Measuring Aggression

[asmidir]

Hey guys,

We've just started investigation projects in my psychology class and I've decided to test whether video games do make people aggressive (don't worry, I know they don't, I just thought it would be cool to test). Anyway, I need a way to measure peoples levels of aggression, internet searches gave no results and I have hardly any ideas how to do it. All I can think of is measuring blood pressure and heart rate.

So fellow escapists, do you have any ideas how I can measure aggression?

 

[Julianking93]

Say something to someone that will piss them off and see how they react.

Take one group who plays games and one that doesn't

Tada!!

Though you may have a few broken bones or black eyes before it's over.

 

[asmidir]

Say something to someone that will piss them off and see how they react.

Take one group who plays games and one that doesn't

Tada!!

Though you may have a few broken bones or black eyes before it's over.

My idea for testing is to measure how aggressive everyone is before testing, split them into two groups, one group will play a "non violent" game and the others will play a "violent" game, I'll then measure their aggressivness after their sessions.

(My method might be a bit stupid)

 

[Roxas1359]

One way I can think of can be if they are irritated see how their posture is; or of they look like they are clenching their teeth. The more it looks like they are clenching their teeth or their posture seems to hint that they want to run up and strangle you, the more aggression they have. You can also see if they tense up when they get more and more angry, or look like they want to chuck the controller into the T.V. Mainly this works in video games when the person is playing a very hard game. Might I recommend the first God of War in Hades when climbing the spire in Hades's Realm? That is sure to get you results for aggression.

 

[onewheeled]

I'm actually doing a research paper for English class on this same topic!

My idea for testing is to measure how aggressive everyone is before testing, split them into two groups, one group will play a "non violent" game and the others will play a "violent" game, I'll then measure their aggressivness after their sessions.

(My method might be a bit stupid)

I actually have heard of this method being used quite often. If you do it, though, be very careful with your game choices. One shouldn't be an adrenaline-pumping gory shooting game and the other be Viva Pinata.

 

[Roxas1359]

I'm actually doing a research paper for English class on this same topic!

My idea for testing is to measure how aggressive everyone is before testing, split them into two groups, one group will play a "non violent" game and the others will play a "violent" game, I'll then measure their aggressivness after their sessions.

(My method might be a bit stupid)

I actually have heard of this method being used quite often. If you do it, though, be very careful with your game choices. One shouldn't be an adrenaline-pumping gory shooting game and the other be Viva Pinata.

It should be Flower instead of Viva Pinata. People get angry when the lovey Pinata that you've finally managed to convince becomes a permanent resident of your garden and is killed.

 

[ultrachicken]

One way I can think of can be if they are irritated see how their posture is; or of they look like they are clenching their teeth. The more it looks like they are clenching their teeth or their posture seems to hint that they want to run up and strangle you, the more aggression they have. You can also see if they tense up when they get more and more angry, or look like they want to chuck the controller into the T.V. Mainly this works in video games when the person is playing a very hard game. Might I recommend the first God of War in Hades when climbing the spire in Hades's Realm? That is sure to get you results for aggression.

Or have them play demon's souls while telling them nothing about it.

 

[2xDouble]

Well, there's always the stupid answer...

Poll: On a scale of 1 to 10, how angry do you feel? With 1 being not angry at all and 10 being extremely angry.

Actually, a poll/quiz/survey is a fairly quantitative method, if a little sketchy on its accuracy. As long as you have a large enough sample size, you should be fine.

You could also note the observers' opinions of how angry your subjects seem before, during, and after the test (and weigh it accordingly, of course, outside opinions should never count 1:1 vs personal opinion in a majorly subjective test).

There are other things to consider when testing something like this, I'll spoiler them since they're not really part of the question...

Spoiler: Additional variables and angles

If you have time, you should test the same subjects playing non-violent games and doing nothing (control test) for the same amount of time. That should give your findings appropriate scale.

You could also consider isolated experience vs group experiences, but that would entail running the entire project effectively twice (unless you test only that one variable)... the more variables you examine, the longer and more intensive the study becomes...

 

[Saltyk]

The things is, I don't think anyone knows how to measure aggression. Saying that you've noticed an increase in aggression is pretty much talking to hear your own voice. How can you measure such an abstract concept?

Might I add that running a red light is aggressive. Talking to that cute girl is aggressive. Telling your boss that you want a raise is aggressive.

There are so many things that you can call aggressive that it's impossible to say what it is. There's a difference between good aggression, asking that girl out, and bad, her boyfriend punching you in the face.

Try to keep this in mind in your research and do it justice.

 

[JourneyMan88]

Tackled this subject myself 2 semesters ago. Get a book called Grand Theft Childhood by Kutner and Olsen. Also, this is the article from the APA (http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2000/04/video-games.aspx) which contains links to the actual report on the study involving violence in video games. Grand Theft Childhood rebukes this study on several grounds, giving you both sides of the same coin. While the paper is long, it details hows the APA studied aggression in this instance and their ground for their conclusion.

 

[KefkaCultist]

Or have them play demon's souls while telling them nothing about it.

hehe yeah, that would get anyones blood boiling

 

[CarpathianMuffin]

Measuring aggression is a difficult thing to do. Most ways that I can think of wouldn't work on the majority of people. The only way you could really make it have a good likelihood of aggression from most people would be if you didn't tell them that you were doing that study, and just acted like a jerk to them anyway. But that'd involve losing a few friends and perhaps the use of a limb or two temporarily.

I don't know, I'm hoping you do find a way though.

 

[blue_lame93@hotmail.com]

People aren't magically turned violent by video games, in some instances video games can trigger someone but they wouldn't actually make them more or less agressive. It all depends on the person. you could do a million studies on a million people and get 2 different results, or you could get a million.

 

[McNinja]

Hey guys,

We've just started investigation projects in my psychology class and I've decided to test whether video games do make people aggressive (don't worry, I know they don't, I just thought it would be cool to test). Anyway, I need a way to measure peoples levels of aggression, internet searches gave no results and I have hardly any ideas how to do it. All I can think of is measuring blood pressure and heart rate.

So fellow escapists, do you have any ideas how I can measure aggression?

there isn't a solid way to measure it without doing real tests with dozens of people. However,http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.200298-New-Study-Most-Teenagers-are-Unaffected-by-Violent-Gaming so that's a good place to start. See what the researchers did and all that.