COMPETENCE IMPEDANCE AND AGGRESSION 45s or the spects of hu 1986).could also prompt increased gaming-r I facets of aggre on.2004)speaks to this ide .that even simp earch link die lab-based egative feelings when thev reiection to us malize the clinical and policy significance of findings re many of gam mpe swill be the focus of future studies Closing Remarks The ings etal:Ferguson&Dyck.2012).To h in the saming-related a ure has focused on the p cts of ames. hether the we can sa little about hov nuch of ting differ and aggre ssion may be linked.We examined gam e as a at the re SDT-b ings indicated that im ances of player competenc satisf on These effects were wholly independent of violent sam still contents tudy of both s and other contexts p al peed-thwa omp s the s happen din ho this appens and how to amel a doma e.g Ferguso pre y ach for operationalizing huma have as a proximal source of aggressiveness red the References Adachi.P.J.C..Willoughby.T.(2011).The effect of video gam eelings has the This provided a Bushman.B.J.(2001).Effects of violent video g P al andp al beh A Science. M..Be use of self-reports In Study 3 we used easpects al Psycholosy..36.199-249.doi:10.i016s006 the olo I validity of m .C.A..Det er.W.E&DeNeve.K.(195)Hot tempera yo pass on to Dill,K.(2000).Video sive thoughts that ways (e.gBreuer.Elson.Mohseni,&Sharkow.2012).our ap- 3dPog.7872-790.d:10.103702-3514.78472deprivations of the need for relatedness, that is, for feeling a sense of belonging (Assor, Roth, & Deci, 2004), or the need for auton￾omy, that is, for feeling a sense of volition and choice (Ryan & Grolnick, 1986), could also prompt increased gaming-related ag￾gression. For example, research focused on ostracism (e.g., Legate, Dehaan, Weinstein, & Ryan, 2013; Zadro, Williams, & Richard￾son, 2004) speaks to this idea, suggesting that even simple virtual contexts can thwart a sense of belonging or relatedness and foment negative feelings when they communicate rejection to users. Since there are many features of games that could represent impedances of relatedness and autonomy, such elements within gaming con￾texts will be the focus of future studies. A second aspect that can be expanded upon was the present studies’ brief temporal focus. The experimental studies focused either on short-term shifts in aggressive feelings or postengage￾ment standing on aggression measures. Although nearly all re￾search in the gaming-related aggression literature is similarly lim￾ited, we can say little about how much of a lasting effect undermined competence has on aggression or whether such ag￾gression might endure across contexts. Said differently, the present work looked only at the short-term effects of need thwarting play, so examining the temporal and contextual carry-over effects from gaming remain open questions. Previous SDT-based work indi￾cates that chronic need thwarting might dispose some to be espe￾cially aggressive under psychosocial acute stresses (i.e., a diathesis stress model), but empirical studies are still at a formative stage. Third, the present research drew on a relatively narrow demo￾graphic band of participants. Although the sample was represen￾tative of the primary demographic that encompasses the majority of passionate players, we did not focus on other groups of key concern from popular and criminological perspectives. Future work examining these effects in vulnerable populations such as children and individuals with temperamental or persistent psycho￾social stressors has not been investigated and constitutes a neces￾sary next step for the field (e.g., Elson & Ferguson, in press; Ferguson, 2011). Finally, our approach for operationalizing human aggression merits note and highlights wider issues in the gaming-related aggression literature. In most of our studies, we measured the affective dimensions of aggression, assessing either changes in aggressive feelings (Studies 1, 2, and 4 – 6) or postplay levels of aggressive feelings (Study 7). We bolstered the value of these self-report instruments by utilizing residualized change scores, values that controlled for variability in preengagement differences in aggressive feelings. This provided a clearer perspective of how gaming influenced aggression because it controlled for how par￾ticipants felt before play and was thus an improvement on most work in the gaming-related aggression literature that depends almost entirely on postplay assessments. Studies 3 and 6 presented important exceptions to our use of self-reports. In Study 3, we used a lexical decision task to tap into the cognitive aspects of aggres￾sion, and in Study 6 we measured aggression using a behavioral procedure. Although the ecological and internal validity of many laboratory-based behavioral tasks such as noise blasts and hot sauce are suspect (Ferguson, 2007), our approach did aim to give participants a fair dose of the aversive experience they were given the opportunity to pass on to another person. Compared to other lab-based aggression measures that can be computed in multiple ways (e.g., Breuer, Elson, Mohseni, & Sharkow, 2012), our ap￾proach was straightforward and psychologically valid. Insofar as these methods tapped into different aspects of human aggression in laboratory contexts, we believe they present a consistent effort to measure the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral facets of aggres￾sion. However, at present all laboratory-based behavioral measures of human aggression critically require external validation. Re￾search linking standardized lab-based behavioral measures of ag￾gression to real-world aggression measures are needed to contex￾tualize the clinical and policy significance of findings. Closing Remarks The possibility that electronic games and player aggression are causally linked continues to be intensely debated amongst re￾searchers (Anderson et al., 2007; Ferguson & Dyck, 2012). To date, most scientific interest in this gaming-related aggression literature has focused on the passive aspects of games, whether the violent contents of some games desensitize or aggravate players. The present studies investigated a different pathway through which games and aggression may be linked. We examined gaming as an interactive activity entailing motivational experiences that can support or undermine the psychological need for competence. Our findings indicated that impedances of player competence satisfac￾tions increase cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects of ag￾gression. These effects were wholly independent of violent game contents. These findings hold significance for the future study of both electronic games and other contexts. Psychological need-thwarting is something that can and does happen in myriad ways across most life domains, including parenting, sports, work, and education. Exploring how this happens and how to ameliorate these effects leads to extremely important questions for future motivation re￾search. Herein we presented a step toward this goal, demonstrating how need thwarting can occur within computer games—a domain wherein, it is often thought, feelings of aggression arise. In so doing, we highlighted the robust role that need impedance can have as a proximal source of aggressiveness. References Adachi, P. J. C., & Willoughby, T. (2011). The effect of video game competition and violence on aggressive behavior: Which characteristic has the greatest influence? Psychology of Violence, 1, 259 –274. doi: 10.1037/a0024908 Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2001). Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physi￾ological arousal and prosocial behavior: A meta-analytic review of the scientific literature. Psychological Science, 12, 353–359. doi:10.1111/ 1467-9280.00366 Anderson, C. A., Carnagey, N. L., Flanagan, M., Benjamin, A. J., Eubanks, J., & Valentine, J. C. (2004). Violent video games: Specific effects of violent content on aggressive thoughts and behavior. Advances in Ex￾perimental Social Psychology, 36, 199 –249. doi:10.1016/S0065- 2601(04)36004-1 Anderson, C. A., Deuser, W. E., & DeNeve, K. (1995). Hot temperatures, hostile affect, hostile cognition, and arousal: Tests of a general model of affective aggression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 434 – 448. doi:10.1177/0146167295215002 Anderson, C. A., & Dill, K. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior in the laboratory and in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 772–790. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.78.4.772 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 455