New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a scale to measure computer and videogame addiction. Inspired by earlier theories and research on game addiction, we created 21 items to measure seven underlying criteria (i.e., salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, withdrawal, conflict, and problems). The dimensional structure of the scale was investigated in two independent samples of adolescent gamers (N = 352 and N = 369). In both samples, a second-order factor model described our data best. The 21-item scale, as well as a shortened 7-item version, showed high reliabilities. Furthermore, both versions showed good concurrent validity across samples, as indicated by the consistent correlations with usage, loneliness, life satisfaction, social competence, and aggression.

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Repeated exposure to violent media is related to negative outcomes, including aggression, hostility, and cognitive and social deficits. We examined if cardiovascular and emotional responding to video game play changed across 3 weekly sessions. Participants were 41 adolescents (M age = 14.8; male = 29; female = 12) from rural Appalachia. Participants attended 3 weekly sessions and played I of 3 video games (basketball, fighting, or horror) each time. Measures included heart rate (HR); systolic blood pressure (SBP); diastolic blood pressure (DBP); self-reported aggression, anger, and reactions to game play; and history of video game play. Resting and posttest cardiovascular measures did not differ from session to session. Adolescents displayed HR and SBP reactivity to game play within each session. They also demonstrated decreased SBP and DBP responding to video game play across the 3-week period, regardless of game content. Affective responses did not change significantly across the course of the experiment. Adolescents who played the violent games reported more frustration and arousal than those who played the sports game. The implications of these findings are discussed.

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Playing violent video games is related to increased negative affect and cardiovascular reactivity. We examined the influence of high and low aggressive priming during video-game training on violence during game play (e.g., shooting, choking), hostility, frustration with game play, blood pressure, and heart rate. Male undergraduates (N = 36) were assigned to a high aggressive or low aggressive video-game priming condition. After training, they played Metal Gear Solid(TM), which allows players to advance by using stealth, violence, or both. Participants in the high aggressive priming condition used significantly more violent action during game play and reported more hostility than those in the low aggressive priming condition. Heart rate was correlated with feelings of hostility. These findings indicate that both aggressive priming and use of game violence influence arousal and negative affect and might increase behavioral aggression.

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Investigating male game players, this study explores how game interface (virtual reality and standard console), game content (fighting, shooting, and driving), and game context (human and computer competition) influence levels of presence and hostile expectation bias-the expectation others will think, feel, speak, and act aggressively during social conflict. In addition to game interface and game content influencing hostile expectations, significant interactions were detected for hostile expectations. Presence, although not as predicted, also significantly differed across game interface and game content. Through the development and testing of each gaming experience, this study demonstrates that simply testing violent and nonviolent game situations underestimates the complexity of contemporary video-game play.

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Relationships between short- and long-term exposure to violent video games and desensitization, as measured through components of moral evaluation, were examined. Sixty-six children aged 5-12 years old completed questionnaires assessing video game experience and preferences and empathy and attitudes toward violence. The children played a violent or nonviolent video game and then responded to vignettes about everyday occurrences. Vignette responses were coded for aggression and empathy. Preexisting empathy and attitudes towards violence were positively related to the corresponding vignette scores. Long-term exposure to violent video games contributed to lower empathy vignette scores. Playing a violent versus a nonviolent game did not affect vignette responses. Results suggest that long-term exposure to violent video games may be associated with desensitization as reflected in lower empathy, although the direction of causality remains unclear.

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

It has been speculated that computer game play by young people has negative correlates or consequences, although little evidence has emerged to support these fears. An alternative possibility is that game play may be associated with positive features of development, as the games reflect and contribute to participation in a challenging and stimulating voluntary leisure environment. This study examined the relationship between game play and several measures of adjustment or risk taking in a sample of 16-year-old high school students. No evidence was obtained of negative outcomes among game players. On several measures-including family closeness, activity involvement, positive school engagement, positive mental health, substance use, self-concept, friendship network, and disobedience to parents-game players scored more favorably than did peers who never played computer games. It is concluded that computer games can be a positive feature of a healthy adolescence.

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Previous research on computer games has tended to concentrate on their more negative effects (e. g., addiction, increased aggression). This study departs from the traditional clinical and social learning explanations for these behavioral phenomena and examines the effect of personality, in-game reinforcement characteristics, gender, and skill on the emotional state of the game-player. Results demonstrated that in-game reinforcement characteristics and skill significantly effect a number of affective measures (most notably excitement and frustration). The implications of the impact of game-play on affect are discussed with reference to the concepts of "addiction" and "aggression."

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Recent research (Anderson, Benjamin, & Bartholow, 1998) indicates that the presence of guns increases the accessibility of aggressive thoughts via automatic priming. Our research examined whether this 'weapons priming effect' differs depending on the structure of an individual's knowledge about guns, and if so, whether that difference results in corresponding differences in aggressive behavior. Experiment 1 revealed that individuals with prior gun experience (hunters) have more detailed and specific information about guns than do individuals with no direct gun experience (nonhunters), and that hunting experience interacts with gun type (hunting versus assault) in predicting affective and cognitive reactions to guns. Experiment 2 revealed that pictures of hunting guns were more likely to prime aggressive thoughts among nonhunters, whereas pictures of assault guns were more likely to prime aggressive thoughts among hunters. Experiment 3 showed differences in aggressive behavior following gun primes that correspond to differences in affective and cognitive responses to gun cues. Our findings are discussed in light of the General Aggression Model.

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Research has shown that exposure to violent video games causes increases in aggression, but the mechanisms of this effect have remained. elusive. Also, potential differences in short-term and long term exposure are not well understood. An initial correlational study shows that video game violence exposure (VVE) is positively correlated with self-reports of aggressive behavior and that this relation is robust to controlling for multiple aspects of personality. A tab experiment showed that individuals low in VVE behave more aggressively after playing a violent video game than after a nonviolent game but that those high in VVE display relatively high levels of aggression regardless of game content. Mediational analyses show that trait hostility, empathy, and hostile perceptions partially account for the VVE, effect on aggression. These findings suggest that repeated exposure to video game violence increases aggressive behavior in part via changes in cognitive and personality factors associated with desensitization.