Are Boys More Aggressive than Girls after Playing Violent Computer Games Online? An Insight into an Emotional Stroop Task

Jingjin Tian, Zhang Qian

1School of Applied Technology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China 2Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China 3Center for the Study of Mental Health Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
School of Applied Technology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2014.51006                

Abstract

The study was to examine the gender differences in aggression among Chinese children after playing violent computer games by using emotional STROOP task. 98 children participated in this study, with 49 assigned to violent computer game group and the other 49 assigned to nonviolent computer game group. The results demonstrated that there were significant differences in main affect of game type, and significant Game Type × Gender interaction as well. In particular, boys’ aggression was significantly impacted by violent games, whereas girls’ aggression was not significantly impacted by violent games. The implication of this research is that, the significant difference in aggression to gender is activated, and that boys were more aggressive and sensitive to violent games than girls.

Keywords

Boys; Girls; Violent Computer Games; Children

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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