Effects on Social Group

About

Exposure to violent video games was related to aggression for the participants of a study and their friends. Greitemeyer explains and undergoes a review of academic literature that has been done on the relationship between violent video games and those who play it. After looking at the various literature on the subject, Greitemeyer concludes that it is entirely possible that playing violent video games can be contagious in the sense that individuals are more likely to play violent video games if their social network also consists of violent video game players.

Greitemeyer conducted a study that involves giving a questionnaire to 998 individuals, which includes individuals and members of their social network.

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A child who enjoys violent video games
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The finishing blow in Mortal Kombat, a violent player vs. player video game

Findings

Greitemeyer's study found that the participant’s and friends’ exposure to violent video games and their level of reported aggression were positively related, meaning that as exposure to violent video games increases, the level of reported aggression increases as well.

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A comic of parents ignoring their violent video game lover child
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The player hitting people with a bat in Max Payne, a third-person shooter game

Source

Greitemeyer, Tobias. 2018. "The Spreading Impact of Playing Violent Video Games on Aggression." Computers in Human Behavior, no.80: 216-219. November 17, 2017.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.11.022