CYBERPSYCHOLOGY & BEHAVIOR
Volume 10, Number 3, 2007
© Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
DOI: 10.1089/cpb.2006.9942
Effects of Playing Violent Videogames on Chinese
Adolescents’ Pro-Violence Attitudes, Attitudes
Toward Others, and Aggressive Behavior
RAN WEI, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
This study examines the effects of exposure to online videogame violence on Chinese adolescents’ attitudes toward violence, empathy, and aggressive behavior. Results of bivariate
analyses show that playing violent videogames on the Internet was associated with greater
tolerance of violence, a lower emphatic attitude, and more aggressive behavior. Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed sustained relationships between exposure and pro-violent attitudes and empathy when exposure was examined simultaneously with gender, computer use, and Internet use. However, the linkage between exposure and aggression became
non-significant, suggesting that the effects of playing violent videogames were greater for attitudinal outcomes than on overt behavior. Gender differences in playing videogames and in
effects were also found.
INTRODUCTION
T
HE GROWTH of the population using the Internet
in China is phenomenal. The number of Internet users soared to 100 million in June 2005, from
10 million in 2000.1 Nevertheless, China’s Internet
diffusion rate is among the lowest in the world, at
10%. Filling the gap between a growing demand for
access to the Internet and a low adoption rate are
the mushrooming Internet cafés, which provide affordable high-speed public access (it costs 2–4 yuan,
approximately 25–50 cents, for an hour’s worth of
access). The number of Internet cafés reached
120,000 in 2005.2 They are highly popular among
students, businesspeople on the go, and migration
workers. A survey of 27,000 Chinese users in July
2005 showed that they used the Internet primarily
for information (38%), entertainment (38%), re-
search (10%), other uses (8%), and chatting in various forums (6%).3 In using the Internet for entertainment, Chinese Internet users are attracted to
videogames, as similar to their counterparts in other
countries.4–6 Estimates put the number of online
videogame players in China at 13 million, and they
spent approximately US$240 million in 2004.7
Content analyses show that violence in various
forms (such as death and destruction) characterizes
the most popular videogames, online or offline.8,9
For example, analysis of 55 E-rated (i.e., appropriate for “everyone”) videogames in the United States
found that 64% of them contained intentional violence, defined as acts that caused physical injury or
death to a character.10 Some of these online
videogames were imported to China from Japan,
South Korea, and the United States.
Though the existing research on the effects of
School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina.
371
372
playing violent videogames is short of a consensus,
a growing number of studies has found negative effects on children and adolescents.11–14 To date, no
research has systematically assessed the harm of exposure to violence in videogames in China. This
study fills the gap. As the first empirical study on
effects of violent videogames on China’s 200 million
adolescents, it seeks to address two concerns: (1)
What are the attitudinal and behavioral effects of
playing violent videogames on Chinese adolescent
Internet users? (2) Is there a gender difference in
playing videogames on the Internet in terms of playing time and exposure to videogame violence? If
there is, are the effects stronger on males than on
females?
Literature review and hypotheses
Drawn from the literature on effects of mediated
violence, past research on videogame violence seeks
to establish linkages, correlational or causal, between exposure and social cognitive effects, affective effects, violent behavior, and pro-social behavior. As Sherry’s5 meta-analysis of 25 studies shows,
exposure to videogame violence was related to an
increase in aggressive thoughts, feelings of anger or
hostility, and heightened aggression, but a decrease
in pro-social behavior.
Attitudes toward violence. Rushbrook15 investigated the linkage between playing videogames and
attitudes toward war among boys in grades 5–11.
He found that, the more the students played, the
more favorable they felt toward war. Krahe and
Moller4 found a significant relationship between attraction to violent games and the acceptance of
norms condoning aggression among 231 German
adolescents. As violent videogames typically normalize, even glamorize, violence,16 recent studies
focused on the anesthetizing effect of repeated exposure to videogame violence. “Anesthetizing effect” refers to exposure to mediated violence that
desensitizes children to violence, resulting in
greater tolerance for violence.17–20 Using the Attitudes Towards Violence Scale as the dependent
variable, a study by Flowers et al.21 reported that
exposure to videogame violence was a significant
predictor of pro-violence attitudes. The desensitizing effect of videogame violence on children was
confirmed in other studies on elementary school
students in the United States.16
Similar results were reported in experimental
studies examining the attitudinal effects of exposure
to violence in videogames.11,23 To assess the effect
WEI
of exposure to videogame violence on attitudes of
male students prior to and after play, Nelson and
Carlson24 used various instruments to collect data
among 24 boys ages 9–15. Results showed that, the
longer the play, the higher the level of discomfort
and the lower the positive moods. The Deselms and
Altman23 experiment also found that exposure to violence in videogames reduced sensitivity to aggressive acts among male undergraduates. Thus, we
hypothesize:
H1: Chinese adolescents who have had a higher level of
exposure to violence in videogames will be more pro-violence.
Attitudes toward others. Previous research also examined the impact of exposure to videogame violence on children and adolescents’ social cognitive
abilities, with a focus on how playing violent
videogames affects their ability to relate to others.
Evidence suggests that hostile feelings and anxiety
increased in participants who played videogames of
aggression.25,26 Gentile et al.27 found that exposure
to videogame violence was related to being hostile
to others and getting into arguments with teachers
among 607 students in grades 8 and 9. Recent
studies explored the effect of playing violent
videogames on empathy—one’s ability to understand the inner experience of others.28,29 Sakamoto30
surveyed 307 elementary school students in Japan
and found that the longer boys spent playing
videogames, the less empathic they were. Flowers
et al.,21 asked children to respond to 15 items dealing with attitudes to others. Results showed that,
the more children played violent videogames, the
lower were their empathy scores.
In an experimental study, Anderson and Ford25
placed subjects into three conditions: a mildly aggressive game, a highly aggressive one, and no
game. After playing for 20 min, each participant
completed a checklist to measure anxiety, hostility, and depression. Their results showed a relationship between playing the highly aggressive
videogames and anxiety. Moreover, hostility increased in both game conditions relative to the control group. Similarly, Ballard and Wiest31 assigned
subjects to varying levels of videogame violence
condition and measured their hostility. Results
were consistent. The above review leads to the following hypothesis:
H2: Chinese adolescents who have had a higher level of
exposure to videogame violence will be less concerned
about others.
EFFECTS OF PLAYING VIOLENT VIDEOGAMES
Behavioral effects of playing violent videogames.
Concerning the impact of exposure to mediated violence on children along with adolescents’ propensity for aggressive behaviors or the delinquency of
aggression, numerous studies established the linkage between violent videogame exposure and aggressive behavior.14,27,32 Using a sample of students
in grades 10 and 11, Dominick13 explored the relationships between time spent playing videogames
and level of aggression. Findings showed that arcade videogame playing was positively correlated
with hypothetical aggression, physical aggression
and aggressive delinquency. Others 33,34 found consistently that videogame playing time was a positive correlate of self-reported aggression and teachers’ ratings of aggression. Wiegman and van Schie36
reported that children who preferred violent
videogames were rated by their peers as more aggressive. Using a diary-keeping method to collect
data on time spent playing videogames among
10–14-year-olds, van Schie and Wiegman35 found a
negative relationship between time spent playing
videogames and pro-social behavior. Chambers and
Ascione37 found that children donated much less
money to a charitable cause after playing a violent
videogame.
Regarding aggressive behavior, Colwell and
Payne38 examined time spent playing computer
games and aggression among 204 British adolescents. Results showed a linkage between game
play and aggression scores. This study was replicated in Japan among 305 12–13-year-old students39 with consistent results. Anderson and
Dill11 studied American college students; they
found that exposure to videogame violence was
strongly correlated with aggressive delinquent behavior. The Gentile et al. study27 revealed that
prolonged exposure to violent videogames was related to physical fights among 607 students in
grades 8 and 9. Slater et al.40 surveyed 6th and 7th
graders for 2 years to examine longitudinal effects
of playing violent videogames on visiting violence-oriented Web sites. Results showed that students tended to be more aggressive over time;
their increased use of violent media over time predicted aggressiveness.
Experimental evidence also shows that playing
videogames of violence produced aggressive behavior.41–43 Graybill et al.44 assigned subjects to
play either a violent or nonviolent videogame, and
noted their references to violent words or actions.
Results supported a relationship between playing
videogames and children’s aggression fantasies.
Schutte et al.45 found that children who played a vi-
373
olent videogame acted more aggressively toward a
bobo doll than those who played a nonviolent game.
Recently, Uhlmann and Swanson48 reported that
playing violent videogames led to an automatic aggressive self-concept—the extent to which one
spontaneously associates the self with aggressive
traits and actions.46,47 Thus, we hypothesize the following:
H3: Chinese adolescents who have had a higher level of
exposure to videogame violence will exhibit a higher level
of aggressive behavior.
Gender differences in playing videogames and effects
of exposure to videogame violence. Previous research
suggests that demographic and personality trait
variables moderate the effects of exposure to
videogame violence.5,12,49 Gender is such a variable. Numerous studies reported that boys spent
more time playing videogames than girls.30,35,38
Moreover, Funk et al.50 asked students in grades
4–8 which types of videogames they preferred. Results showed that boys preferred realistic human
violence and sports games; girls leaned toward
general entertainment and less realistic fantasy
games. The Sherry et al.6 study reported that half
of the favorite videogames for boys were violent.
Lucas and Sherry49 explored college students’ preference for different genres of videogames. Results
showed that women preferred traditional games
over physical enactment games. In contrast, male
players liked physical enactment games over traditional games. Accordingly, the fourth hypothesis is formulated:
H4: Chinese male adolescents will spend more time playing videogames online and have a higher level of exposure to videogame violence than will female adolescents.
More important, differences were found between
males and females in effects of exposure to violent
videogames. Boys who played videogames at home
had a lower level of empathy.30 Survey studies11,13,39 found that boys who played more violent
videogames were more aggressive. Experimental
studies23,31,44,46,47 reported such differences as well.
Cooper and Mackie41 found that girls who played
an aggressive videogame were more likely to use
aggressive toys than girls who played a non-aggressive game. The Bartholow and Anderson47 experiment examining game and sex interaction
showed that playing violent videogames resulted in
more aggression for men. Based on these findings,
the final hypothesis is proposed:
374
WEI
H5: The attitudinal and behavioral effects of playing
videogames will be greater on Chinese male adolescents
than female adolescents.
METHODS
To test the hypotheses, a survey of adolescent
videogame players was conducted at an Internet
café in a city of 1 million residents in central China
using a purposive sample. Internet cafés were chosen as the site of fieldwork because of low penetration rates of console games and the Internet at home.
Potential respondents were approached by trained
college students to assure them that participation
was voluntary and anonymous, and that data collected would be kept confidential. Only those who
agreed to participate and had played games online
at least once filled out the self-administered questionnaire. The survey was conducted during 2
weeks in July and August 2005. A total of 312 respondents completed the survey successfully.
Of the sample, nearly two-thirds (65.1%) were
males and about one-third (34.9%) were females.
The average age was 16.91 years (SD 2.43), with
the youngest being 11 years old and the oldest being 22. Of the sample, 15.5% were elementary or
middle schoolers, 49.9% were high schoolers, 7.2%
were in vocational colleges, and 27.5% were college
students. In terms of household monthly income,
15.9% reported an income below 1,000 yuan, 36.9%
had an income of 1,000–2,000 yuan, 22.9% had an
income of 3,000–9,000 yuan, and only 2.3% had an
income above 10,000 yuan.
Measures and scales
Playing videogames online. Respondents were first
asked if they had a personal computer (PC) (1 yes;
2 no). Those having a PC reported the hours per
day using it. Similarly, they were asked if they had
Internet access at home (1 yes; 2 no). Those having a home connection reported the hours per day going online (excluding playing videogames). Then,
they were requested to indicate how long (in months)
they had played videogames on the Internet, followed
by questions on frequency of playing per week. The
response categories were (1) once, (2) twice, (3) three
to five times, (4) daily, and (5) many times per day.
They were requested to estimate the time and money
spent playing videogames each time. The response
categories for time were (1) less than 30 min, (2) 30–60
min, (3) 1–2 h, (4) 3–4 h, (5) 5–6 h, and (6) more than
6 h. The response categories for money spent were (1)
less than 5 yuan, (2) 6–10 yuan, (3) 11–20 yuan, (4)
21–30 yuan, and (5) more than 30 yuan.
Exposure to videogame violence. Respondents were
given a list of 14 most popular games,a and were
asked if they had played them (1 yes, 2 no). The
level of violence in each game was predetermined
based on content analyses of the game descriptions
and expert rating. The rating scale was a three-point
scale: “0” (free from violence; singing and dancing
contest games such as Poptang), “1” (containing
some violence such as adventure themed games like
A Chinese Odyssey) to “2” (violent such as war and
combat games like Warcraft—a game features fighting terrorists). An index of exposure to videogame
violence was constructed after first multiplying the
exposure for each game by the violence rating for
that game and then summing the scores for all the
games (M 8.89, SD 5.08, a 0.79). The index
ranged from “0” (playing games of no violence) to
“18” (playing all the games on the list that contained
varying level of violence).
Attitudes toward violence. The measure of attitudes to violence relied on a scale developed by Fulk
et al.22 The scale has 16 items that intend to gauge
respondents’ attitudes toward culture of violence
(e.g., “It’s a good idea to hang out with people in
gangs,” “People with guns or knives are cool,” and
“People who use violence get respect”) and reactive
violence (e.g., “If person hits you, you should hit
back,” “Parents should tell their kids to fight if they
have to,” and “It’s OK to do whatever it takes to
protect myself”). Respondents were asked to indicate their agreement on four response options: (1)
no, (2) maybe, (3) probably, and (4) yes. A composite measure was created by adding the 16 items and
dividing by 16 (M 2.06, SD 0.52, a 0.79).
Attitudes toward others. The empathic concern subscale developed by Davis51 was used to measure respondents’ tendency to feel sympathetically and compassionately for unfortunate others. Respondents
were asked to indicate their agreement with seven
statements: (1) “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me,” (2) “Sometimes I don’t feel very sorry for other people when
they are having problems,” (3) “When I see someone
being taken advantage of, I feel kind of protective toward them,” (4) “Other people’s misfortunes do not
usually disturb me a great deal,” (5) “When I see
aThe list was based on ranking in the Chinese press and interviews with staff at Internet cafés. All of them were available
at the time of the survey. The games are A Chinese Odyssey (2),
Audition Town, O2jam, World of Warcraft, Woool, Adventurous Island, Yulhyul Gangho, MU, Poptang, Need for Speed, Counter Strike,
Star Craft, Red Alert, and Samurai.
375
EFFECTS OF PLAYING VIOLENT VIDEOGAMES
someone being treated unfairly, I sometimes don’t
feel very much pity for them, (6) “I am often quite
touched by things that I see happen,” and (7) “I would
describe myself as a pretty soft-hearted person.” The
five-point scale ranged from “0” (does not describe
me well) to “4” (describes me very well). The seven
items were summed as an index of empathy (M 2.50, SD 0.63, a 0.63), ranging from 0 to 28.
Aggressive behavior. The aggression scale has three
dimensions: hypothetical aggression, manifest physical aggression, and aggressive delinquency.18,38
Concerning hypothetic aggression, respondents were
given four hypothetical situations such as “Somebody picks a fight with you on the way home from
school; Someone cuts in front of you in a long line.”
They were asked to respond to one of the following
three choices: (1) “fight” or “shove them out,” (2)
“back out of it” or “yell at them,” and (3) “just let it
go” or “try to discuss the problem.” Regarding manifest physical aggression, respondents were presented with six statements such as “Whoever insults
me or my family is asking for a fight,” “When I was
younger, I used to act like a bully sometimes,” and
“I don’t feel it is wrong for me to hit another kid who
deserves it.” The response categories were on threepoint scale: (1) a lot like me, (2) a little like me, and
(3) not like me. Regarding aggressive behavioral
delinquency, respondents were asked to respond to
three items that gauged the frequency of engaging in
three aggressive activities, including fighting with
several people, hurting someone for the sake of revenge, and fighting with another student. The scale
ranged from “1” (more than 5 times) to “5” (never).
The alpha of manifest physical aggression, hypothetical aggression, and delinquency behavior was,
respectively, 0.66, 0.57, and 0.79. The correlations
among the three indices were moderately high,
ranging from 3.8 to 4.1. An overall index of aggressive behavior was created by summing the individual items (M 20.00, SD 5.61, a 0.60). The
new scale ranged from 12 (low in aggression) to 37
(high in aggression). Control variables were demographics such as age, gender, school year, and
household monthly income.
RESULTS
Among the 312 respondents, 43.1% had one PC
at home, while the majority (56.9%) did not own
any. The average time spent using home computers
was 4.06 h (SD 3.33) per day. Slightly more than
one third (35.4%) had an Internet connection at
home; the rest (64.6%) did not. The time spent go-
ing online (not counting playing games) was 2.68 h
per day (SD 3.12). The median category of length
of playing videogames online among the 312 respondents was 1–2 years. They played typically one
to two times per week, with playing time per sitting averaging 3–4 h. The median category of money
spent each time was 6–10 yuan. The games that they
played the most were Audition Town, followed by
CS and Read Alert. The least-played game was Yulhyul Gangho (a kungfu game).
Bivariate and multivariate analyses
H1 predicted that Chinese adolescents with a
higher level of exposure to violence in videogames
would be more pro-violence; this hypothesis was
supported. The result of Pearson’s correlation test
shows that exposure to videogame violence was significantly related to attitudes to violence (r 0.18;
p 0.01). H2 predicted that Chinese adolescents
with a higher level of exposure to videogames online with violence would be less concerned about
others; this hypothesis was supported as well. Playing violent videogame was significantly but negatively linked to empathy (r 0.30, p 0.001). H3
predicted that Chinese adolescents who had a
higher level of exposure to violence contained in online videogames would behave more aggressively;
this was supported. The correlation between exposure to videogame violence and aggression was significant (r 0.32, p 0.01).
Hierarchical regression analyses were run next to
examine if the significant bivariate linkages between
exposure to violence in online videogames and the
three outcome measures would hold when other
variables were taken into account. Three separate
hierarchical regression analyses were performed
treating attitudes toward violence, empathy, and
aggression as the criterion variable respectively.
Table 1 summarizes the results of the analyses in
which gender was entered first into the equation,
followed by computer use and time spent using the
Internet. The final block included the exposure to
videogame violence.
As Table 1 shows (column 1), computer use had
a significant relationship with attitudes toward violence. The more time respondents spent using
computers, the more pro-violence they were. Results also show that exposure to violence in online
videogames was related significantly to attitudes to
violence. Respondents who used the home computer more and played more violent online
videogames tended to tolerate violence more. The
variance explained by the two predictors was 7.6%
(adjusted R2). The unique contribution of exposure
376
WEI
TABLE 1. SUMMARY OF HIERARCHICAL REGRESSION ANALYSES
FOR VARIABLES PREDICTING ATTITUDINAL AND BEHAVIORAL
EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE TO VIDEOGAME VIOLENCE
Steps/variables
Block 1: Control variables
Gender
R2 (%)
Block 2: Computer and internet use
Computer use
Time spent online
Incremental R2 (%)
Block 3: Violence exposure
Exposure to videogame violence
Incremental R2 (%)
Final R2 (%)
Attitudes
violence
Empathy
Aggression
0.01
0.0%
0.24**
1.11%
0.31***
12.4%
0.24**
0.02
7.0%
0.20**
0.13
2.1%
0.18**
0.17**
9.8%
0.14*
1.7%
8.8%
0.17*
1.5%
14.7%
0.10
0.0%
22.2%
Beta weights from final regression equation with all blocks of variables in the
model. Gender was coded as a dummy variable (1 male, 0 female)
*p 0.05.
**p 0.01.
***p 0.001.
to videogame violence was 1.7%. These multivariate results provided more evidence for the linkage
between exposure to videogame violence and the
tolerance of violence among Chinese adolescent Internet users.
Regarding attitudes toward others (column 2 in
Table 1), the regression analysis shows that gender
was a significant correlate of empathy. Males exhibited a significantly lower level of empathic attitudes toward others than did females. Computer
use and exposure to videogame violence were also
significant predictors of empathy. Respondents
who spent more time using computers tended to
have higher empathy scores, but those that had a
higher level of exposure to violent videogame were
less empathetic. The variance explained by the three
predictors was 13.3% (adjusted R2). Exposure to
videogame violence contributed 1.5% to the variance explained. These results analysis provided additional evidence to support the unequivocal relationship between exposure to videogame violence
and the Chinese teens’ empathy.
With regard to aggression (column 3 in Table 1),
the hierarchical regression results show that gender,
computer use, and Internet use were significant predictors of aggressive behavior. Males who spent
more time using computers and surfing the Internet had a tendency for behaving aggressively. However, exposure to violent videogames on the Internet was not a significant predictor of aggression.
Together, the variance explained by the three predictors was 21.3% (adjusted R2). Consistent with
past studies,52 this particular result reveals that the
relationship between exposure to videogame violence and aggression was not sustained when influences of other predictors were taken into account.
An explanation may be that effects of exposure to
violent videogames were direct and strong on attitudes, but indirect and weak on behavior in multivariate analyses.5
T-tests
H4 predicted that male adolescents would spend
more time playing videogames online and have a
higher level of exposure to videogame violence than
would female adolescents. Means and standard deviations were computed by gender for time playing
videogames on the Internet and exposure to violence contained in online games. A series of t-test
was run to test this hypothesis. Results in Table 2
show that males consistently reported a longer history of playing videogames on the Internet and a
higher frequency of playing. Moreover, males
played longer for each session than females. The
greatest discrepancy between male and female Internet users was for exposure to videogame violence. The mean score for males was 11.36, but the
mean score for females was only 4.30. These results
supported H4.
377
EFFECTS OF PLAYING VIOLENT VIDEOGAMES
TABLE 2.
GENDER DIFFERENCES
IN
Playing videogames
History of playing
Frequency of playing
Playing time each sitting
Playing violent video games
PLAYING VIDEO GAMES
AND
EXPOSURE
TO
Male (n 196)
Female (n 106)
3.85
2.97
3.89
11.36
2.57
2.49
3.17
4.30
VIDEO GAME VIOLENCE
t-test
t
t
t
t
6.37, p 0.0010
3.58, p 0.0010
5.42, p 0.0010
16.48, p 0.001
Categories of history of playing video games are: (1) less than 6 months; (2) 6 months to 1 year; (3)
1–2 years; (4) 3–4 years; (4) 5–6 years; (5) more than 6 years.
Categories of frequency of playing per week are: (1) less than once; (2) once a week; (3) twice a week;
(4) 3–4 times a week; (5) daily.
Categories of playing time each sitting are: (1) less than 1 h; (2) 1–2 h; (3) 3–4 h; (4) 5–6 h; (5) more
than 6 h.
The index of playing violent video games ranges from 0 (meaning playing no violent games) to 18
(meaning playing all the popular violent video games).
H5 predicted that the attitudinal and behavioral
effects of playing videogames would be greater on
Chinese male adolescents than on females. Results
of correlation test in the male sample show that exposure to videogame violence was significantly correlated with attitudes to violence (r 0.20; p 0.05), empathy (r 0.18; p 0.01), and aggression
(r 0.15; p 0.05). However, no relationship in the
female sample was significant. These results indicate that the playing violent videogames online was
linked to pro-violence attitudes, less empathy, and
more aggressive behavior among male adolescents
in China. H5 was supported.
DISCUSSION
Similar to findings reported in Britain, Japan, Korea, and the United States, the popularity of playing videogames among adolescents in China was
TABLE 3. COMPARING THE DIFFERENCES IN VIDEOGAME PLAYING HABITS BETWEEN
CHINESE ADOLESCENTS AND THEIR COUNTERPARTS IN SELECTED COUNTRIES
Countries
Gamer
population
Play time
Preferred platforms
U.S.53
92% among those
age 8–18.
30 min per day
Console games
dominate.
Britain54
59% among those
age 6–24.
21.6 min per day
Japan55
84.7% among those
age 7–12.
29 min per day
Korea56
94.8% among those
age 9–19.
30 min to 2 h
Console games and
PC games
dominate
Arcade and home
video games
dominate.
Online games
dominate.
China (based
on this
study)
78.1% of online
game players
age 16–22.57
3–4 h per sitting
for 1–2 times
per week
Online games
dominate.
Top three game genre
(1) Action-combat
(2) Sports
(3) Adventure
(1) Simulation
(2) Strategy-role play
(3) Online board games
(1) Fantasy
(2) Character games
(3) Series games
(1) Online board games
(2) War simulation
(3) Role play
(1) Leisure games
(singing and
dancing)
(2) War simulation
(3) Combat
The United States is the largest video game market in the world, followed by Japan and Britain, which
is the largest market in Europe.
378
confirmed. The history of playing videogames on
the Internet in China, however, was relatively short,
less than 2 years for the majority of the 312 surveyed
adolescent Internet users. They typically played
about two times in a week; the play time averaged
3–4 h. Table 3 compares the differences in
videogame playing habits between Chinese adolescents and their counterparts in various countries.
On the other hand, negative effects of exposure
to violence in online videogames were detected.
Playing violent videogames was found to be significantly related to greater tolerance of violence, lower
emphatic attitude toward others, and a higher level
of aggression. The strengths of the relationship are
comparable to those studies in Britain38 and the
United States.13 Moreover, results of hierarchical regression analysis show that the significant linkages
between exposure and attitudinal effects were sustained when other variables were taken into consideration. But the relationship between exposure
and aggressive behavior became non-significant.
These results provide the evidence in support of the
expectation that the harmful effects of playing violent videogames would be greater on attitudinal responses than on behavioral outcomes. Two theoretical explanations are in order to account for the
discrepancies:
First, the desensitization theory17,20 proposes that
repeated exposure to mediated violence reduces
children’s sensitivity to violence. As Deselms and
Alltman23 point out, one’s perceptions about violence will change when violent acts appear more tolerable and even acceptable. Then, self-imposed constraints on behavior may be relaxed (for instance,
hostile affective and emotional responses will be
formed), leading to propensity to behave violently.
Thus, the effects of exposure to videogame violence
on aggression should be indirect.27 As this study
stopped short of a casual analysis, future research
should focus on developing a model to test the effects of exposure to videogame violence on a hierarchy of cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses. Second, culture provides another
explanation for the attitude-behavior discrepancy.
Traditional Chinese culture touts the virtue of
peaceful living in a harmonious society. Random violence is not a way of life in China, where access to
guns is extremely restricted. Therefore, the effects
of playing violent videogames on the Internet on
overt aggressive behavior are indirect and weaker
than on attitudes toward violence.
Nevertheless, findings of this study heighten the
need for more large-scale longitudinal studies to
track the negative effects of violent videogames on
Chinese adolescents’ tolerance of violence and atti-
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tudes toward others. As Hoffman29 argues, empathy plays a major role in the moral development of
children. When playing violent videogames has a
negative socializing effect on Chinese adolescents,
the implications for developing a sense of caring of
others and social justice will be far-reaching.
It is important to note that the results of this study
are not necessarily causal because data were collected in a one-shot survey. Another limitation is the
use of a purposive sample. Future research should
consider a probability sample.
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Address reprint requests to:
Dr. Ran Wei
School of Journalism & Mass Communications
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 20208
E-mail: ran.wei@sc.edu