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Violent video game play impacts facial emotion recognition
Author(s) -
Kirsh Steven J.,
Mounts Jeffrey R.W.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
aggressive behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.223
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1098-2337
pISSN - 0096-140X
DOI - 10.1002/ab.20191
Subject(s) - anger , happiness , psychology , facial expression , video game , emotional expression , face (sociological concept) , aggression , cognitive psychology , emotion recognition , social psychology , communication , multimedia , computer science , social science , neuroscience , sociology
This study assessed the speed of recognition of facial emotional expressions (happy and angry) as a function of violent video game play. Color photos of calm facial expressions morphed to either an angry or a happy facial expression. Participants were asked to make a speeded identification of the emotion (happiness or anger) during the morph. Typically, happy faces are identified faster than angry faces (the happy‐face advantage). Results indicated that playing a violent video game led to a reduction in the happy face advantage. Implications of these findings are discussed with respect to the current models of aggressive behavior. Aggr. Behav. 33:353–358, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.