Examining desensitization using facial electromyography:Violent videogames, gender, and affective responding

Evidence That Pervasive Body Gaze Behavior in Heterosexual Men Is a Social Marker for Implicit, Physiological, and Explicit Sexual Assault Propensities

Deliberate and effortful attempts to gaze at the bodies of women is emerging as a valuable marker of sexual objectification in men. Some preliminary evidence suggests that pervasive body gaze behavior may also accompany insidious attitudes which can facilitate sexual assault. The present study aimed to further explore this potential by examining pervasive body gaze associations with explicit, implicit, and physiological sexual assault propensity measures. We presented 110 heterosexual male participants with images of fully and partially dressed women with and without injuries while measuring their skin conductance responses. We also captured implicit and explicit sexual assault measures in addition to self-reported pervasive body gaze behavior. Pervasive body gaze behavior was significantly correlated with rape myth acceptance attitudes, prior perpetration of sexual assault, a stronger implicit association between erotica and aggression, and lower physiological reactivity during exposure to partially dressed injured women. These findings suggest that body gaze towards women could be a behavioral marker for inclinations to victim blame, preferences for rough sexual conduct, and a physiological desensitization towards female victims. This study further validates a five item self-reported body gaze measure as a valuable tool for detecting deviant sexual objectification attitudes and affective states. As such, measurement and observation of body gaze behavior could be useful for developing risk assessments, estimating intervention efficacy, and enhancing public awareness.

Horror Videogame Sound Effects, Cardiovascular Arousal, and Ethnic Bias in the Decision to Shoot

This study used a survival horror videogame to examine the impact of scary sound effects on cardiovascular and affective arousal and determine whether differences in cardiovascular arousal increased bias in shooting people of color (POCs) first in a shooter task. We expected that participants who played the horror videogame with scary sound effects would have higher cardiovascular arousal and fear than those who played without sound effects. We also expected that increased cardiovascular arousal would increase the likelihood of shooting a POC first (first shot bias) later in a shooter game. The hypothesis that playing the survival horror videogame with scary sound effects would result in higher cardiovascular arousal was supported. First shot bias was not correlated with cardiovascular arousal. However, first shot bias was significantly and positively correlated with enjoyment of the shooter game. A post hoc, exploratory analysis indicated that participants in the scary sound effects condition were significantly more likely to shoot a POC first in the shooter task than those in the no sound effects condition when enjoyment of the shooter game was used as a covariate but not when the covariate was not included. However, this effect was small.

Does playing violent video games cause aggression? A longitudinal intervention study

It is a widespread concern that violent video games promote aggression, reduce pro-social behaviour, increase impulsivity and interfere with cognition as well as mood in its players. Previous experimental studies have focussed on short-term effects of violent video gameplay on aggression, yet there are reasons to believe that these effects are mostly the result of priming. In contrast, the present study is the first to investigate the effects of long-term violent video gameplay using a large battery of tests spanning questionnaires, behavioural measures of aggression, sexist attitudes, empathy and interpersonal competencies, impulsivity-related constructs (such as sensation seeking, boredom proneness, risk taking, delay discounting), mental health (depressivity, anxiety) as well as executive control functions, before and after 2 months of gameplay. Our participants played the violent video game Grand Theft Auto V, the non-violent video game The Sims 3 or no game at all for 2 months on a daily basis. No significant changes were observed, neither when comparing the group playing a violent video game to a group playing a non-violent game, nor to a passive control group. Also, no effects were observed between baseline and posttest directly after the intervention, nor between baseline and a follow-up assessment 2 months after the intervention period had ended. The present results thus provide strong evidence against the frequently debated negative effects of playing violent video games in adults and will therefore help to communicate a more realistic scientific perspective on the effects of violent video gaming.