RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © Research has linked media exposure to morally-relevant outcomes such as aggressive and prosocial behavior, but much less work has explored the relationship between media and morality. A few pioneering studies have established a link between violent video games and moral disengagement. The present research adds to this new domain by assessing how media violence exposure affects people's tendency to morally disengage using data from an online survey study. Results show that exposure to both video game violence and justified video game violence are positively related to moral disengagement. The latter relationship holds even after controlling for participant gender. However, exposure to television violence and justified television violence were not significantly related to moral disengagement. Exploratory analyses suggest that individuals with greater justified video game violence exposure are more prone to moral justification, advantageous comparison, and distorting consequences. These findings suggest that video games are uniquely related to morality. ABSTRACT THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Participants 257 undergraduates from a large Midwestern university participated in exchange for course credit. Of those 257, only 191 passed all three attention checks. One additional participant answered with the lowest response option for every question. The final sample included 190 attentive participants. 57.4% were male, 39.5% were female, and 3.2% were undisclosed. Average age was years old (SD = 1.99), ranging from 18 to 35 years. Procedure Participants completed all measures online as part of a larger survey study concerning media preferences and attitudes. The full survey took approximately 45 minutes to complete. Measures Modified version of the General Media Habits Questionnaire (Anderson & Dill, 2000; Gentile, Lynch, Linder, & Walsh, 2004). List three favorite video games and three favorite television shows. Rate frequency of play/viewing for each favorite game/show on a 5- point scale. – Once a month or less, 2-3 times per month, Once per week, 2-4 times per week, or 5 or more times per week. [Frequency Rating] Rate each favorite on a scale from 1 (never / not at all) to 7 (all the time / very much) for the following: – How often characters in the game/show try to physically injure each other. [Violence Rating] – To what extent the harming of other characters is justified. [Justification of Violence 1] – To what extent the main character has a right to harm enemies. [Justification of Violence 2] MATERIALS and METHODS RESULTS CONCLUSIONS Both video game violence exposure and justified video game violence exposure were positively related to moral disengagement. However, neither television violence exposure nor justified television violence exposure were significantly related to moral disengagement. This suggests that video games are uniquely related to moral disengagement, but the direction of influence cannot be assessed with these cross-sectional data. The unique link may be due to the interactive nature of video games or avatar identification effects. Future research (experimental and longitudinal) is necessary to determine whether exposure to video game violence (justified or otherwise) alters moral disengagement or vice versa. Justified video game violence exposure predicted moral disengagement when controlling for gender but video game violence exposure (ignoring justification) did not. Participants with greater exposure to justified video game violence were more prone to moral disengagement (a relationship as strong as that between gender and moral disengagement). This suggests that it is important to assess the context in which violence is portrayed when exploring media and morality—it is not sufficient to look at exposure to violence alone. The link between justified video game violence exposure and moral disengagement is fueled by the mechanisms of moral justification, advantageous comparison, and distorting consequences. These findings are largely consistent with those of Gabbiadini et al. (2012) concerning exposure to Grand Theft Auto IV, although the present research found no effect on diffusion of responsibility (this effect was in the same direction, however). Similarly, although the effect on dehumanization was non- significant, it was in the same direction as the significant effect found by Greitemeyer and McLatchie (2011). REFERENCES Anderson, C. A., & Dill, K. E. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(4), 772– Anderson, C. A., Berkowitz, L., Donnerstein, E., Huesmann, L. R., Johnson, J. D., Linz, D., … Wartella, E. (2003). The influence of media violence on youth. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 4(3), 81– Anderson, C. A., Shibuya, A., Ihori, N., Swing, E. L., Bushman, B. J., Sakamoto, A., … Saleem, M. (2010). Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in Eastern and Western countries: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 151– Bandura, A., Barbaranelli, C., Caprara, G. V., & Pastorelli, C. (1996). Mechanisms of moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(2), 364– Gabbiadini, A., Andrighetto, L., & Volpato, C. (2012). Brief report: Does exposure to violent video games increase moral disengagement among adolescents? Journal of Adolescence, 35(5), 1403– Gabbiadini, A., Riva, P., Andrighetto, L., Volpato, C., & Bushman, B. J. (2014). Interactive effect of moral disengagement and violent video games on self-control, cheating, and aggression. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5(4), 451– Gentile, D. A., Lynch, P. J., Linder, J. R., & Walsh, D. A. (2004). The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance. Journal of Adolescence, 27(1), 5–22. Greitemeyer, T., & McLatchie, N. (2011). Denying humanness to others: A newly discovered mechanism by which violent video games increase aggressive behavior. Psychological Science, 22(5), 659– Greitemeyer, T., & Mügge, D. O. (2014). Video games do affect social outcomes: A meta- analytic review of the effects of violent and prosocial video game play. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40(5), 578– CONTACT INFORMATION The author can be contacted at A great deal of research has linked media exposure to morally relevant outcomes such as aggression and prosocial behavior (e.g., Anderson et al., 2003; Anderson et al., 2010; Greitemeyer & Mügge, 2014), but very little research has explored the links between media exposure and moral disengagement. Moral disengagement occurs when a person reframes immoral behavior as moral or amoral, in order to avoid the negative emotional consequences of behaving immorally (e.g., guilt; Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, & Pastorelli, 1996). Prior research has found that: Playing violent (as compared to non-violent) video games increased dehumanization of others which in turn facilitated aggression (Greitemeyer & McLatchie, 2011). Recency of exposure to a specific violent video game (Grand Theft Auto IV) predicted greater usage of moral justification, diffusion of responsibility, and distorting consequences (Gabbiadini, Andrighetto, & Volpato, 2012). Frequency of exposure to Grand Theft Auto predicted greater usage of advantageous comparison (Gabbiadini, Andrighetto, & Volpato, 2012). Playing Grand Theft Auto (as compared to a non-violent video game) decreased self-control, increased cheating, and increased aggression, and these effects were most pronounced for participants high in moral disengagement (Gabbiadini, Riva, Andrighetto, Volpato, & Bushman, 2013). Iowa State University Johnie J. Allen Violent Media and Morality: Exposure to Video Game Violence Relates to Moral Disengagement but Exposure to Television Violence Does Not Measures (continued) General Media Habits Questionnaire (continued) Video Game Violence Exposure (VGVE) was calculated by multiplying frequency ratings by violence ratings for each of the three reported video games. These values were then averaged. Justified Video Game Violence Exposure (JVGVE) was calculated by averaging the two justification of violence ratings for each video game and then multiplying those values by frequency ratings. The three new variables were then averaged. Television Violence Exposure (TVVE) was calculated in the same manner as video game violence exposure using television shows. Justified Television Violence Exposure (JTVVE) was calculated in the same manner as justified video game violence exposure using television shows. Moral Disengagement Scale (Bandura et al., 1996). 32 items assessing tendency to morally disengage rated on a 1 (disagree) to 3 (agree) response scale (  =.878). Includes eight, four-item subscales: – Moral justification (e.g., “It is alright to fight to protect your friends.”;  =.602). – Euphemistic language (e.g., “Slapping and shoving someone is just a way of joking.”;  =.402). – Advantageous comparison (e.g., “It is okay to insult a classmate because beating him/her is worse.”;  =.729). – Displacement of responsibility (e.g., “Kids cannot be blamed for using bad words when all their friends do it.”;  =.524). – Diffusion of responsibility (e.g., “A kid in a gang should not be blamed for the trouble the gang causes”;  =.572). – Distorting consequences (e.g., “It is okay to tell small lies because they don’t really do any harm.”;  =.616). – Attribution of blame (e.g., “Kids who get mistreated usually do things that deserve it.”;  =.430). – Dehumanization (e.g., “Some people deserve to be treated like animals.”;  =.719). Measure MD VGVE.16* JVGVE.23**.94** TVVE.04.25**.21** JTVVE.09.26**.24**.85** Gender.23**.45**.42**.18*.14-- M n/a SD n/a N Moral Disengagement Model 1Model 2Model 3Model 4 VariableB (SE B )     Constant37.81 (2.13) (2.11) (2.10) (2.08) Gender3.22 (1.40)0.20*2.76 (1.36)0.17*3.91 (1.20)0.24**3.76 (1.19)0.23** VGVE0.14 (0.10)0.12 JVGVE 0.24 (0.11)0.19* TVVE 0.02 (0.11)0.01 JTVVE 0.11 (0.10)0.08 F6.253** 8.090*** 5.571** 6.196** df(2, 163) (2, 178) Adj. R Moral Disengagement Mechanisms Variable Moral justification Euph. language Advant. comparison Displ. of respons. Diffus. of respons. Distorting conseq. Attribution of blameDehum. Gender.18* † † JVGVE.17*.14 †.26** ** F7.832** 4.436*10.420*** * * Adj. R Note. N for each correlation is shown above the diagonal. For Gender, 1 = Female and 2 = Male; MD = Moral Disengagement; VGVE = Video Game Violence Exposure; JVGVE = Justified Video Game Violence Exposure; TVVE = Television Violence Exposure; JTVVE = Justified Television Violence Exposure. * p <.05. ** p <.01. Table 1. Summary of Intercorrelations, Means, and Standard Deviations for Moral Disengagement, Media Exposure Variables, and Gender Table 2. Separate Multiple Regression Analyses Predicting Moral Disengagement from Gender and Four Media Exposure Variables Note. For Gender, 1 = Female and 2 = Male; VGVE = Video Game Violence Exposure; JVGVE = Justified Video Game Violence Exposure; TVVE = Television Violence Exposure; JTVVE = Justified Television Violence Exposure. * p <.05, ** p <.01, *** p <.001. Table 3. Exploratory Multiple Regression Analyses Predicting Usage of Moral Disengagement Mechanisms from Gender and Justified Video Game Violence Exposure Note. Standardized regression coefficients are shown. Degrees of freedom are (2,163) for all regressions. For Gender, 1 = Female and 2 = Male; JVGVE = Justified Video Game Violence Exposure. Abbreviated moral disengagement mechanisms are (in order): Euphemistic Language, Advantageous Comparison, Displacement of Responsibility, Diffusion of Responsibility, and Distorting Consequences, and Dehumanization. † <.10, * p <.05, ** p <.01, *** p <.001. HYPOTHESES It was hypothesized that: Exposure to video game violence would be positively related to moral disengagement. Exposure to justified video game violence would have an even stronger relationship with moral disengagement. Exposure to television violence would be positively related to moral disengagement. Exposure to justified television violence would have an even stronger relationship with moral disengagement. Exposure to video game violence (justified and otherwise) may have stronger relationships with moral disengagement than exposure to television violence (justified and otherwise), due to the interactive nature of video games.