Citation

Greitemeyer T. J. Media Psychol. 2020; 32(2): 82-88.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, American Psychological Association, Publisher Hogrefe Publishing)

DOI

10.1027/1864-1105/a000260

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Correll and colleagues (Correll, Park, Judd, & Wittenbrink, 2002) developed a first-person shooter task that simulates the police officer's dilemma of whether to shoot or not a target that may present lethal danger. The present study examined the relationship between habitual violent video game play and responses in this shooting paradigm. Habitual violent video game play has been shown to increase the accessibility of aggressive thoughts. Previous research also demonstrated that action video game play has a positive impact on perceptual skills. Hence, it was hypothesized that players of violent video games would be more likely to mistakenly shoot a target and exhibit shorter reaction times in the shooting task.

RESULTS revealed that reaction times, but not error rates, were significantly associated with habitual violent video game play. These findings suggest that habitual violent video game play may have a positive impact on overall processing skills without limiting accuracy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Language: en

Keywords

Ability; Computer Games; Habits; Police Personnel; Reaction Time; Recreation Areas; Responses; Task; Violence