The 1986 Cooper and Mackie study was looking into aggression in video games affecting the aggressive nature of children.
Important Terms and Definitions:
^Extraneous variables - A variable, apart from the independent variable, that can affect the dependent variable unless controlled.
^Control group - A group of participants for whom the independent variable has not been manipulated.
^Counterbalancing - To even out trials/tasks so they do not occur in the same order each time.
^Extraneous variables - A variable, apart from the independent variable, that can affect the dependent variable unless controlled.
^Control group - A group of participants for whom the independent variable has not been manipulated.
^Counterbalancing - To even out trials/tasks so they do not occur in the same order each time.
The Background
As computer games were new at the time and there was some evidence to suggest violence from TV can affect people, Cooper and Mackie decided to try with video games. They also were also interested to look into whether observing someone and playing the game made any difference to the outcome.
Using previous research, they decided to test genders too as they realised boys were more likely to be affected by observing aggressiveness than girls were.
As computer games were new at the time and there was some evidence to suggest violence from TV can affect people, Cooper and Mackie decided to try with video games. They also were also interested to look into whether observing someone and playing the game made any difference to the outcome.
Using previous research, they decided to test genders too as they realised boys were more likely to be affected by observing aggressiveness than girls were.
Aim
Their aimed to investigate if aggression in video games effects aggression in real life.
Their aimed to investigate if aggression in video games effects aggression in real life.
Method
Design
Cooper and Mackie decided to do a laboratory experiment paired with an independent measures design.
The independent variable was the type of game played or observed.
The dependent variable was the measured aggression levels after the playing or observing the game.
Sample
The target population for this study was students from schools in New Jersey, USA. Their sample was 84 nine to eleven year old's. All of these young people were consented to the study by their parents. The children were put into pairs of the same sex and same age. One child would be playing, and the other would observe the other child playing but would never play themselves. The children would fill out a questionnaire based on previous video game experience as to avoid biased results.
Materials
Design
Cooper and Mackie decided to do a laboratory experiment paired with an independent measures design.
The independent variable was the type of game played or observed.
The dependent variable was the measured aggression levels after the playing or observing the game.
Sample
The target population for this study was students from schools in New Jersey, USA. Their sample was 84 nine to eleven year old's. All of these young people were consented to the study by their parents. The children were put into pairs of the same sex and same age. One child would be playing, and the other would observe the other child playing but would never play themselves. The children would fill out a questionnaire based on previous video game experience as to avoid biased results.
Materials
- Missile Command
- Pac-Man
- Star Wars and Tron paper-and-pen maze games
- Warrior figure
- Basketball set
- Pinball machine
- Building blocks
- Buzzer
- Questionnaire (for previous video game experience)
- Questionnaire (for rating the aggressiveness of the games played in the experiment.)
Results
The results from the questionnaire before the experiment showed that 61% of the participants had a video game console at home. They kept this in mind when reviewing the results but it made no significant difference.
The table below shows the mean amount of time children spent playing with each toy in comparison with the different sexes and the condition.
The results from the questionnaire before the experiment showed that 61% of the participants had a video game console at home. They kept this in mind when reviewing the results but it made no significant difference.
The table below shows the mean amount of time children spent playing with each toy in comparison with the different sexes and the condition.
Conclusion
The study showed some evidence that children do imitate aggressive behaviours from video games.
The study showed some evidence that children do imitate aggressive behaviours from video games.
Criticisms
- The sample from this study was something known as age bias. This is a problem because different ages will have a difference response to the games' violent actions meaning younger people could be more impressionable than an older teen or a young adult.
- This study also maintained low-levels of ecological validity due to it being in a false environment. This could lead to problems as children wouldn't usually be in such strict situations, compared to playing at home or in an arcade, for example.
- The aggressive behaviour was accounted for in very specific ways, this meant the results lacked construct validity. Only one of the two ways they used to measure the behaviour of the children actually measured aggressiveness.
- Multiple extraneous variables were left uncontrolled leaving it to e difficult to establish cause and effect. Although they established whether or not a child had played Missile Command, they did not establish for how long.
- Finally, they only accounted for the immediate effects the games had on the children. Could such games could also affect the child long-term?