Personality and frustration predict aggression and anger following violent media

ABSTRACT

The General Aggression Model is one of the major frameworks that studies use to conceptualise the relationship between violent video games and aggression. Although commonly used, this model incorporates important personological and media characteristics into its formulation at a minimal level. As such, the purpose of the current research was to investigate the effect of four media types (violent video game, non-violent video game, violent book, and violent television show) on state anger and behavioural aggression. Analysis revealed no differences in state anger and behavioural aggression between the four media types. Regression analysis suggests that individuals with higher levels of impulsivity, increased emotional reactivity to the media, and frustration with the content of the media are more likely to have a higher state anger response to media exposure. Behavioural aggression was higher for those participants less disturbed by the media and with higher trait anger. Overall, these results suggest that personality and frustration are better predictors of anger and aggression in the context of media exposure. Implications for models of media aggression (such as the Immersive Media Prediction model) and future research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Violent video games
• aggression
• personality
• anger
• frustration

Acknowledgements

The lead author affirms that this manuscript is an honest, accurate, and transparent account of the study being reported; that no important aspects of the study have been omitted; and that any discrepancies from the study as planned have been explained.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We define violent media here as an adaptation of the US National Television Violence Study (1998), as highlighted by Tamborini et al. (2013): any overt and realistic depiction of a credible threat of physical force or the consequence of such force, or the actual use of such force, intended to physically harm an animate being or group of beings.

2 Comparison between low (below 33rd percentile) and high (above 66th percentile) trait anger groups were also not significant.

Additional information

Funding

Dr Riley O’Donohue was supported by a ‘Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health’ (S.A.R.R.A.H) Clinical Psychology Scholarship.