Video Game Effects—Confirmed, Suspected, and Speculative

Christopher P. Barlett, Craig A. Anderson and Edward L. Swing
Additional contact information
Christopher P. Barlett: Iowa State University, USA, cpb6666@iastate.edu
Craig A. Anderson: Iowa State University, USA, caa@iastate.edu
Edward L. Swing: Iowa State University, USA, eswing@iastate.edu

Simulation & Gaming, 2009, vol. 40, issue 3, 377-403

Abstract: This literature review focuses on the confirmed, suspected, and speculative effects of violent and non-violent video game exposure on negative and positive outcomes. Negative outcomes include aggressive feelings, aggressive thoughts, aggressive behavior, physiological arousal, and desensitization, whereas positive outcomes include various types of learning. Multiple theories predict, and empirical findings reveal, that violent video game exposure is causally related to a host of negative outcomes and a few positive outcomes. Some non-violent video games have been causally related to some specific positive learning effects as well as certain types of visual cognition (e.g., spatial rotation abilities) and may be associated with some negative effects on executive control and attention disorders.

Keywords: aggression; computer games; desensitization; General Aggression Model; General Learning Model; learning; negative effects; positive effects; prosocial effects; video games; violence; visual cognition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1046878108327539 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:simgam:v:40:y:2009:i:3:p:377-403

DOI: 10.1177/1046878108327539

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Simulation & Gaming
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().