COMPETENCE IMPEDANCE AND AGGRESSION 453 we predicted and evaluated the idea that such ation uedcoonl mechanimn cused on the m Broadly speaking.the findings e de ven studie satisfaction in ink com ent of games related positively to player competence and ence with the e(Stud 5)an spired by meta- shape gaming c of player games (Studies 2 and 7).The present research thus m violent s of the compete with s of fel idings indic sion:short-term shifts en person ggression in gaming have tended to find the largest effects wher ion in the experin from Study 5 showed that player fosterec an over ma nipulated (Studies and 5) arting as well d levels o y player prefe of plav se r hioh in owe fou Gamine ined the hasi fo study 6 tally replicated and endent of the ing algorithms that shaped the me's chal play that ed playe ting gamin that gaming that thw arted the players omp the used in the classic desig uggesting that the mple of self-s lecting players. esultsfrom this study indicated i tha ive with ag sive feelings ement- was provided more eplication of Study 1. o player enjoyment.which was in tum negatively associated with ostplay In sum.these findings supported o ery of the nvironments have on aggressive thoughts feelings and behav. and 4 direct e by that the mot hwarts influ Links With Prior Theories of Aggression ing co In Study n Ie we found tha c-thwart c inte ions of the competence impedance contributed to aggressive intentions.but tion of goal pursuits determinant of.Ouwe predicted and evaluated the idea that such relations would remain in evidence independent of violent game content, a factor oft studied in the gaming-related aggression literature. Broadly speaking, the findings we derived across seven studies supported the competence-impedance hypothesis. We evaluated how manipulations of a range of gaming circumstances can serve to support or to undermine player competence through different of kinds of games (Study 1), complexity of game interfaces (Studies 3 and 4), levels of player experience with the game (Study 5), and the underlying algorithms that shape gaming challenges (Study 6), as well as differences in people’s experience of competence at the same games (Studies 2 and 7). The present research thus married diverse manipulations intended to impact felt competence and participants’ self-reports of felt competence with varied operation￾alizations of human aggression: short-term shifts in aggressive feelings (Studies 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6), the accessibility of aggressive thoughts (Study 3), aggressive behavior (Study 6), and evaluations within and between person variability in aggressive postplay feel￾ings among self-selecting players (Study 7). Moreover, we con￾trolled for baseline levels of aggression in the experimental studies and evaluated links between competence need satisfaction and aggression under conditions where violent game content was ex￾perimentally manipulated (Studies 1, 2, and 5), entirely absent (Studies 3, 4, and 6), and varied by player preference (Study 7). Across these operationalizations of competence supports versus thwarts and assessments of aggression, we found consistent sup￾port for the need-thwarting hypothesis across a spectrum of gam￾ing content. Gaming that undermined the basic human need for competence was associated with short-term shifts in aggressive feelings, accessibility of aggressive thoughts, and aggressive be￾haviors, independent of the degree of violence contained within the games. What follows is a more detailed synopsis of the findings. Studies 1 and 2 provided preliminary tests of the need-thwarting hypothesis, evaluating gaming contexts that featured varied levels of violent content. In the first study we revisited a widely discussed experiment (Anderson et al., 2004), comparing the effects of two different games, and in the second study we manipulated the violent content of a single game. Findings from Study 1 indicated that the exemplar games used in the classic design varied in motivational terms, suggesting that the use of different games to compare game contents can serve as unintended manipulations of competence-thwarting. In particular, our analysis showed that playing the violent game had an indirect effect on aggression insofar as its complex interface thwarted player competence. Study 2 provided a more a rigorous replication of Study 1, and results from both indicated that game engagement was associated with pre- to postplay shifts in aggressive affect for those players who felt little mastery of the game controls. Hence, the competence￾impedance hypothesis received initial support in both of these studies. Studies 3 and 4 directly manipulated player competence by modifying the complexity of the controls for a simple puzzle game. We found that the motivational thwarts influenced aggressive thoughts and feelings in a nonviolent gaming context. In Study 3, we tapped into the cognitive aspects of aggression. Using a lexical decision task, we found that competence-thwarting game inter￾faces led to increased accessibility of aggressive thoughts as well as less positive evaluations of the game. This is not to say that competence impedance contributed to aggressive intentions, but only faster recognition of aggression-related words. Study 4 fo￾cused on the motivational mechanisms linking game interface and aggressive feelings. Mediation analyses highlighted the key role of players’ competence-need satisfaction in linking complex control interfaces and undermined mastery-of-controls to increased levels of aggressive affect. Results from Study 4 also showed that the enjoyment of games related positively to player competence and negatively to player aggression. Inspired by meta-analyses (Sherry, 2001, 2007), Study 5 eval￾uated how different levels of player experience related to shifts in aggressive feelings and reintroduced an experimental manipulation of violent content to test the robustness of the competence￾impedance hypothesis. Findings indicated that experience with a game had a direct effect on player competence-need satisfaction and consequently predicted less aggression. This pattern of rela￾tions conceptually replicated and extended those reported in meta￾analyses by Sherry (2001, 2007), namely that past studies of aggression in gaming have tended to find the largest effects where participants were exposed to games for very short periods of time. Results from Study 5 showed that player experience fostered mastery over the game’s interface as well as an overall sense of competence. By contrast, those who lacked experience with the game reported competence thwarting as well as increased levels of aggressive feelings. Further, these results highlighted the impor￾tance of player competence to motivation. Players high in compe￾tence were more likely to return to play during a free-choice period, whereas those experiencing less competence were less motivated. Study 6 conceptually replicated and bolstered Studies 1–5 by actively manipulating player competence. We altered the underly￾ing algorithms that shaped the game’s challenges to create a version of play that continuously undermined player competence. In this study, we employed a behavioral measure of aggression, and results showed that gaming that thwarted the players’ compe￾tence satisfaction increased aggressive feelings and also increased participant willingness to inflict an aversive physical experience on others. Study 7 addressed the generalizability of the competence￾impedance hypothesis, moving from the laboratory setting to a sample of self-selecting players. Results from this study indicated that player competence in everyday gaming settings was nega￾tively associated with aggressive feelings postengagement—a finding that was robust controlling for variability in violent game content. Similarly, competence-need satisfaction related positively to player enjoyment, which was in turn negatively associated with postplay aggression. In sum, these findings supported our motivation-based approach and underscored the importance of considering, evaluating, and manipulating the motivational ele￾ments of gaming contexts when studying the influences that these environments have on aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behav￾iors. Links With Prior Theories of Aggression It is interesting to consider the current studies in relations to prior goal theories. For example, Dollard and colleagues (Dollard, Miller, Doob, Mowrer, & Sears; Miller, 1941) offered the frustration-aggression hypothesis, which proposes that interrup￾tion of goal pursuits is a necessary determinant of aggression. Our This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. COMPETENCE IMPEDANCE AND AGGRESSION 453