Back in my youth, all my peers were obsessed with the most recent violent video games, whether it be Call of Duty or whatever was the most popular at the time. Yet, when I wanted to join my parents always refused to let me play, claiming “violent video games make violent people.” Looking back now, I can’t help but wonder: how true was this claim?
To explore the topic of violence rooted from violent video game exposure, it is important to define moral disengagement. Moral disengagement is when individuals distance themselves from ethical behavior and then convince themselves that their current behavior is the ethical norm. Most people who participate in unethical behavior first go through this process of moral disengagement in order to justify their wrongdoings. According to Dr. Bandura from Stanford, moral disengagement encourages individuals to be more aggressive by reducing their role in the negative outcome and by reducing their recognition of victims. This explanation can explain why violent video games are believed to cause violence. A lack of consequences and victims from partaking in violent actions may encourage moral disengagement.
Violent Video Game Exposure is associated with Moral Disengagement
Image Source: Carles Navarro Parcerisas
A study published by Wiley’s Aggressive Behaviors examines the correlation between moral disengagement, anger, hostility, and disinhibition with violent video game exposure. In this study 547 undergraduates students from 5 different Chinese universities filled questionnaires to create a gauge for their emotional state. This study showed a positive association between violent video game exposure and moral disengagement. In addition, high levels of exposure to violence in video games were associated with increased anger and hostility in college students, resulting in enhanced aggression.
One expected result of the study was a correlation between violent video game use and disinhibition. Disinhibition causes a person to disregard societal norms due to some sort of consumption, whether it be drugs, alcohol, or, in this hypothesized case, video games. Violent video games allow the students to disengage with reality. This gives them the opportunity to disassociate from realities’ social conventions, allowing them to live a “hedonistic lifestyle.” However, disinhibition itself was not associated with violent video game exposure. This unexpected outcome is believed to be rooted in cultural taboos. In China, certain subjects (such as sex and drug use) are either forbidden or not discussed. Because of this, it’s possible that many students ended up skewing the data by not being entirely truthful to researchers and skewing the data.
Regardless of disinhibition, violent video game exposure was associated with moral disengagement and aggressive traits – to my young self’s dismay, maybe my parents had a point.
Featured Image: © ohishiftl/ Adobe Stock
