Priming and Negative Priming in Violent Video Games David Zendle Doctor of Philosophy University of York Computer Science September 2016 Abstract This is a thesis about priming and negative priming in video games. In this context, priming refers to an effect in which processing some concept makes reactions to related concepts easier. Conversely, negative priming refers to an effect in which ignoring some concept makes reactions to related concepts more difficult. The General Aggression Model (GAM) asserts that the depiction of aggression in VVGs leads to the priming of aggression-related concepts. Numerous studies in the literature have seemingly confirmed that this relationship exists. However, recent research has suggested that these results may be the product of confounding. Experiments in the VVG literature commonly use different commercial off- the-shelf video games as different experimental conditions. Uncontrolled variation in gameplay between these games may lead to the observed priming effects, rather than the presence of aggression-related content. Additionally, in contrast to the idea that players of VVGs necessarily process in-game concepts, some theorists have suggested that players instead ignore in-game concepts. This suggests that negative priming rather than priming might happen in VVGs. The first series of experiments reported in this thesis show that priming does not happen in video games when known confounds are controlled. These results also suggest that negative priming may occur in these cases. However, the games used in these experiments were not as realistic as many VVGs currently on the market. This raises concerns that these results may not generalise widely. I therefore ran a further three experiments. In these experiments, a variety of different kinds of VVG realism were manipulated and the effects of this realism on priming measured. These experiments suggest that increased realism in VVGs does not lead to increased priming of aggression-related concepts, and therefore that the effects outlined above should generalise to a variety of games regardless of their level of realism. 2 Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................... 2 Contents ................................................................................................................................... 3 List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. 7 List of Figures ............................................................................................................................ 8 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. 10 Declaration ............................................................................................................................. 12 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 13 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 13 1.2 Research Questions ............................................................................................... 16 1.3 Methodology .......................................................................................................... 16 1.4 Outline of the Research ......................................................................................... 18 1.5 Scope ...................................................................................................................... 20 1.6 Contributions ......................................................................................................... 21 2 Literature Review ............................................................................................................ 23 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 23 2.2 Priming ................................................................................................................... 23 2.3 Priming Concepts ................................................................................................... 24 2.3.1 Stimuli which cause concepts to be primed .................................................. 24 2.3.2 The effects of priming a concept ................................................................... 25 2.3.3 Associative Networks ..................................................................................... 27 2.3.4 Negative Priming ............................................................................................ 27 2.4 Measuring Priming ................................................................................................. 28 2.4.1 The Lexical Decision Task ............................................................................... 28 2.4.2 The Word Fragment Completion Task ........................................................... 33 2.4.3 The Anderson Word Fragment Completion Task ........................................... 34 2.4.4 Image Categorisation Tasks ........................................................................... 35 2.4.5 Statistical Transformation of Reaction Time Data ......................................... 36 3 2.5 The GAM in General ............................................................................................... 37 2.5.1 Short-Term Factors in the GAM ..................................................................... 39 2.5.2 Long-Term Factors in the GAM ...................................................................... 43 2.6 The GAM and Violent Video Games ...................................................................... 45 2.6.1 VVGs and the priming of aggression-related concepts .................................. 46 2.6.2 Debate over the validity of VVG effects ......................................................... 46 2.6.3 The time-course of VVG effects ..................................................................... 49 2.6.4 Why VVGs might prime aggression-related concepts ................................... 50 2.6.5 Why VVGs might not prime aggression-related concepts ............................. 51 2.7 The GLM and the Effects of Video Games Beyond Aggression .............................. 54 2.8 Features of Violent Video Games and the GAM .................................................... 56 2.8.1 Graphical Realism in Video Games ................................................................ 56 2.8.2 Behavioural Realism in Video Games............................................................. 57 2.8.3 Realism and the effects of VVGs .................................................................... 58 2.8.4 Narrative Context and the effects of VVGs .................................................... 60 2.8.5 Blood and the effects of VVGs ....................................................................... 61 2.9 Summary ................................................................................................................ 62 3 Priming and Negative Priming in Video Games................................................................ 65 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 65 3.2 Experiment 1: Priming in Run and Gun Games ...................................................... 68 3.2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 68 3.2.2 Building the Lexical Decision Task .................................................................. 69 3.2.3 Experimental Method .................................................................................... 72 3.2.4 Results ............................................................................................................ 76 3.2.5 Discussion ....................................................................................................... 80 3.3 Priming in Maze Games ......................................................................................... 82 3.3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 82 3.3.2 Method........................................................................................................... 83 4 3.3.3 Results ............................................................................................................ 88 3.3.4 Discussion ....................................................................................................... 90 3.4 Priming at short exposures .................................................................................... 92 3.4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 92 3.4.2 Method........................................................................................................... 96 3.4.3 Results .......................................................................................................... 100 3.4.4 Discussion ..................................................................................................... 102 3.5 Conclusions .........................................................................................................