STUDIES

• The researchers aimed to investigate if video games had a greater effect on violent behaviour than TV. (COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• The study compared the effects on people who played the game and those who just watched others playing. (COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• The researchers also aimed to determine if there were any gender differences in the effect of violent behaviour. (COOPER&MACKIE 1986).
• The researchers hypothesised that playing aggressive video games would have more effect on violent behaviour compared to playing other games.(COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• The sample for the study was 84 nine to eleven-year-olds from New Jersy, USA. (COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• The researcher carried out a laboratory experiment. (COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• The independent variable in the study was the type of game played: a violent video game, a non-violent video game or a paper and pen maze game.(COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• In the study, pairs of children were allocated to one of these games so it was an independent measure design.(COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• In each pair, one child played while the other child just watched. (COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• The dependent variable in the study was the aggression levels displayed by the children after playing the game.(COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• The aggression levels of the children were measured in two ways: by covertly observing how long children played with certain types of toys from a choice of an aggressive toy, an active toy, a skill toy and a quiet toy, and through a test activity where children showed how much they would finish an imaginary child who had been naughty, measured by how long they pressed a buzzer. (COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• At the end of the procedure, children completed a questionnaire on their experience playing the game they had been allocated. (COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• Participants in the Rarrgesive game condition spent more time playing with the aggressive toy rather than participants who played one of the other two games, and this was truer for girls than boys (COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• Video games would normally be played at home or in arcades rather than in a laboratory under strict conditions. (COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• The questionnaire showed that boys performed better on violent games compared to girls and enjoyed playing them more.(COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• The sample was not representative of other cultures and other age groups as it was only carried out on American children (who may have been more or less affected by video games as they were very common in their country) and only a narrow age group (for example, younger children may be more easily influenced by what they observe). (COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• The findings are out of date as computer games are very different nowadays. (COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• With better graphics and more realism, today's computer games may have even more influence on aggressive behaviour.(COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• Only the immediate effect of violent games was tested whereas, in reality, playing games like this may have a greater effect over time. (COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• In other words, what the children had observed happening in the game had some impact on learned behaviour.(COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• The study lacked ecological validity because it was carried out in artificial conditions.(COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• When children had played a game rather than watched it being played, they showed higher levels of aggression. (COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• The game did not affect interpersonal aggression because the game itself did not involve any human characters.(COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• The researchers concluded that children (mainly girls) had played more with the violent toy after playing the violent game because of some level of imitation. (COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• The study used independent measures so it is possible the violent video game condition showed higher levels of aggression because of the individuals who happened to be allocated to that group - they may simply have been more violent on average by their nature or for other reasons outside of the experiment.(COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• The types of games played did not affect interpersonal aggression (how much the participants wanted to punish the naughty child ), but children showed higher levels of aggression when playing games. (COOPER&MACKIE 1986)
• Heaven recognised an association between Eysenck's traits and criminal behaviour (Heaven (1996): study into delinquency, extroversion, psychoticism and self-esteem)
• He predicted that measures of psychoticism, extraversion, and self-esteem would be significant predictors for self-report delinquency (Heaven (1996): study into delinquency, extroversion, psychoticism and self-esteem)
• A longitudinal study over two years was conducted with 282 thirteen- to fifteen-year-olds from two Catholic independent schools in Australia (Heaven (1996): study into delinquency, extroversion, psychoticism and self-esteem)
• Questionnaires with closed questions were used to measure psychoticism, extraversion, self-esteem, and self-reported delinquency (Heaven (1996): study into delinquency, extroversion, psychoticism and self-esteem)
• 80% of the original participants were surveyed again after two years using the same anonymous questionnaires (Heaven (1996): study into delinquency, extroversion, psychoticism and self-esteem)
• Positive correlation between psychoticism and delinquency at the beginning and end of the study (Heaven (1996): study into delinquency, extroversion, psychoticism and self-esteem)
• Weak positive correlation between extraversion and delinquency at the end of the study (Heaven (1996): study into delinquency, extroversion, psychoticism and self-esteem)
• No significant correlation between self-esteem and delinquency (Heaven (1996): study into delinquency, extroversion, psychoticism and self-esteem)
• Psychoticism was the best predictor of delinquency (Heaven (1996): study into delinquency, extroversion, psychoticism and self-esteem)
• Males had higher delinquency scores than females at both the beginning and end of the study (Heaven (1996): study into delinquency, extroversion, psychoticism and self-esteem)
• Sample was culturally biased as all children were from one religion and one country (Heaven (1996): study into delinquency, extroversion, psychoticism and self-esteem)
• Participants may have given socially desirable responses, affecting the validity of the study (Heaven (1996): study into delinquency, extroversion, psychoticism and self-esteem)
• Use of closed questions may have led to low construct validity (Heaven (1996): study into delinquency, extroversion, psychoticism and self-esteem)
• 20% dropout rate may have biased the results (Heaven (1996): study into delinquency, extroversion, psychoticism and self-esteem)