ReportsCyber-dehumanization: Violent video game play diminishes our humanity
Highlights
► Playing violent video games reduces self-perceived humanity. ► Players dehumanize their opponents when they are the targets of violence. ► The findings provide a novel perspective on the adverse effects of violent games.
Section snippets
Study 1
Our first study aimed to demonstrate that playing a violent video game against another player would lead to dehumanized perceptions of both the self and the other. We selected the highly popular game Mortal Kombat. In this game participants select a character and then enter into fighting bouts against another player. We predicted that, compared to playing an equally competitive non-violent interactive game, playing Mortal Kombat would reduce self-perceived humanity (H1) as well as humanness
Results and discussion
Preliminary analysis revealed that participants found both games equally frustrating (violent: M = 3.27, SD = 1.42; non-violent: M = 3.04, SD = 1.59), t(104) = 0.79, p = .430. Mortal Kombat was marginally more enjoyable than Top Spin Tennis (violent: M = 4.86, SD = 1.57; non-violent: M = 4.35, SD = 1.39), t(104) = 1.78, p = .077, and was significantly more exciting (violent: M = 4.52, SD = 1.51; non-violent: M = 3.46, SD = 1.25), t(104) = 3.92, p < .001.
As we collected the data within dyads we investigated the possibility that
Study 2
Study 1 provides evidence for a link between engaging in video game violence and dehumanized perceptions of the self and ones opponent. However, there are a number of questions that remain unanswered. First, it may be having a conflict with another person, even within a computer generated environment, that leads to reduced perceptions of one's own humanity. We would have stronger support for our hypotheses that effects are due to the nature of the game if players of violent games still see
Results and discussion
We constructed measures of Self (α = .66) and Other Humanity (α = .68) as in Study 1.
Preliminary analysis revealed that participants found both games equally enjoyable (violent: M = 2.70, SD = 1.94; non-violent: M = 3.56, SD = 1.58), t(36) = − 1.48, p = .149, and equally exciting (violent: M = 3.05, SD = 1.64; non-violent: M = 3.44, SD = 1.50), t(36) = − 0.77, p = .446. Participants rated Call of Duty 2 as more frustrating than Top Spin Tennis (violent: M = 5.00, SD = 1.69; non-violent: M = 3.83, SD = 1.76), t(36) = 2.09, p = .044.
General discussion
Across two studies we find evidence for our two hypotheses. First, people view themselves as less human when engaged in gratuitous video game violence compared to equally competitive non-violent games. Moreover, we find that this dehumanization extends to perceptions of opponents in violent compared to non-violent games, but that this does not occur in cooperative game play contexts. Players feel dehumanized when they engage in video game violence, even when this is directed towards
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2022, Current Opinion in PsychologyCitation Excerpt :Dehumanization has been traditionally researched within intergroup processes as a unidimensional construct [11,12]. However, advancements in the conceptualization of dehumanization [13,14] have examined this phenomenon within the context of interpersonal relationships [15–17] and, more recently, romantic relationships [18–20]. According to Haslam's [10] dual model of dehumanization, a person can be denied humanness on two dimensions: (1) the denial of human uniqueness, and (2) the denial of human nature.