Date Approved
6-12-2015
Embargo Period
3-3-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A. Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Department
Psychology
College
College of Science & Mathematics
Advisor
Gary, Alison
Subject(s)
Video games; Sexual animosity
Disciplines
Psychiatric and Mental Health
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to investigate the link between short-term violent video game play and engagement in sexually aggressive behaviors. In this study, participants were randomly assigned to play 15 minutes of Grand Theft Auto (experimental group) or Tetris Evolution (control group) on an Xbox. After game play, participants engaged in a joke telling paradigm, in which participants were given 10 sexually aggressive jokes, and were instructed to tell between 0-10 of the jokes to a female confederate. The number of jokes told is related to sexually aggressive behaviors outside of the laboratory. The researchers of this study did find a significant interaction between hostile masculinity and video game condition on the number of jokes told, which asserts that if men have high levels of hostile masculinity traits and play violent video games, they may be more at risk for sexually aggressive behaviors.
Recommended Citation
Ealer, Elizabeth, "Effects of violent video games on sexual aggression in males" (2015). Theses and Dissertations. 383.
https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/383
