The purpose of these 2 studies is to examine whether an aggressive mood (induced by playing a violent video game) biases a person's recall of aggressive and nonaggressive words. Study 1 examined the effects that violent video games have on the player and observer. Study 2 examined the effects of an induced aggressive mood on a person's recall of a list of aggressive and nonaggressive words. In both studies, participants were randomly assigned to play a violent video game, which consisted of fighting a computer opponent using martial arts, or to play a nonviolent video game, which involved racing a high-performance car on a racetrack. Overall, in Study 1, the participants who were exposed to the violent video game had a greater feeling of aggression than the participants who were exposed to the nonviolent video game. Overall, in Study 2, the participants recalled significantly more aggressive words than nonaggressive words, but participants who played the violent video game did not recall significantly more aggressive words than those who played the nonviolent video game.

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