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The present research tests the effects of violent shooting games on behavior within the game (Pilot Study) and on behavior after the game is turned off (Experiment Proper). The Experiment Proper is an exact replication of a previous study conducted in our lab that was retracted (see citation), but with a larger sample to get more reliable results (N=287 rather than N=151).
Violent shooting games are used to train soldiers and police officers. This research tests whether violent shooting can train people to shoot targets in the head, both during gameplay (Pilot Study) and after the game is turned off (Experiment Proper). Participants in both studies played a violent shooting game with humanoid targets that rewarded headshots, or a nonviolent shooting game that punished shots to bull's-eye targets with faces. Afterward, participants shot at a mannequin with a realistic CO2 gun. We anticipate that participants who play the violent game which rewards headshots to hit the mannequin's head more often than those who play the non-violent game.
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| Label | Type | Description | Intervention Names |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot Study | Experimental | After giving their consent, participants completed a survey. Next, they were randomly assigned to play either a violent First-Person-Shooter video game or a nonviolent shooting video game for 20 minutes. Video game play was recorded. A debriefing followed. |
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| Experiment Proper | Experimental | After giving their consent, participants completed a survey. Next, they were randomly assigned to play either a violent First-Person-Shooter video game, a nonviolent shooting video game, or a nonviolent non-shooting video game for 20 minutes. Next, they shot a training pistol at a mannequin 20 feet (6.1 meters) away using 16 Velcro "bullets." A debriefing followed. |
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| Name | Type | Description | Arm Group Labels | Other Names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Video game | Behavioral | Participants played either a violent shooting game or nonviolent shooting game in the pilot study, and either either a violent shooting game, nonviolent shooting game, or nonviolent non-shooting game in the experiment proper. |
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Hits to Head and Face | In the Pilot Study, we counted hits to the head and face for targets within the game. In the Experiment Proper, we counted hits to the head and face of the mannequin. | Up to one hour |
| Other Hits | In the Pilot Study, we counted other hits to targets (i.e. not to a face) within the game. In the Experiment Proper, we counted other hits to the mannequin (i.e., torso instead of the head). | Up to one hour |
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Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
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| PubMed Identifier | Type | Citation | Retractions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Background | Whitaker, J. L., & Bushman, B. J. (2014). "Boom, Headshot!": Effect of violent video game play and controller type on firing aim and accuracy. Communication Research, 41(7), 879-891. doi:10.1177/0093650212446622 |
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After the manuscript is accepted, data will be uploaded to Figshare.com
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Following acceptance of manuscript.
Open to public domain.
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After giving their consent, participants completed a survey. Next, they were randomly assigned to play either a violent First-Person-Shooter video game or a nonviolent shooting video game for 20 minutes. Video game play was recorded. A debriefing followed.
Participants were college students who completed the study as part of a course requirement.
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| ID | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
| FG000 | Violent Shooter Game | Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, a violent shooter game which rewards players for shooting realistic human targets. Headshots are rewarded. |
| FG001 | Non-violent Shooter Game | Wii Play, a non-violent shooter which punishes players for hitting bull's-eye targets with faces on them and rewards players for shooting other targets (e.g., balloons, clay discs, bull's-eye targets without faces). |
| FG002 | Non-violent Game | Super Mario Galaxy, a non-violent game which rewards players for collecting stars and completing challenging levels in a creative, animated world. Does not involve shooting a weapon. |
| Title | Milestones | Reasons Not Completed | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot Study |
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| Experiment Proper |
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Undergraduate college students.
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| ID | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
| BG000 | Pilot Study: Violent Shooter | Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, a violent shooter game which rewards players for shooting realistic human targets. Headshots are rewarded. |
| BG001 | Pilot Study: Non-violent Shooter |
| Units | Counts |
|---|---|
| Participants |
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| Title | Description | Population Description | Parameter Type | Dispersion Type | Unit of Measure | Calculate Percentage | Denominator Units Selected | Denominators | Classes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age, Categorical | Count of Participants |
| Type | Title | Description | Population Description | Reporting Status | Anticipated Posting Date | Parameter Type | Dispersion Type | Unit of Measure | Calculate Percentage | Time Frame | Units Analyzed | Denominator Units Selected | Arm/Group Information | Denominators | Classes | Analyses | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | Hits to Head and Face | In the Pilot Study, we counted hits to the head and face for targets within the game. In the Experiment Proper, we counted hits to the head and face of the mannequin. | Posted | Mean | Standard Error | headshots | Up to one hour |
|
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| ID | Title | Description | Deaths (Affected) | Deaths (At Risk) | Serious Events (Affected) | Serious Events (At Risk) | Other Events (Affected) | Other Events (At Risk) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EG000 | Pilot Study: Violent Shooter | 20 participants assigned to play a violent shooter game |
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| Title | Organization | Phone | Extension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. Brad Bushman | The Ohio State University | 614-688-8779 | bushman.20@osu.edu |
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| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D014948 | Wounds, Gunshot |
| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D014950 | Wounds, Penetrating |
| D014947 | Wounds and Injuries |
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| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| C072262 | CDK13 protein, human |
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2 (controller type) x 3 (video game type) factorial design. Participants used either a regular or gun shaped controller while playing a non-shooting, non-humanoid shooting, or humanoid shooting game.
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| Controller | Behavioral | Participants used either a gun-shaped or regular controller to play the violent and nonviolent shooting video games. |
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| NOT COMPLETED |
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Wii Play, a non-violent shooter which punishes players for hitting bull's-eye targets with faces on them and rewards players for shooting other targets (e.g., balloons, clay discs, bull's-eye targets without faces).
| BG002 | Study Proper: Violent Shooter | Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, a violent shooter game which rewards players for shooting realistic human targets. Headshots are rewarded. |
| BG003 | Study Proper: Non-violent Shooter | Wii Play, a non-violent shooter which punishes players for hitting bull's-eye targets with faces on them and rewards players for shooting other targets (e.g., balloons, clay discs, bull's-eye targets without faces). |
| BG004 | Study Proper: Non-violent Game | Super Mario Galaxy, a non-violent game which rewards players for collecting stars and completing challenging levels in a creative, animated world. Does not involve shooting a weapon. |
| BG005 | Total | Total of all reporting groups |
| Participants |
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| Age, Continuous | Mean | Standard Deviation | years |
|
| Sex: Female, Male | Note: one participant in the study proper did not provide information on their gender. As such, the total is one fewer than the full 327. | One participant did not give information on their gender. | Count of Participants | Participants |
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| Region of Enrollment | Number | participants |
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| Gun Attitudes Scale | 17-item, 5-point Likert scale. Range: 1-5, with higher numbers representing more positive attitudes toward guns. | Note: information on attitudes toward guns was not collected in the pilot study | Mean | Standard Deviation | units on a scale |
|
| Number of guns owned | Participants were asked how many guns (i.e. personal firearms including handguns and long guns) they had owned over the course of their lifetime. | Note: information gun ownership was not collected in the pilot study | Mean | Standard Deviation | Number of guns owned |
|
| Number of times shot gun | Self-report of the number of times each participant had shot a gun (i.e. personal firearm) before. Range: 0 - 550. | Information on number of times the participant had shot a gun was not collected in the pilot study. | Mean | Standard Deviation | number of times shot gun |
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| Number of violent video games among 3 favorites | Participants were asked to list their three favorite video games. Games rated "T" or "M" by the ESRB were considered violent. | Information on favorite games was not collected for the pilot study. | Mean | Standard Deviation | Number of games |
|
| OG002 | Experiment Proper: Violent Shooter Game | Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, a violent shooter game which rewards players for shooting realistic human targets. Headshots are rewarded. |
| OG003 | Experiment Proper: Non-violent Shooter Game | Wii Play, a non-violent shooter which punishes players for hitting bull's-eye targets with faces on them and rewards players for shooting other targets (e.g., balloons, clay discs, bull's-eye targets without faces). |
| OG004 | Experiment Proper: Non-violent Game | Super Mario Galaxy, a non-violent game which rewards players for collecting stars and completing challenging levels in a creative, animated world. Does not involve shooting a weapon. |
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| Primary | Other Hits | In the Pilot Study, we counted other hits to targets (i.e. not to a face) within the game. In the Experiment Proper, we counted other hits to the mannequin (i.e., torso instead of the head). | Posted | Mean | Standard Deviation | shots not at head or face | Up to one hour |
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| 0 |
| 20 |
| 0 |
| 20 |
| 0 |
| 20 |
| EG001 | Pilot Study: Non-violent Shooter | 20 participants assigned to play a non-violent shooter game | 0 | 20 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 20 |
| EG002 | Study Proper: Violent Shooter | 113 participants assigned to play a violent shooter game | 0 | 113 | 0 | 113 | 0 | 113 |
| EG003 | Study Proper: Non-violent Shooter | 115 participants assigned to play a non-violent shooter game | 0 | 115 | 0 | 115 | 0 | 115 |
| EG004 | Study Proper: Non-violent Game | 59 participants assigned to play a non-violent game | 0 | 59 | 0 | 59 | 0 | 59 |
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| Between 18 and 65 years |
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| >=65 years |
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| Male |
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Hypothesis: Participants who played a violent FPS game were expected to hit the mannequin's head more often than were participants who played either the nonviolent shooting game or the nonviolent non-shooting game Covariates: participant gender, number of guns owned over their lifetime, attitudes toward guns, and number of times they had fired a gun. |
| ANCOVA |
F(2, 273) = 3.16 |
| .044 |
| Other |
ANCOVA |
| Hypothesis: Because the nonviolent shooting game rewards other shots, participants who played a nonviolent shooting game were expected to hit the mannequin's torso more often than were participants who played the nonviolent non-shooting game. Covariates: participant gender, number of guns owned over their lifetime, attitudes toward guns, and number of times they had fired a gun. | t-test, 2 sided | t(274) = 2.40 | 0.17 | Other | ANCOVA |
| Hypothesis: participants who played a nonviolent shooting game were expected to hit the mannequin's head less often than were participants who played the nonviolent non-shooting game Covariates: participant gender, number of guns owned over their lifetime, attitudes toward guns, and number of times they had fired a gun. | t-test, 2 sided | t(274) = -0.76 | .449 | Other | ANCOVA |
| Hypothesis: participants who played a nonviolent shooting game were expected to hit the mannequin's torso more often than were participants who played the nonviolent non-shooting game. Covariates: participant gender, number of guns owned over their lifetime, attitudes toward guns, and number of times they had fired a gun. | t-test, 2 sided | t(273) = -0.46 | .645 | Other | ANCOVA |
| Hypothesis: A positive correlation was expected between the number of violent shooting games participants listed among their three favorite video games and hits to the mannequin's head. | Zero-order correlation | .032 | Other | Zero-order correlation |