PRZYBYLSKL DECL RIGBY.AND RYAN basic a factor that as people ed for auto More recently,Roth,Kana aid.the motivation-foc pproach based in SDT differs widely 201 from how gaming-related aggression is typically studied ul as well as The Gaming-Related Aggression Literature s0 hlocking led to in The primary theoretical framework used to understand the links ms of GAM is a social c onitive framework in ded to model th cte late unde ned the need for relatedne 977 )the GAM argue that incidental s hat act and ple sive f of ial cont Take t for the idea This kind d the ognitiv heightening aggressiv ting n as me of competence-need thwarting in a novel context iolkentcontcantintoditio al.passive Motivational Perspective and Electronie Gaming GAM games,which othe ng.GAM-omair dies of d to rew onducte using one of and ated sm anicular.mar rovide ar A Bu y a 985) aple.the graded challe nges and det ailed which e h compu supp on and of gar olay and nay inflate ffec g the need Supportin and is quite onstratine bow in-eam e need satisfaction child relatio quality (Wa Adac rm shifts i vers'well-b The of vi xposure (e.g von Salis lence acro 等a wide ve te nt and quent research by Przybylski.Ryan.and Rigby (2009 I and prospective open th ed tha nities for ot inherently mot sive.Ins nted for the lion's share of variability in viol t eam effects of violent eamine on pla ggressive feelings and work of yan,Rigby an the labo Like the cros ational studies ha hown in nen ki et al. who played (e.g.. n&Di.200 sion. Early work by Ryan and Grolnick (1986) showed that chil￾dren had higher levels of implicit aggressiveness when their basic need for autonomy was impeded. More recently, Roth, Kanat￾Maymon, and Bibi (2011) reported that classroom environments that were autonomy-need thwarting were more likely to foster bullying as well as interpersonal aggression. Weinstein, Hodgins, and Ostvik-White (2011) also showed that the salience of autonomy-blocking led to increased accessibility of aggressive thoughts, which in turn resulted in people enjoying hostile forms of humor. Neighbors, Vietor, and Knee (2002) reported that need￾thwarting motivation predicted experiencing pressure and ego￾defensiveness while driving, a shift that in turn related to aggres￾sive driving and road rage. Weinstein (2009) showed that those situations that undermined the need for relatedness served to increase interpersonal aggression, an effect that actually carried over from a prior environment to bias social behavior and intro￾duce aggressive feelings into a new social context. Taken together, these studies provide preliminary support for the idea that psycho￾logical need thwarting can lead to aggressiveness. To date, the effects of competence-need deprivation have not been extensively explored from an SDT perspective. The present article builds upon the prior research by systematically examining aggression as an outcome of competence-need thwarting in a novel context. Motivational Perspective and Electronic Gaming Unlike many other pursuits, most people are not typically mo￾tivated to play electronic games for extrinsic rewards such as money or fame; instead such games are pursued because they provide inherent satisfactions. Indeed, according to SDT gaming is typically intrinsically motivated and provides individuals with rich opportunities for psychological need satisfactions (Ryan, Rigby, & Przybylski, 2006). In particular, many games provide ample com￾petence need satisfactions—feelings of efficacy and skill growth, which are fundamental to intrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 1985). For example, the graded challenges and detailed, unambig￾uous performance feedback in computer games can support satis￾faction of the need for competence. Similarly, wide-ranging op￾portunities for exploration and action allow for satisfaction of the need for autonomy. Finally, the affordance of communication channels and group challenges emphasizing collaboration and competition can satisfy the need for relatedness. Supporting this idea, Ryan, Rigby, and Przybylski (2006) reported on a series of experiments demonstrating how in-game need satisfactions pre￾dicted both preferences for specific games, and game enjoyment. They also demonstrated that games that were need satisfying predicted positive short-term shifts in players’ well-being. These relations were in evidence across a wide range of games, varying in content and genre. Subsequent research by Przybylski, Ryan, and Rigby (2009) examined the motivational appeal of violent game content. They reported that opportunities for aggression in electronic games were not inherently motivating or necessarily more immersive. Instead, basic need supports, for competence and autonomy in particular, accounted for the lion’s share of variability in violent game appeal and immersion. Like the earlier work of Ryan, Rigby, and Przy￾bylski (2006), this research underscored the predictive utility of understanding games from a motivational vantage point. Przybyl￾ski et al. (2009) highlighted the extent to which games satisfied basic needs, a factor that was linked to how people engaged in games, independent of their particular contents or genres. That said, the motivation-focused approach based in SDT differs widely from how gaming-related aggression is typically studied. The Gaming-Related Aggression Literature The primary theoretical framework used to understand the links between electronic gaming and human aggression is the general aggression model (GAM; Anderson, Deuser, & DeNeve, 1995). The GAM is a social cognitive framework intended to model the paths by which exposure to violent media influences aggressive thoughts and feelings. Based on social learning theory (Bandura, 1977), the GAM argues that incidental exposure to media featuring violence is arousing and pleasurable and thus increases the future probability of intentional violent media exposure. Acute incidents of intentional self-exposure to violent media lead to chronic self￾exposure. This kind of chronic exposure to violent media snow￾balls by increasing the accessibility of aggressive thoughts and cognitive schemas, heightening aggressive feelings, and resulting in aggressive behavior (for a comprehensive review, see Lindsay & Anderson, 2000). Originally, the GAM was designed to model the effects of violent content in traditional, passive forms of media such as comics, movies, and music. More recently however, the GAM has been used to study violence in computer games, which in contrast is an interactive domain. Broadly speaking, GAM-based studies of gaming-related ag￾gression have been conducted using one of three approaches: correlational studies, laboratory experiments, and longitudinal de￾signs. A number of correlational and prospective studies have demonstrated small, yet consistent links from dispositional aggres￾sion, delinquency, and poor school performance to violent game engagement (e.g., Anderson, Gentile, & Buckley, 2007). These studies have used variants of the Violent Video Game Exposure (VVGE: Anderson & Dill, 2000) questionnaire to assess violent gaming levels, which has been somewhat controversial. Research￾ers have highlighted serious problems with the VVGE such as suspect validity because it does not accurately tap into everyday patterns of game play and may inflate effect-size estimates (Fik￾kers, Valkenburg, & Vossen, 2012). Further, an increasing number of recent prospective studies have indicated that the gaming￾aggression link is not conclusive and is quite small when other factors are considered (Elson & Ferguson, in press). Demographic variability, parent– child relationship quality (Wallenius & Pu￾namäki, 2008), peer deviance (Willoughby, Adachi, & Good, 2012), consistent measures of game content (Ferguson, 2011), and expert ratings of violent game exposure (e.g., von Salisch, Vogel￾gesang, Kristen, & Oppl, 2011) serve to moderate most observed relations between aggression and electronic gaming. Because correlational and prospective studies leave open the causal direction of the relations—that is, whether violent play makes people somewhat more aggressive or dispositionally ag￾gressive persons seek out violent games—an increasing number of studies have sought to address this issue of causality by examining the effects of violent gaming on players’ aggressive feelings and behaviors postengagement in the laboratory. Like the cross￾sectional (i.e., correlational) and prospective studies, a subset of these studies have shown increased postengagement aggression for those who played violent games (e.g., Anderson & Dill, 2000; 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. 442 PRZYBYLSKI, DECI, RIGBY, AND RYAN