This study by Brock University in Canada investigated the relationship between adolescents’ violent video game playing patterns, habits and attitudes, and their levels of moral reasoning.
The results found that over-exposure to violent games weakened empathy for others and that regular exposure to violence and lack of contact with the outside world makes it harder to tell right from wrong. Young people who play too many violent video games also struggle to trust other people, and see the world from their perspective.
Report summary
Mirjana Bajovic of Brock University set out to discover whether there was a link between the types of video games teens played, how long they played them, and the teens’ levels of moral reasoning – their ability to take the perspective of others into account. 109 adolescents from the eighth grade of seven public elementary schools in Canada were studied.
The results suggested that playing violent video games in general was a very popular activity among the adolescents. However, the results demonstrated a significant negative relationship between adolescents’ amount of time playing violent video games during the day and their socio-moral maturity.