Playing violent video games reduces stress, according to a new study.
- Several studies done on violent video games show that they increase stress.
- Researchers have just found opposite results.
- Their study, which concerns a small number of people and a single video game, cannot yet be generalized.
A small study reveals that violent video games reduce stress hormones, which contradicts much previous research on the subject.
These results were published in the scientific journal Physiology & Behavior.
“I became interested in the subject because I am a gamer myself. Since I was little, I have been fascinated by virtual worlds. I play because it is fun, because I like competition but also for relieve the stress of my daily life”said study author Gary L. Wagener, a researcher at the University of Luxembourg. “When I began studying psychology, I noticed that there were large inconsistencies in the research on the effects of violent video games, with some scientists claiming that playing them increased aggression while others did not. . So I decided to study this problem myself”, continues the researcher.
Stress and video games: 54 men tested on “Uncharted 4 A Thief’s End”
His trial involved 54 male participants. Each individual was randomly assigned to play a violent or non-violent passage of the video game.Uncharted 4 A Thief’s End” for 25 minutes.
To measure the effects of gaming, researchers assessed levels of cortisol (also called “stress hormone”) and testosterone of the participants, before and after the game, using saliva samples. An Implicit Association Test (IAT) was also used to measure the possible aggressiveness of players.
After analysis, the researchers found no significant changes in testosterone levels in either group. The same goes for aggression. In contrast, cortisol levels decreased in the group that played a violent passage of “Uncharted 4 A Thief’s End“.
Stress and video games: the limits of the study
“What ultimately surprised us was that playing a violent video game had no effect on aggression, even when accounting for physiological and personality effects, and that it even had effects beneficial physiological “, explain the researchers.
“It is not clear that violent video games are harmful to players,” continues Gary L. Wagener, before emphasizing the limits of his work. “We can only generalize the effects of this study for the video game we chose for the experiment,” he concedes. “We are continuing this research and trying to use different materials in order to be able to generalize these results to the entire field of video games,” he concludes.
