11/19/2014
Professor Hsu
Psych Research Requirement Response Paper- Like a Magnet: Catharsis Beliefs Attract
Angry People to Violent Video Games
People have used violence as a form of entertainment since the beginning of time. From the ancient Roman’s gladiator games to the modern day video games. Some people believe that people use these violent video games as a channel to let out their anger and aggression. This theory is called catharsis. Other research, however, found the exact opposite. It found that people playing these violent games actually have an increased aggression. In this article, it is testing the hypothesis that belief in catharsis increases attraction to violent games, especially among people who want to get rid of their anger.
The first method did not really prove or disprove anything. The majority of the participants wanted to play the violent games. However, angry people who were led to believe in catharsis wanted to play them more than the rest. In Experiment 2, it was tested whether these findings could be replicated using the participant’s own natural tendencies to vent their angry feelings. With only one difference from experiment 1 (using the 8-item instead of a fake newspaper article), experiment 2 just extended on the findings from experiment 1.
Being that I play violent video games a good majority of the time, it was cool to learn how they could possibly be affecting me. I never felt as if playing Call of Duty made me angrier. I especially never believe any of the claims that violence in video games and other newer media, such as TV, led to more violence in real life.