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Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
The effect of a physically formidable competitor or cooperator on attraction to violent video games
Motivation and Emotion, Vol.48, pp.729-745
2024
Abstract
Typically, men prefer violent video games more than women do. However, little is known about the motivational factors driving this greater preference for violent games in men. The integrative motivational model of violent video games (IMT-VVG) suggests that the pull of violent video games should be strongest in men because men have faced stronger evolutionary pressures to physically compete within an explicit hierarchy relative to women. In two experiments, individuals were led to believe they were competing (Experiment 1; N = 122) or cooperating (Experiment 2; N = 121) with an ostensible same-gender partner to complete a physical strength program. The partner was presented as either high or low in physical formidability. Participants then selected a violent or non-violent video game to play for up to 15 min. In Experiment 1, men showed a stronger preference for violent video games than women when they anticipated facing a stronger opponent in an impending physical strength competition. In Experiment 2, for the physical cooperation task, men also chose the violent game over the non-violent game, but did so independent of the formidability of their cooperation partner. In sum, these data suggest that men may be attracted to violent video games when faced with a competitive task that requires physical strength, but not necessarily a cooperative task. In support of this hypothesis, participants who played the violent games reported greater subjective toughness after game play. These results provide evidence for a new integrative motivational theory of violent video game play.
Details
- Title
- The effect of a physically formidable competitor or cooperator on attraction to violent video games
- Authors
- Thomas F. Denson (Corresponding Author) - UNSW SydneyHanan Youssef - UNSW SydneyKhandis R. Blake - The University of MelbourneBarnaby J W Dixson (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australian Centre for Pacific Islands ResearchEddie Harmon-Jones - UNSW SydneyMichael M. Kasumovic (Corresponding Author) - UNSW Sydney
- Publication details
- Motivation and Emotion, Vol.48, pp.729-745
- Publisher
- Springer New York LLC
- Date published
- 2024
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11031-024-10095-w
- ISSN
- 1573-6644; 0146-7239
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Organisation Unit
- Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; School of Health - Psychology
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991066897902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Psychology, Experimental
- Psychology, Social