Due to the nature of aggression, people need to vent their aggressive feelings and “blow off steam” as a way of mental therapy. Gaming can be an effective tool to alleviate aggressive feelings, similar to the commonalities that playing games share...
Due to the nature of aggression, people need to vent their aggressive feelings and “blow off steam” as a way of mental therapy. Gaming can be an effective tool to alleviate aggressive feelings, similar to the commonalities that playing games shares with leisure activities. There are two perspectives on the relationship between playing games and aggression. The first emphasizes the emotional outlet through which people can express themselves and gain a sense of catharsis. This notion is based on catharsis theory. Aggression catharsis alleges that watching someone else’s aggressive behavior drains the viewer of his/her aggressive feelings. In contrast, the other perspective proposes that aggression-related triggers increase accessibility of aggression, which in turn can affect aggressive behavior such as playing violent games. So far, few empirical studies have examined the cause and effect of catharsis seeking in game research. Although the two perspectives differ in how they explain the relation between playing games and aggression (accelerating aggression vs. alleviating aggression), it is reasonable to study the specific interactions between game playing and aggression. Based on empirical survey data, I applied the catharsis perspective to the study of aggression.
The main goal of the present research was to investigate how therapeutic variables (therapeutic catharsis seeking, game self-efficacy), social psychological variables (independent and interdependent self-construal, bonding and bridging social capital, and self-control), the Big 5 personality dimensions (extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness), psychological problems (depression, loneliness), gaming time, game genre, and demographic variables (age, gender) affect players’ aggression. A sample of 918 players was recruited through the Internet and asked to fill out a questionnaire. The results showed that players who ed higher levels of therapeutic catharsis seeking, game self-efficacy, independent self-construal, bonding social capital, extraversion, neuroticism, depression, and loneliness showed significantly decreased degrees of aggression. Moreover, interaction effects with aggression revealed the following relationships between 1) therapeutic catharsis seeking and game self-efficacy, 2) therapeutic catharsis seeking and neuroticism, 3) therapeutic catharsis seeking and depression, 4) therapeutic catharsis seeking and gender, and 5) game self-efficacy and neuroticism. By revealing the crucial role of therapeutic catharsis seeking aspects, mood repair, mood management theory, self determination theory, as well as use and gratification theory as underlying concepts of players’ aggression, my results provide a deeper insight into the possibility of therapeutic game benefits in terms of alleviating aggression in the game context.
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