Anderson & Dill (2000) found evidence suggesting that playing violent video games, such as Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, or Mortal Kombat, can increase a person's aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in a laboratory setting, and that playing violent video games on a regular basis is associated with more aggressive behavior in life. Furthermore, violent video games may be more harmful than violent television and movies, because they are interactive and require the player to identify with the aggressor.

The authors conducted two different studies, the first involving 227 college students who completed a measure of trait aggressiveness and were asked to report their aggressive behaviors in the recent past, as well as their video game playing habits. Positive correlations were found between playing violent video games in junior and senior high school and engaging in aggressive behaviors. Also, the amount of time spent playing video games in the past was negatively correlated with academic grades in college.

The second study involved 210 college students who played either a violent (Wolfenstein 3D) or nonviolent video game (Myst). Shortly after playing the games, students were given the opportunity to punish an opponent by delivering a noise blast with varying intensity. Students who had played the violent game delivered the punishment for a longer time than did students who had played the nonviolent game. The authors suggest that playing aggressive video games may prime aggressive thoughts in the short run, thus contributing to aggression. In the long run, individuals may practice new aggression-related scripts that can become more accessible during real-life conflict situations.

In 2015 an American Psychological Association task force confirmed the link between playing violent video games and aggression. However, it found insufficient research to link violent video game play to criminal activity (http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2015/08/violent-video-games.aspxLinks to an external site.). This differential finding raises important questions between aggressive behavior and criminal activity.

Instructions: Discuss why there may not be such a link. Then decide is it insufficient research that was conducted, or perhaps was there a socialization factor? Why or Why Not?