Comm Research Final Project Usb

8/3/2019 Comm Research Final Project Usb

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RUNNING HEAD: AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR AND EXPOSURE TO VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES

Aggressive Behavior and Exposure to Violent Video Games

Stefan Liotchev

Josh Kane

Queens University of Charlotte


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AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR AND EXPOSURE TO VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES

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Table of Contents:

Abstract..3

Introduction/Purpose..4

Cultivation Theory..5

Literature Review...7

Hypotheses & Research Question..12

Methodology..12

Results16

Conclusion..21

Limitations and Recommendations22

Informed Consent Form.24

Questionnaire.25

Works Cited..28


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Abstract:

Violent video games are becoming a concern amongst people that they are a direct cause

of aggressive behavior. Violent video games such asDoom andMortal Kombathave caused an

uproar by some that these games are too violent and should be taken off of the shelves (Sherry,

2001). There is overwhelming literature out there that states violent video games are not a direct

cause of aggressive behavior, instead other factors determine whether a person is aggressive or

not (Sherry, 2001). There is also research done that states violent video games do cause

aggressive behavior. The 1999 Columbine shootings might have been a cause of violent video

game play (Literature review on the impact of playing violent video games on aggression, 2010).

The Cultivation theory is linked to this study in that it deals with watching violence on TV. The

theory has evolved over the years to include newer forms of media, including video games

(Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, Signorielli, Shanahan, 2002). We incorporated this theory into our

study. We conducted the study at Queens University of Charlotte, asking 50 students to take a

questionnaire about how violent video games cause their behavior to change, if at all. Through

these questionnaires we were able to answer our research question and two hypotheses.


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Introduction/Purpose:

Upon further research we support that there is not a direct relationship between ones

exposures to violent video games and their tendency to exert violent behavior. Controversy

continues to surround us whether video games have a violent effect on ones behavior due to

how much they play. With our study we hope to clarify that ones violent video game play

should be monitored because it may affect them to exert aggressive behavior.

To determine whether or not there is a direct relationship (conceptual definition), we plan

to measure aggression in college students compared to the amount of time they spend playing

video games (operational definition). To accomplish this we plan to use a questionnaire

consisting of 16 questions that measure how violent video games affect the individuals behavior

after playing the games. Participants in the survey will not be required to play the video games

for the study. However, they will be required to have played violent video games at some point

in their lives. The amount of time that they spend playing video games will be measured in the

questionnaire.

Many people today are engaged with playing violent video games and it is a multi-

million dollar industry. People today are also involved in aggressive behavior. Many of those

people who exert violent behavior are avid video game players. We want to find out whether the

video games they play have an effect on their aggressive behavior, or whether there are other

issues going on in their lives that affect them in that manner. These other issues that could be a

cause in their behavior are demographics, where the person was raised and lives, their age,

culture, and gender. As stated in the Cultivation Theory, video games are not the main cause to

aggressive behavior, but rather only a small cause added in with many others.


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Aggressive behavior in this research will be considered acting unreasonable.

Unreasonable behavior can be defined as having a short temper with someone, raising your voice

on someone, threatening a person for no direct reason, and any type of physical harm done on

someone. Through the questionnaire, we will get a better idea of how aggressive people are and

if they feel that they are aggressive people overall. After we gather the information from the

survey, we will analyze the data and compare it with our hypotheses and research question and

come to a conclusion on this issue.

Cultivation Theory:

Cultivation theory is a social theory that examines long-term effects of television on

American audiences of all ages. George Gerbner and Larry Gross developed the cultivation

theory from the University of Pennsylvania. The cultivation theory was developed to track

cultivated effects of television on viewers.

Gerbner and Gross argue that religion or education had previously been greater

influences on social trends now television is the source of the most broadly shared images and

messages in history. Television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences

that used to be acquired from other primary sources. The repetitive pattern of television's mass-

produced messages and images forms the mainstream of a common symbolic environment"

(pp. 1718).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion


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Literature Review:

Past research done on the effects of violent video games has showed that there is very

little to no direct correlation between playing violent video games and aggressive/violent

behavior (Sherry, 2001). According to research done at Purdue University, the researcher claims

that viewing real-life violence on TV such as a thriller or action movie is more likely to

contribute to violent behavior than playing a first person shooter game (Sherry, 2001). The

reason is that most violent video games are set in unrealistic settings such as the video game

Doom where you are on an alien world where you fight alien creatures. There is no way that

someone can relate to something that does not exist (Sherry, 2001). Now there are more realistic

video games out there, where you could make a counter argument. However, there are other

arguments that have been made where more realistic violent video games do not directly increase

aggressive behavior.

Mark Griffiths looks at different literature done on violent video games and their effect

on aggression. In his review of the literature, Griffiths supports that there is overwhelmingly

more evidence out there that violent video games dont have an effect on aggression. While

games such asMortal Kombatclearly promote violence in the game, such as killing off your

opponent, there is no proof that it directly causes a person to feel more aggressive after playing

the game. Other variables play a role in this. (Griffiths, 1999).

Demographics have a bigger impact on violent and aggressive behavior than do video

games. Generally poor non-white minorities are the ones who exert violent behavior. Poor

minorities are mostly made up of uneducated individuals. The less educated you are, the more

likely you are to exert violent behavior. This group of people is mostly attracted to violent video


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to avoid negative consequences when possible, while at the same time desiring positive results or

effects (Uhlman & Swanson, 2003). We are heavily influenced by the content we view in the

media, in this case violent video games. In many violent video games your objective is to get

past some opponents trying to ruin your mission. To achieve your mission, you have to go

through violent scenarios that have negative consequences if they fail. Playing that violent video

game gives you ideas and confidence that you can get away from the negative consequences and

instead get the positive results in real life as well, especially if you are good at a certain game

(Uhlman & Swanson, 2003).

Some argue that the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 might have been

contributed to violent video games (Literature review on the impact of playing violent video

games on aggression, 2010). After this shooting occurred, great interest began emerging about

the effect various media, including violent video games had on teens and people in their 20s.

According to the US Federal Bureau Board report in 2007 The School Shooter: A Threat

Assessment Perspective (Anderson & Bushman, 2001). This document said that people who are

culprits of violent acts have a fascination with violence filled entertainment (Literature review

on the impact of playing violent video games on aggression, 2010).

The Entertainment Software Review Board (ESRB) was created to regulate the sale of

violent video games to minors. The ratings are as follows: Everyone (E) are games for any age to

enjoy, Teen (T) is intended for anyone 13 and older, Mature (M) can only be sold to people 17

and up, and Adults Only (AO) is only sold to people 18 and over. Although these ratings are put

in place, they are still getting in the hands of minors. In most cases the parents go out and buy the

M rated game for their child. This is only fueling the problem. A person turns most violent in

their young adolescent stages of their life. Violence has the biggest influence on them when they


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are young. If you can correct the problem when they are young, you are solving a significant part

of the equation (Literature review on the impact of playing violent video games on aggression,

2010).

There are several different environments that violent video games take place in. Grand

Theft Auto takes place in a big suburban city and the players role is to do just what the title

suggests, steal cars and partake in violent gang activities. There are war games where your

objective is to take down terrorists. There is the fighting genre such as Street FighterandMortal

Kombatwhere your goal is to kill of your opponent. Then you have the fantasy world where the

character is on an island of dinosaurs where your job is to kill of aliens such as in Turok

(Griffiths, 1999). Many violent games have suggestive themes such as characters abusing

alcohol, sex, and illegal drugs. These games are rated from M-AO.

Games that are not considered violent are games such as Super Mario Brothers and Sonic

The Hedgehog. Your objective in Super Mario Brothers is to play as the main character, Mario

and save the princess from the Bowser and his minions. While there are villains involved and

violence too, it is held to a very mild state. The villains inMario are made comical and you

simply defeat the enemy by stepping on their head or shell if you are battling a turtle. In non-

violent games you DEFEAT your enemies as opposed to KILLING them. This is a drastic

difference. Mario doesnt get KILLED if he is unsuccessful in his mission, he simply FAINTS.

Something you dont see in non-violent games is bloodshed. Other non-violent games are sports

games, puzzle games, most racing games, and role playing games (RPG) (Literature review on

the impact of playing violent video games on aggression, 2010). These games are rated E or

T (Literature review on the impact of playing violent video games on aggression, 2010). In this


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study we will make clear that violent video games are defined by games rated M-AO and

non-violent games will be games rated E-T.

Another group that is extremely vulnerable to the effects of video game violence is the

mentally ill and unstable individuals. These angry, psychotic individuals actually were angry and

had pre-existing emotions beforehand. They were actually able to calm down after playing

violent video games, as opposed to their other peers who did not have any mental conditions that

had aggressive behavior after playing violent video games in this study (Literature review on the

impact of playing violent video games on aggression, 2010).

According to federal crime statistics, juvenile violent crime in the United States is at a

30-year low. Researchers found people serving time for violent crimes typically consume less

media before committing their crimes than the average person in the general population (Jenkins,

2010).

It's true that young offenders who have committed school shootings in America have also

been game players. But young people in general are more likely to be gamers90 percent of

boys and 40 percent of girls play. The overwhelming majority of kids who play do NOT commit

antisocial acts. According to a 2001 U.S. Surgeon General's report, the strongest risk factors for

school shootings centered on mental stability and the quality of home life, not media exposure

(Jenkins, 2010).

The Protecting our Children act by California has made it illegal to sell or rent violent

video games to minors. California law makes in an offense punishable by $1,000 each time a

violent video game is sold to a minor. California law defines banned violent video games as one

that includes, killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting and image of a human


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being. California State Senator Leland Yee, a democrat, sponsored this legislation. Yee cited a

social science study that contends show kid who play these violent video games for hundreds,

even thousands of hours are desensitized to violence. California is not alone in attempting to ban

the sale of violent video games to minors. Such bans have been enacted in eight states (Is the

California Ban on the Sale of Violent Video Games to Minors Constitutional? PROS, 2010).

Hypotheses and Research Question:

Before we began our research we developed two hypotheses and one research question

which will guide our study. They are as follows:

Hypothesis #1: Males (IV) are more likely to exert aggressive behavior (DV) after playing

violent video games than females (IV) if there is any effect at all.

Hypothesis #2: Excessive exposure to violent video games alone (IV) does not increase the

probability of college students exerting aggressive/violent behavior (DV).

Research Question: Does a persons age, gender and race (IV) have an effect on how violent

video games cause the individuals to behave (DV)?

Methodology:

After analyzing various studies done on the effects of violent video games, we were able

to compile a questionnaire that is based off of the literature as well as questions used from other


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questionnaires that dealt with this subject. The questions on the survey will help us determine

whether our two hypotheses are right and to answer our research question. We will give a pilot

study to test out the questions before we distribute the actual questionnaire.

Students attending Queens University of Charlotte will be sampled in this study. Males

and Females of all races and ethnicities will be surveyed. Our target group is the 18-25 age

group; however we will allow older students to take the questionnaire if they decide to volunteer

themselves. We are also looking to find people with all kinds of video game playing experience;

those people who pick up a video game occasionally, those who play a few times a week, and the

hardcore gamers that play all night and day. We are looking for diversity in our samples. People

who have never played video games before or hardly ever play video games are of no use in this

study as it is involved with peoples attitudes after playing violent video games. The samples in

this study will be non-probability. We will use a convenience sample to distribute the

questionnaires. In a convenience sample there is absolutely no probability involved in the

selection of the participants. A convenience sample is just what the name suggests, we will be

choosing the participants at our own convenience, and whatever students are available and

accessible to participate. We will go to the Queens University Dining Hall, to the dorms, out in

the residence quad, and various clubs and sports teams to ask a wide variety of students to

complete the questionnaire. With a convenience sample, we cannot come to a conclusion that an

entire population thinks and feels one way. The entire student population will not be represented

fairly in this study because not everyone has an equal chance of being selected to participate. We

can only come to conclusions based on the 50 questionnaires that will be filled out. Probability

samples are more time consuming and much more expensive. If we wanted to accurately


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represent the Queens University student population, we would have to use one of the many

probability samples (Systematic, Stratified, cluster, etc.). (Wimmer & Dominick, 2011)

The questionnaire was designed with the help of two different questionnaires, the Video

Game Survey (Video Game Survey, 2010) and Video games & violence survey (Video games

& Violence Survey, 2010). All of the questions in our Questionnaires use the ideas of these two

previous questionnaires and the questions were reworked to appropriately fit our questionnaire.

Our first hypothesis stated that Males were more likely to exert aggressive behavior after

playing violent video games than women were. Question #12 in the questionnaire was

specifically designed for this hypothesis. This question asks the individual whether they believe

males or females are more aggressive after playing the violent video games. We ask what the

individuals age, gender, and race/ethnicity which will help us determine whether this hypothesis

is right or wrong. We can also break down which categories answered what and make further

conclusions once all of the data is collected and analyzed.

Our second hypothesis stated that exposure to violent video games alone does not

increase the probability of college students exerting aggressive behavior. Questions #1-11 and

#13 specifically address this hypothesis. The first thing that we want to find out is how many

hours a week an individual spends playing video games (question #1) because studies have

shown in the past that if you spend a lot of time playing video games your mind can get affected

by them (Uhlman & Swanson, 2003). After we know how many hours a week one plays, we

want to know how much they feel the video games they play affect their everyday lives on a

scale of 1-5 (question #2). In question #3 we felt that is was logical to get input on what people

think about the rising popularity of the violent video game genre and whether it is a problem.


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This question can give us good information because the individual might know of others who

have been affected negatively by video games. Question #4 is the main question addressing this

hypothesis word-for-word. On a scale of 1-10 we want to find out how aggressive one thinks

they become after playing a violent game. 1-2 is same; 3-5 is slightly aggressive, 6-8

aggressive, and 9-10 extremely aggressive. Question #4 is the one that all of the other

questions will support. In question #5 depending on what the answer is it can fully support or

debunk our hypothesis. If people feel that violent video games relieve them from the stresses of

everyday life, then it supports the hypothesis, if they think it doesnt, it may or may not debunk

the hypothesis. In questions #6-9, we ask questions as to whether people think they are more

likely to accept violence (#6), if you are more likely to become aggressive after playing video

games as opposed to not playing them at all (#7), if others are more likely to commit a violent

crime (#8), and if you feel like there is a better likely-hood of yourself committing a violent

crime (#9). We want to get the opinions of the respondents in questions #6-9 on how they think

they would respond themselves and how they think they stack up with their peers in those

situations. In question #10 we ask the individual whether they think there is such a thing as

positive violence. In this case positive violence is defined as necessary violence that isnt

considered bad. If the individual answers yes to the question, then they are asked to list them.

If the individual answers yes then there could be a correlation that they are aggressive human

beings because they themselves might partake in violent acts that they feel are just. Do people

feel that society will become less aggressive if violent video games are pulled off the shelves?

(#11) Studies have shown that those who want to get rid of violent video games are less

aggressive than those who do (Sherry, 2001). Question #13 asks if while you play the game you


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get frustrated, and if so to list how you cope with that anger. This question will give us specific

insight as to what person to person goes on while engaged in the violent game.

Our research question was: Does a persons age and race have an effect on how violent

video games cause the individual to behave. People of different ethnicities and age will be

surveyed. We have demographic questions for age and race/ethnicity that will help us look at the

results one by one that will help us come to a conclusion on certain ages and racial/ethnic groups

based on our results.

Results:

The pilot study was conducted first to test out whether everything in the questionnaire

was intact. Two males and two females were surveyed. After the results from the pilot study, we

were confident that the questionnaire was ready for actual distribution.

The results for questions #1-16 will be given in the following paragraphs. The T-Test was

used for each question to compare the mean scores from each sex. 29 males and 21 females were

surveyed. Question #1 asked how many hours a day respondents played video games. For males

the average playing time was 2.9 hours per day, while for females it was 1.2 hours per day. The

lowest amount of time spent playing given by a male was one hour, for females the lowest time

was less >than one hour. The mode for males was two hours per day, for females it was one

hour. These numbers show us that the people surveyed are only casual gamers and not very

heavy gamers at all.


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Question #2 asked on a scale of 1-5 (1=very little/not at all, 5=they influence your life a

lot) how the respondents real life is influenced by violent video games. The average score for

both genders was 1. The lowest given score was 1 for both genders, the highest score was 3 for

females and 2 for males. The mode for males was 1, while for females it was also 1. Here we can

conclude that violent video games influence very little to nothing in how the respondents live

their daily lives, but rather there are other factors that influencepeoples lives.

In question #3 respondents were asked if violent video games are becoming a problem

within our society. The choices were yes or no. Of the 29 males surveyed, eight answered

yes while the remaining 21 males answered no. Of the 21 females surveyed, 14 answered

yes, while the remaining seven females answered no. With these results, we can conclude

that males are more likely to not view violent video games as an increasing problem because as

we can see from the results of question #2 they dont influence their real lives that much and that

they enjoy playing these violent video games. The females were the exact opposite. 2/3 of the

females answered that violent video games are a problem. This could be because in general

women are not really that engaged in playing violent video games and watching violent media

which are more marketed towards males, and thus arent avid supporters of violence (Dewar,

2009).

In question #4 respondents were asked how they feel when they finish playing on a scale

of 1-10 (0-1 same, 2-4 slightly aggressive, 5-7 aggressive, and 8-10 extremely

aggressive). The average number for males was 2.9, for females it was 3.8. The lowest score

given by males was 0 while for females it was 1. The highest score given by males was 5, while

for females it was 5 as well. The mode was for males 2 and for females it was 3. Here it can be

concluded that women are slightly more likely to become aggressive just by playing a violent


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video game as opposed to males who are not affected that much, or if they are not affected at all,

other factors make them aggressive.

In question #5 respondents were asked to choose which answer choice (strongly disagree,

disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree) they felt was the best answer to if violent video

games are a good way to release from the stress and pressure we face in everyday life. Of the

males, 15 agree, 6 were neutral, 5 disagree, 2 strongly agree, and 1 strongly disagrees. Of the

females, 8 disagree, 5 agree, 5 neutral, 2 strongly disagree, and 1 strongly agrees. These results

are interesting. Here the majority of males either agree or strongly agree that violent video games

are a good stress reliever, this shows that among the males surveyed here violent video games

are a positive thing and not negative at all. For the females the slight majority disagrees

completely that violent video games are a good stress reliever and this can be linked to question

#3 in which 2/3 females surveyed answered that violent video games are becoming a problem in

our society.

Question #6 asked respondents if they were more likely to be accepting of violence in

real life after playing violent video games. The same answer choices were given in this question

as in question #5. Of the males, 17 disagree, 9 agree, and 3 strongly disagree. Of the females, 9

agree, 7 disagree, 4 strongly agree, and 1 is neutral. In the males only about a quarter of them

said that they will be more accepting of violence, this goes back to the literature that stated your

upbringing and whether you have been exposed to real life violence that has a greater affect on

increased aggression as opposed to violent video games (Sherry, 2001). For the females, slightly

more than half of them answered that they wouldnt become more likely to accept violence after

playing violent video games. While the margin between those who would become more


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accepting of violence compared to those who dont is smallerthan the men, the same theory

from the literature can be applied for the females as well.

In question #7 respondents were asked whether they were more likely to become

aggressive after playing violent video games as opposed to if they did not play them at all. The

same answer choices were given here as in questions #5 and #6. Of the males: 16 disagree, 7

strongly disagree, 3 neutral, and 3 agree. Of the females: 11 disagree, 6 neutral, 3 agree, and 1

strongly disagrees. These results here show us again that for both genders there are other factors

besides violent video games that cause people to become aggressive.

Question # 8 asks if respondents think others are more likely to commit a violent act after

playing violent video games. The same answer choices were given as questions 5-7. Of the

males: 17 disagree, 7 strongly disagree, 4 neutral, and 1 agree. Of the females, 10 disagree, 5

neutral, 3 strongly disagree, and 3 agree. Here we see that for the most part the responses are the

same as in question #7. This could mean that the respondents were brought up or currently live

and interact with people who dont seem to be affected negatively by violent video games, or

they think society as a whole is not negatively affected by violent video games, that something

else here is the real culprit instead.

Question nine asked respondents whether or not they felt more likely to commit a violent

act after playing violent video games. To determine results we used a Likert scales ranging from

strongly disagree to strongly agree. Those who felt they were more likely to commit a crime we

extremely low. 2% of females said they were more likely to commit a crime after playing a

violent video game. 4% of males stated they were more likely to commit a crime after playing.


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Question 10 asked respondents if they believed there was a such thing as positive

violence meaning violence that they think might be necessary. Only two males said they believe

in positive violence, the rest said no. All 21 females said there was no such thing as positive

violence. Those two males that answered yes to positive violence said they partake in positive

violence currently. On said they like to beat the explicative out of a ball or similar object the

other said they liked shooting paintballsat people or objects. The other 48 respondents said

they do not engage in positive violence.

Question eleven polled respondents on whether or not they believed removing violent

video games from society will make people less aggressive. Again results were low. 10% of

females believed it would have an effect. Only 4% of men polled believed removing such games

would make society less aggressive.

Question 12 wanted to find which sex respondents felt would be more likely to be

aggressive after playing a violent video game All 50 respondents answered that males were more

likely to become aggressive.

Question 13, was an open ended question asking respondents if they ever get angry or

frustrated when playing a video game. If respondents answered yes, they then were to explain

what they did about their behavior. Few respondents felt playing caused them to feel more

aggressive. One did answer that after playing in order to control the feelings of aggressive

behavior he quit, and didnt play for a couple days.

Questions 14, 15, 16 all focused on the demographics of our respondents. Respondents

were asked their age, gender, and ethnicity. The average age of respondents was 20.6 years of

age. Of the respondents 29 were males, and 21 were female. Reasoning for asking


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demographics, in the support of our research question. The question was does a persons

gender have an effect on how violent video games cause the individuals to behave?

Conclusion:

There are several conclusions that are drawn up from this study. From the results we cannot

conclude that gender has an effect on how violent video games cause the individual to behave.

The reason is that in the questions pertaining to how aggressive respondents become after

playing violent video games, only a very low amount said they become aggressive and the results

are very close for both genders to call, 11% for females, and 5% for males that become

aggressive after playing violent video games.

Both Hypotheses were supported. For our first hypothesis that dealt with males were

more likely to become aggressive after playing violent video games, all 50 respondents answered

that they believed that males were more likely to become aggressive after playing violent video

games. Most of the results yielded that males were the more aggressive gender. For our second

hypothesis that dealt with excessive exposure to violent video games alone, does not increase the

probability of college students exerting aggressive/violent behavior is indeed supported as the

results proved what most of the literature stated that demographics and where the person lives

and was brought up have a bigger impact on how aggressive the individual becomes. Our results

negate what the cultivation theory states, yes real violence on TV has caused some increases in

aggression, however the aspect of the theory that deals with video game violence and how it

affects the mind to become more aggressive is completely negated by our results from the study.


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Limitations and Recommendations:

While we did have some good findings, this study did have its limitations as most

studies usually do. In this study we used a convenience, face-to-face sample. This is a non-

probability method. The entire Queens population did not have an equal chance of being selected

to take part in this study. 50 respondents were just found at our convenience in the dorms,

Trexler, etc. to complete the questionnaire. Another limitation was the age of the respondents.

When we began the study, we wanted to have people in the 18-35 age group to take part, because

this is the primary gaming group. We were only able to sample people in the 18-23 year old age

group. At Queens it is difficult to find students over the ages of 22-23 as typically those are the

ages in which undergraduates graduate from school. There are undergraduates and graduate

students at Queens that are over the age of 23, however they are very few compared to under 23

years of age and are less accessible which makes it more difficult to ask them to take part in the

study. While we were able to gather good data for this age group, we cannot speak for those in

the 24-35 year old age group. Lastly, everyone is different. Violence and aggression are very

difficult to define. What may be considered an aggressive action for one person, will not be

considered so for another. Also, some individuals may have a physical reaction with aggressive

feelings and others may not, so most often more difficulties are presented in that video games

may have an effect without a physical representation of it (Literature review on the impact of

playing violent video games on aggression, 2010).

After completing this study and going through the various limitations that we

encountered, we have some recommendations to future researchers that want to embark on this


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study. One way to solve the human variance problem is to attain a large test group that could be

representative of everyone. Use probability sampling, yes it is more expensive and time

consuming, however, you will guarantee that everyone in the population that you are surveying

has an equal shot at participating and you will get good, quality answers from a diverse group of

people. Lastly, make sure you gather information from different varieties of races, ages, and

gender. Make sure the population you are surveying is diverse and not monotonous to achieve

maximum testing results.


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Informed Consent Form

You are invited to participate in a study for a Communication Research course conducted by

Stefan Liotchev and Josh Kane, students at Queens University of Charlotte. Through this study

we hope to learn whether exposure to violent video games has or does not have a direct effect on

aggressive/violent behavior. You have been selected as a possible participant in this study in a

non-probability convenience method.

In this questionnaire you will be asked to answer some open ended questions, multiple choice

questions, as well as questions measured on a scale.

Any information that is obtained in connection with this study and that can be identified to you

will be kept confidential.

You are free to drop out of this study at your own discretion. You will not be penalized for doing

so.

There will be no type of compensation for participating in this study.

If you have any questions while completing this questionnaire, please feel free to ask us. If you

have any additional questions after completing the questionnaire, please feel free to contact

Stefan Liotchev [email protected] or Josh Kane at

[email protected].

YOU ARE MAKING A DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO PARTICIPATE. YOUR

SIGNATURE INDICATES THAT YOU HAVE DECIDED TO PARTICIPATE, HAVING

READ THE INFORMATION ABOVE.

Name of Participant

Date Signature

Signature of Investigator
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Aggressive behavior definition: Behavior that is unreasonable: yelling at someone, physicallyharming yourself or others, violent behavior that will get you arrested.

Violent Video Games in this survey are considered to be rated M (Mature) or AO (Adult sOnly).

1.) How many hours on average a day do you spend playing video games? ____________

2.) On a Scale of 1-5 (5 being the most) How much do you feel video games influence your real life, if

at all?

1 2 3 4 5

3.) Do you think the increasing popularity in violence-related video games is becoming a problem within

society?

Yes No

4.) How do you usually feel when you finish playing? (Circle Only One Number)

Same Slightly Aggressive Aggressive Extremely Aggressive

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

5.)Playing violent video games is a good way to release from the stress and pressure we face in our

everyday life.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

6.) It is more likely of you to accept violence in reality after playing violent video games


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peaceful.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

12. Who is more likely to be aggressive after playing a violent video game?

Males Females

13. Do you ever get angry or frustrated when playing a video game? If so, what do you do about it?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_______

14. How old are you? _____________

15. Gender? Male Female

16. Ethnicity: White non-Hispanic Hispanic Asian African American Latino

Indian Other:


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