Presentation from Western Pennsylvania\'s Psychology Conference

1. THE EFFECTS VIDEO GAME VIOLENCE AND
NARRATIVE HAVE ON REDUCING STRESS
Casey Chadwick
Brittany Bittner

2. VIDEO GAME USAGE
• 70% of children have at least 1 video game
console in home
• 33% have game systems in bedrooms (Thompson &
Haninger, 2001)
• 31% daily basis
• 21% 3-5 days/week (Lenhart, Kahne, Middaugh, Macgill, Evans &
Vitak, 2008)

3. DANGERS OF VIDEO GAMES
• Desensitization to violence
• Most popular games = most violent
• Call of Duty: Black Ops, Mortal Kombat
• Males attracted more than females
• General Aggression Model (GAM) (Bushman &
Anderson, 2011)

4. BENEFITS OF VIDEO GAMES
• Hand-eye coordination (Silvern, 1986)
• Visual spatial skills (Spence & Feng, 2010)
• Reducing negative emotions (e.g. anger, stress)
(Olson, 2010).
• Mood Management Theory (Zillman, 2008)

5. HOW CAN VIDEO GAMES REDUCE STRESS?
• Theory of Flow
(Payne, Jackson, Stine-Morrow & Noh, 2011)
• May explain video game preference
• Narrative
(Adams, Koenig, MacNamara, Mayer, & Wainess, 2011)
• Makes game more complex
• Adds challenge

6. CURRENT STUDY
• Examined whether video games can reduce stress
• Stress reduction
• Violent games vs. non-violent games
• Narrative vs. no narrative

7. METHOD – PARTICIPANTS
• IRB Approved
• 53 undergraduate Penn State Behrend students
• SONA system
VEQ Males Females
• Informed consent Play Often 84.6% 45.8%
• 47% female 0-5 hours 42.3% 91.7%
6 or more hours 57.7% 8.3%
• Ages 18-33 COD 11.5% (never) 62.5% (never)
Guilty Party 100% (never) 95.8% (never)

8. METHOD- PROCEDURES
Mood Survey 1
Stress Task (PASAT)
Mood Survey 2
Play video game for 20
minutes
Call of Duty Guilty Party
(Narrative or no narrative) (Narrative or no narrative)
Mood Survey 3
Serious Games Measure
Video Game Experience
Questionnaire

9. MOOD SURVEY
• Asks about current mood (happiness, stress, frustration)
• On a scale of 1-5, how stressed are you?
• Taken three times:
•1st - coming into room
•2nd – after stress task
• 3rd – after playing game

10. Mood Survey 1
Stress Task (PASAT)
Mood Survey 2
Play video game for 20
minutes
Call of Duty Guilty Party
(Narrative or no narrative) (Narrative or no narrative)
Mood Survey 3
Serious Games Measure
Video Game Experience
Questionnaire

11. STRESS TASK- PACED AUDITORY SERIAL
ADDITION TEST (PASAT)
Heard Answer
4
11
7
10
3
4
1

12. Mood Survey 1
Stress Task (PASAT)
Mood Survey 2
Play video game for 20
minutes
Call of Duty Guilty Party
(Narrative or no narrative) (Narrative or no narrative)
Mood Survey 3
Serious Games Measure
Video Game Experience
Questionnaire

13. Mood Survey 1
Stress Task (PASAT)
Mood Survey 2
Play video game for 20
minutes
Call of Duty Guilty Party
(Narrative or no narrative) (Narrative or no narrative)
Mood Survey 3
Serious Games Measure
Video Game Experience
Questionnaire

14. CALL OF DUTY
Two settings:
Campaign- narrative
Combat training (zombies)-no narrative

15. GUILTY PARTY
Two settings:
Story mode- narrative
Party mode- no narrative

16. Mood Survey 1
Stress Task (PASAT)
Mood Survey 2
Play video game for 20
minutes
Call of Duty Guilty Party
(Narrative or no narrative) (Narrative or no narrative)
Mood Survey 3
Serious Games Measure
Video Game Experience
Questionnaire

17. SERIOUS GAME
MEASURE (Blasko-Drabik, 2011)
• 35 items
• Asked about narrative and flow
• Narrative:
• I discovered the story as the game went on.
• Flow:
• I forgot about time while playing the game.
• Enjoyment:
• I enjoyed exploring the features by trial and
error.

18. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1) Did our stress task increase stress levels and did playing
the video game decrease stress levels?
2) What type of video game induces more flow
(violent, nonviolent)?
3) Does violence in a video game matter when reducing
stress?
4) Does narrative in a video game matter when reducing
stress?

19. RESULTS
Figure 1: Mean stress levels before task, after task, and after
playing. Covariate Mood Survey Time 1
Females Males
4.5
4
3.5
Stress Means
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
Before Stress Task After Stress Task After Playing
Main effect of time Main effect of gender Interaction of time and gender
F (1,39)= 4.62, p = 0.03 F (1,39)= 9.09, p = 0.004 F (1,39)= 2.91, p = 0.09

20. Figure 2: Mean flow levels based on game type.
Narrative No Narrative
6
Mean Flow Levels
5
4
3
2
1
Violence No Violence
Main effect of violence Interaction of violence and narrative:
F (1,50)= 5.54, p = 0.01 F (1,50)= 2.86, p = .09

21. Figure 3a: Means for stress levels based on game type and gender
Covariate Mood Survey Time 1
Males
4.5
4
3.5
Stress Means
3
2.5
2
1.5 After Stress Task
1 After Playing Game
0.5
0
Violent Violent No Nonviolent Nonviolent No
Narrative Narrative Narrative Narrative
Game Type
Interaction of narrative and violence
F(1,49) = 1.95, p = .17

22. Figure 3b: Means for stress levels based on game type and gender
Covariate Mood Survey Time 1
Females
4.5
4
3.5
Stress Means
3
2.5
2
1.5 After Stress Task
1 After Playing
0.5
0
Violent Violent No Nonviolent Nonviolent No
Narrative Narrative Narrative Narrative
Game Type
Interaction of narrative and violence
F(1,49) = 1.95, p = .17

23. DISCUSSION
• 1) Did our stress task increase stress levels and did playing the
video game decrease stress levels?
• Yes
• 2) What type of video game induces more flow
(violent, nonviolent)?
• Nonviolent, no narrative
• 3) Does violence in a video game matter when reducing stress?
• No interaction, however were differences between games with
reducing stress
• 4) Does narrative in a video game matter when reducing stress?
• Mattered for violent games

24. IMPLICATIONS
• Design fun, nonviolent games
• If violent, include narrative

25. REFERENCES
Anderson, C. A., Ihori, N., Bushman, B. J., Rothstein, H. R., Shibuya, A., Swing, E. L., Sakamoto, A., & Saleem, M. (2010). V iolent
video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and western countries: A Meta -analytic review.
Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 151-173. doi:10.1037/a0018251
Bartholow, B. D., & Anderson, C. A. (2001). Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior: Potential sex differences. Journal
of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 283-290. doi:10.1006/jesp.2001.1502
Engelhardt, C.R. Bartholow, B. D., & Saults, J. S. (2011). Violent and nonviolent video games differentially affect physical aggression
for individuals high vs. low in dispositional behavior. Aggressive Behavior, 37, 539-546.
Inal, Y., & Cagiltay, K. (2007). Flow experiences of children in an interactive social games environment [Electronic version] . British
Journal of Educational Technology, 38(3), 455-464. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007.00709.x
Payne, B. R., Jackson, J. J., Stine-Morrow, E. A., & Noh, S. R. (2011, March 28). In the zone: flow state and cognition in older adults
[Electronic version]. Psychology and Aging, 26(3), 738-743. doi:10.1037/a0022359
Reinecke, L. (2009). The Use of video and computer games to recuperate from stress and strain. Journal of Media
Psychology, 21(3), 126-142. doi:10.1027/1864-1105.21.3.126
Silvern, Steven B. (1986). "Classroom use of video games.". Educational research quarterly(0196 -
5042), 10(1), p.10.
Spence, I., & Feng, J. (2010). Video games and spatial cognition. Review of General Psychology, 14(2), 92 -104.
doi:10.1037/a0019491
Zillmann, D. (1988a). Mood management through communication choices. American Behavioral Scientist, 31, 327–340.

26. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to acknowledge a special thank you to Dr. Dawn
Blasko for advising this research project as well as Holly
Blasko Drabik for providing consultation on the design and for
the use of her measure.
We would also like to thank Dr. Robert W. Light, Associate
Dean for research for providing financial support through the
grant program at Penn State Behrend.