In a study published in International Journal of Legal MedicineThe researchers found a striking association between aggression displayed in video games and the severity of real-world crimes committed by individuals with significant psychopathic tendencies and those convicted of murder. This study highlights the potential of video games as a tool to measure and understand aggressive behavior in a controlled, replicable environment.
The researchers undertook this study to address an important question in criminology and forensic psychology: can aggressive behavior displayed in video game environments provide insight into the violent tendencies of individuals convicted of serious crimes, such as murder? Previous research has highlighted an association between video game aggression and less serious crimes, but it was unclear whether these findings could be generalized to a broader range of offenders, especially those who have committed the most heinous acts.
Focusing on a real-world sample of criminals, the researchers aimed to explore whether those with prominent psychopathic traits and those convicted of murder would show greater aggression in a video game-based shooting task.
The study involved 111 male participants who were arrested by Tehran police in 2021. After pleading guilty, these individuals were interviewed by a forensic psychologist who also led the data collection process. The specific ages of the participants were not recorded, but based on visual assessment, most appeared to be middle-aged.
A range of measures were collected to obtain a comprehensive picture of participants’ backgrounds, behaviours and mental health. These included demographic information such as gender, primary place of residence (rural or urban) and education level, as well as detailed assessments of dark personality traits such as psychopathy, Machiavellianism and sadism.
Participants engaged in a video game-based shooting decision task under the direct supervision of a forensic psychologist. The task was designed to measure aggressive tendencies in a controlled virtual environment. The game presents participants with different scenarios in which they must quickly decide whether to “shoot” or “not shoot”. Participants must make a quick decision within a short time frame, usually a few seconds. If they perceived the character as a threat, they should “shoot”. If they perceived the character as not a threat, they should refrain from shooting.
The study found that individuals with prominent psychopathic traits and those convicted of murder showed significantly higher aggression in a video game environment compared to other criminals. Notably, psychopathy was associated with increased aggressive tendencies regardless of the type of crime committed. This finding supports previous research showing that individuals with psychopathic traits are more prone to impulsive and aggressive behavior.
Furthermore, the study found that murderers exhibited more aggressive behavior in the game compared to criminals, suggesting that these individuals may have an innate bias toward violent decision-making in ambiguous situations, consistent with recent research highlighting cognitive biases in criminals.
Interestingly, the study found no significant differences between murderers and other criminals in terms of family abuse, education, mental health, criminal history, or dark personality traits, except for the number of crimes they had committed in the past. Murderers had committed fewer crimes in the past than other criminals.
Despite the valuable insights, this study has several limitations. The relatively small sample size of murderers may limit the generalizability of the findings. The lack of a non-criminal control group is another limitation. Comparing murderers to other criminals allows for a direct comparison, but the incorporation of a demographically matched non-criminal control group may provide even more valuable insights.
“In summary, our study established a link between real-world violent behavior and aggression in virtual environments,” the researchers concluded. “Offenders with significant psychopathic tendencies and those convicted of the most serious crimes, such as murder, both displayed more aggressive behavior in video games. Our findings expand the boundaries of traditional video game aggression research and highlight the potential of video game simulations as a diagnostic tool for analysing different criminal tendencies. Further research in this area has the potential to revolutionise our understanding of criminal behaviour, rehabilitation processes and risk management.”
the study, “From the crime scene to the game screen: Video game-based aggression among psychopathic offenders and convicted murder offenders.” was written by Armand Chatard, Soghra Ebrahimi Ghavam, Alexia Delbreil, Ghina Harika-Germaneau, and Nemat Jaafari.