Music and Aggression: The Impact of Sexual-Aggressive Song Lyrics on Aggression-Related Thoughts, Emotions, and Behavior Toward the Same and the Opposite Sex

Three studies examined the impact of sexual-aggressive song lyrics on aggressive thoughts, emotions, and behavior toward the same and the opposite sex. In Study 1, the authors directly manipulated whether male or female participants listened to misogynous or neutral song lyrics and measured actual aggressive behavior. Male participants who were exposed to misogynous song lyrics administered more hot chili sauce to a female than to a male confederate. Study 2 shed some light on the underlying psychological processes: Male participants who heard misogynous song lyrics recalled more negative attributes of women and reported more feelings of vengeance than when they heard neutral song lyrics. In addition, men-hating song lyrics had a similar effect on aggression-related responses of female participants toward men. Finally, Study 3 replicated the findings of the previous two studies with an alternative measure of aggressive behavior as well as a more subtle measure of aggressive cognitions. The results are discussed in the framework of the General Aggression Model

Prosocial video games reduce aggressive cognitions

Previous research has shown that playing violent video games increased aggressive tendencies. However, as pointed out by the General Learning Model (GLM) (Buckley & Anderson, 2006), depending on their content, video games do not inevitably increase but may also decrease aggressive responses. Accordingly, the present research tested the hypothesis that playing prosocial video games decreases aggressive cognitions. In fact, playing a prosocial (relative to a neutral) video game reduced the hostile expectation bias (Experiment 1) and decreased the accessibility of antisocial thoughts (Experiment 2). Thus, these results lend credence to GLMs assumption that the effects of video game exposure depend to a great extent on the content of the game played

Media violence and the self: the impact of personalized gaming characters in aggressive video games on aggressive behavior

A recent development in video games is that players can design and personalize their own in-game characters. It was predicted that this innovation could lead to elevations in the intensity of the psychological effects of video games. The present study confirmed this hypothesis, revealing that participants who played an aggressive video game using their own, personalized character exhibited higher levels of aggressive behavior than participants who played an aggressive game with a non-personalized character. The aggressive behavior levels of the own-character players also exceeded those of individuals who played a non-aggressive game, regardless of whether or not they used a personalized character. Process analyses revealed that participants playing a violent video game with a personalized game character experienced more arousal and self-activation than they did when playing with an impersonal, default game character, which in turn increased aggressive responses

Perceiving intraorganizational mobility ameliorates the effects of low-level position on detrimental workplace attitudes and behaviors

How do the perceived chances to get a better position in a company affect how individuals feel and behave towards their employer? Confirming the theory of relative deprivation, recent research showed that social mobility belief has attenuating effects on anger about one's relative social standing. When an individual believes they can change their current social status, negative affect about one's disadvantaged standing is appeased compared to when people believe the present hierarchy is fixed. We tested this model in a workplace context, examining whether perceived intraorganizational mobility ameliorates the effects of a low position at work on negative workplace attitudes (Study 1) and behavior (Study 2). Study 1 (n = 498) found that indeed, perceiving chances of promotion weakened the association of position at work with hostile affect towards the employer. Expanding this model to provide a direct test of the theory of relative deprivation, we designed a moderated mediation model testing whether the effect of workplace position on counterproductive work behaviors was mediated by relative deprivation, and whether this indirect effect was moderated by perceived chances of promotion. As hypothesized, Study 2 (n = 408) found that perceiving chances of promotion attenuated the detrimental effect of workplace position via relative deprivation on counterproductive work behaviors. Effects in both studies occurred independently of company hierarchy, salary, educational attainment, sex, and job sector. Overall, the results suggest that perceiving potential for individual promotion is linked to lower levels of negative workplace attitudes and counterproductive work behaviors

The Racing-Game Effect: Why Do Video Racing Games Increase Risk-Taking Inclinations?

The present studies investigated why video racing games increase players’ risk-taking inclinations. Four studies reveal that playing video racing games increases risk taking in a subsequent simulated road traffic situation, as well as risk-promoting cognitions and emotions, blood pressure,sensation seeking, and attitudes toward reckless driving. Study 1 ruled out the role of experimental demand in creating such effects. Studies 2 and 3 showed that the effect of playing video racing games on risk taking was partially mediated by changes in selfperceptions as a reckless driver. These effects were evident only when the individual played racing games that reward traffic violations rather than racing games that do not reward traffic violations (Study 3) and when the individual was an active player of such games rather than a passive observer (Study 4). In sum, the results underline the potential negative impact of racing games on traffic safety

What do men and women want in a partner? Are educated partners always more desirable?

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The effect of anticipated affect on persistence and performance

The aim of the present research was to examine the interplay between predictions of the affective impact of future events and goal-relevant behavior. More concretely, three studies tested the hypothesis that affective forecasts influence persistent goal behavior and achievement. In Studies 1 and 2, participants who predicted that success would make them happier and failure would make them feel worse were more persistent and correctly solved more tasks of an intelligence test. However, as Study 3 revealed, extreme affective forecasts also led to persistent efforts to find solutions for unsolvable tasks and, consequently, decreased overall performance. In all studies, participants anticipated more intense emotional reactions than they actually experienced (impact bias

I am right, you are wrong: how biased assimilation increases the perceived gap between believers and skeptics of violent video game effects.

BackgroundDespite hundreds of studies, there is continuing debate about the extent to which violent video games increase aggression. Believers argue that playing violent video games increases aggression, but this stance is disputed by skeptics. The present study addressed believers' and skeptics' responses to summaries of scientific studies that do or do not present evidence for increased aggression after violent video game play.Methods/principal findingsParticipants (N = 662) indicated whether they believed that violent video games increase aggression. Afterwards, they evaluated two opposing summaries of fictitious studies on the effects of violent video play. They also reported whether their initial belief had changed after reading the two summaries and indicated again whether they believed that violent video games increase aggression. Results showed that believers evaluated the study showing an effect more favorably than a study showing no effect, whereas the opposite was observed for skeptics. Moreover, both believers and skeptics reported to become more convinced of their initial view. In contrast, for actual attitude change, a depolarization effect was found.Conclusions/significanceThese results suggest that biased assimilation of new information leads believers and skeptics to become more rather than less certain of their views. Hence, even when confronted with mixed and inconclusive evidence, the perceived gap between both sides of the argument increases

The relationship between social class and unethical and prosocial (traffic) behavior: two naturalistic replication studies

Whereas some previous studies have shown that upper-class individuals are more unethical and less prosocial than lower-class individuals, other studies reported contradictory results. The present research provides two replication attempts by examining whether upper-class drivers would be more likely to cut off a pedestrian at a marked crosswalk (Study 1) and less likely to let a pedestrian cross an unmarked pedestrian crossing (Study 2) than lower-class drivers. In both studies, the vehicle status as an index of the social class of the driver was not significantly related to whether the driver let the pedestrian cross the street. Overall, it appears that the associations between social class and unethical behavior and prosocial behavior are less robust and generalizable than initially thought