Abstract
We examined reward and punishment behavior amongmale college students (N = 119) following video gameplay. Most participants (N = 96) were White, theremainder (N = 23) were African American; most were from middle- to upper-middle-class backgrounds. Theparticipants played either a nonviolent (NBA Jam) or oneof three levels of a violent (Mortal Kombat) video game.After playing the video game for 15 minutes participants rewarded and punished a male orfemale confederate in a teacher/learner paradigm.Participants rewarded male (but not female) confederateswith significantly more jellybeans under the basketball condition than under any of the martial artsconditions. Participants rewarded confederates moreunder the NBA Jam condition than any of the MortalKombat conditions, but the Mortal Kombat conditions did not differ significantly from one another.Participants punished confederates significantly moreafter playing Mortal Kombat II than after playing NBAJam. While participants were punished more harshly under the Mortal Kombat II condition than theMortal Kombat conditions, these differences were notsignificant. Post hoc analyses showed that females werepunished significantly more stringently as game violence increased, but this finding should beinterpreted with caution.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Anderson, C. A., & Ford, C. M. (1986). Affect of the game player: Short-term effects of highly and mildly aggressive video games. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 12, 390–402.
Anderson, C. A., & Morrow, M. (1995). Competitive aggression without interaction: Effects of competitive versus cooperative instructions on aggressive behavior in video games. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 1020–1030.
Ballard, M. E., & Wiest, J. R. (1996). Mortal Kombat (TM): The effects of violent video game play on males' hostility and cardiovascular responding. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 26, 717–730.
Bray, J. H., & Maxwell, S. E. (1982). Analyzing and interpreting significant MANOVAs. Review of Educational Research, 52, 340–367.
Chambers, J. H., & Ascione, F. R. (1987). The effects of prosocial and aggressive video games on children's donating and helping. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 148, 499–501.
Cooper, J., & Mackie, D. (1986). Video games and aggression in children. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 16, 726–744.
Deitz, T. L. (1998). An examination of violence and gender role portrayals in video games: Implications for gender socialization and aggressive behavior. Sex Roles, 38, 425–442.
Donnerstein, E. (1980a). Aggressive erotica and violence against women. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 269–277.
Donnerstein, E. (1980b). Pornography and violence against women. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 347, 227–288.
Donnerstein, E. (1983). Erotica and human aggression. In R. Green and E. Donnerstein (Eds.), Aggression: Theoretical an dempirical reviews. New York: Academic Press.
Donnerstein, E., & Linz, D. (1988). A critical analysis of “A critical analysis of recent research on violent erotica.” Journal of Sex Research, 24, 348–352.
Funk, J. B., Flores, G., Buchman, D. D., & Germann, J. N. (1997, August). Rating electronic games: Violence is in the eye of the beholder. In D. R. Rubin (Chair), Don't touch that knob! Symposium conducted at the 105th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, Illinois.
Griffiths, M. D., & Dancaster, I. (1995). The effect of Type A personality on physiological arousal while playing computer games. Addictive Behaviors, 20, 543–548.
Grossman, D. (1999, June ). It's time to strop training our kids to kill. U.S.Catholic, 64(6), 24–27.
Haase, R. F., & Ellis, M. V. (1987). Multivariate analysis of variance. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 34, 404–413.
Howe, J. (1999, May). The great video game shoot-out. Village Voice, 44(18), 36.
Howell, D. C. (1987). Statistical methods for psychology (2nd ed.). Boston: Duxbury.
Huesmann, L. R., & Malamuth, N. M. (1986). Media violence and antisocial behavior: An overview. Journal of Social Issues, 42(3), 1–6.
Ingall, M. (1998). Killer games. Computer Life, 5(2), 58–60.
Irwin, A. R., & Gross, A. M. (1995). Cognitive tempo, violent video games, and aggressive behavior in young boys. Journal of Family Violence, 10, 337–350.
Kilmartin, C. T. (1994). The masculine self. New York: Macmillan.
Kirk, R. E. (1982). Experimental design (2nd ed.). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Kubey, R., & Larson, R. (1990). The use and experience of the new video media among children and young adolescents. Communication Research, 17, 107–130.
Leo, J. (1999, May 3). When life imitates video. U.S.News & World Report, 126(17), 14.
Linz, D., Donnerstein, E., & Penrod, S. (1984). The effects of multiple exposures to filmed violence against women. Journal of Communication, 34(3), 130–147.
Malamuth, N. M. (1988). Rese arch on “violent erotica”: A reply. Journal of Sex Research, 24, 340–348.
Malamuth, N. M., & Check, J. V. P. (1981). The effects of mass media exposure on acceptance of violence against women: A field experiment. Journal of Research in Personality, 15, 436–446.
Mehrabian, A., & Wixen, W. J. (1986). Preferences for individual video games as a function of their emotional effects on players. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 16, 3–15.
Mould, D. E. (1988a). A critical analysis of recent research on violent erotics. Journal of Sex Research, 24, 326–340.
Mould, D. E. (1988b). “A critical analysis of A critical analysis of recent research on violent erotica”: A reply to Malamuth and Donnerstein and Linz. Journal of Sex Research, 24, 353–358.
Mould, D. E. (1990). The pornography-sexual crime debate. In R. Surette (Ed.), The media and criminal justice policy: Recent research and social effects (pp. 35–51), Springfield, IL: Thomas.
O'Grady, K. E. (1988). Donnerstein, Malamuth, and Mould: The conduct of research and the nature of inquiry. Journal of Sex Research, 24, 358–362.
Parke, R. D., & Slaby, R. G. (1983). The development of aggression. In E. M. Hetherington (Ed.), Hand book of child psychology: Vol. 4, Socialization, personality, and social development (pp. 547–641). New York: Wiley.
Pellegrini, A. D., & Smith, P. K. (1998). Physical activity play: The nature and function of a neglected aspect of play. Child Development, 69, 577–598.
Schutte, N. S., Malouff, J. M., Post-Gordon, J. C., & Rodasta, A. L. (1988). Effects of playing video games on children's aggressive and other behaviors. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 18, 454–460.
Scott, D. (1995). The effect of video games on feelings of aggression. Journal of Psychology, 129, 121–132.
Silvern, S. B., & Williamson, P. A. (1987). The effects of video game play on young children's aggressive, fantasy, and prosocial behavior. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 8, 453–462.
Simonton, D. K. (1982). One-way experimentation does not prove one-way causation. American Psychologist, 37, 1404–1406.
Winkel, M., Novak, D. M., & Hopson, H. (1987). Personality factors, participant gender, and the effects of aggressive video games on aggression in adolescents. Journal of Research on Personality, 21, 211–223.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ballard, M.E., Lineberger, R. Video Game Violence and Confederate Gender: Effects on Reward and Punishment Given by College Males. Sex Roles 41, 541–558 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018843304606
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018843304606