Public opinion and the media both seem to consider that video games - particularly violent ones - make young people aggressive. Yet some researchers have challenged these "certainties" in a dissertation and subsequent scientific paper.

Not everyone is lucky enough to participate in a study in which they mainly play video games. Yet this is exactly what happened to 43 young boys. As part of her graduate dissertation in Psychology (1), Roxane Toniutti had boys from primary schools in the Province of Liège play a video game for 15 minutes. Some of them played a combat game, while others played a football game. But none of them were aware that as they (calmly?) played, they were helping to elucidate a debate that continues to divide psychologists, the media, and public opinion: do violent video games make young people more aggressive? And are these games potentially dangerous for adolescents and pre-adolescents, particularly those considered "at-risk"?

"Since 1999 and the Colombine massacre, perpetrated by two teens who regularly played violent video games, there have been a number of media stories unequivocally blaming these kinds of games for aggressive acts. I didn't agree that the debate was so clear-cut, that the facts were presented as established, and that they only took one variable into consideration: the game. So I wanted to see what the literature on the subject had to say, and conduct my own study to find possible answers to questions that were rarely or infrequently investigated," explains Roxanne Toniutti.

This dissertation work was conducted under the direction of Cécile Mathys, Doctor in Psychology and Assistant Professor in the University of Liège's Department of Psychology and Clinics of Human Systems, and Michel Born, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology of Delinquency and Psychological Development. The results were surprising, and were presented in a scientific article published in the Revue de Psychoéducation (University of Montreal). It offers grist to the mill for those who don’t believe that video games are the sole source of all problems. It also opens the door to further reflection on preventative measures for this type of medium, and strategies that focus on both young people and their parents.

Teaching violence?

"The literature includes two main schools of thought regarding whether violent content in video games has an impact on aggressive behaviour,” explains the psychologist. Some specialists believe that these games have harmful effects that increase aggressive behaviour. The presence of blood, guns, the size of the screen, the type of perception, whether the player wins or loses, as well as their age (adolescence) and emotional state all have an impact on behaviour. According to other specialists, the opposite is true: there are no harmful side effects to playing video games. Researchers sometimes even suggest that these games have a positive impact on behaviour (serving as a cathartic release of aggressive impulses in the virtual world) and even cognitive skills.

Furthermore, "some studies have also examined the mental processes that led to aggressive acts," observes Roxane Toniutti. “They are based on two main models (the General Affective Aggression Model and Social Information Processing), and take into account the player's cognitive variables, as well as their patterns, personality, and affects, which can be influenced by their social interactions, experiences, and education."

(1) Effet à court terme des jeux vidéo violents sur le biais d’attribution hostile chez des préadolescents, 2011, ULg. (Short-term effects of violent video games on pre-adolescent hostile attribution bias)
(2)Toniutti, R., Born, M., & Mathys, C. (2013). Les jeux vidéo violents augmentent-ils le biais d’attribution hostile chez des préadolescents? Revue de Psychoéducation, 42(2), 357-376. (Do violent video games increase hostile attribution bias in pre-adolescents?)