Abstract: This study examined the desensitizing effect of active or passive exposures to violent video games on male college students’ physiological arousal when viewing a violent film. The study employed a 2 (active or passive exposure) x 2 (violent or nonviolent video game) factorial design.
Half of the forty-four participants were randomly assigned to either playing a violent video game or watching the records of someone else playing the violent game for 15 minutes, and the other half assigned to playing or watching a nonviolent video game. Then all the participants were presented with a 10-minute long violent film segment while their heart rate (HR) and galvanic skin response (GSR) were being recorded. The result showed that participants who previously played or viewed a violent video game had lower GSR while viewing the violent film than those who previously played or watched a nonviolent video game. This result demonstrated a physiological desensitization effect of exposure to violent video games on physiological arousal toward violence. However, the way of exposure, active or passive, to violent video games failed to show any influence on the degree of desensitization, although actively-playing group reported more enjoyment and less frustration than did passively-viewing group. Results were interpreted and discussed using the General Aggression model.

Key words: violent video games, desensitization, exposure ways