this experience at MSU. ―Hi students, my name is professor T-A-M-M-Y (clapping), nice to meet you.‖ vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................................ 4 Violence and Aggression: General Aggression Model (GAM) .................................................. 4 Theorizing Video Games vs. TV/Film/Video ............................................................................. 6 Empirical Studies Comparing Video Games vs. Other Media Effects ....................................... 8 Underlying Mechanism One: Character Identification ............................................................. 13 Initial concept...................................................................................................................... 14 Identification in social learning theory ............................................................................... 15 Wishful identification ......................................................................................................... 17 Identification redefined ....................................................................................................... 18 Theorizing identification in video games ........................................................................... 23 Underlying Mechanism Two: Automatic Self-Concept ............................................................ 25 CHAPTER 3 METHOD ..................................................................................................................................... 29 Experiment Design and Material
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