F* the Children and Get Off My Lane! In-Game Aggression and Traffic Violations
Do you think there is a link between in-game behavior and driving? This study suggests so. It examines how in-game aggression and dark personality traits impact driving behavior.
• Road traffic injuries rank among the highest causes of death worldwide.
• In Iran, the number of deaths per 100,000 people from road traffic was 43.8 in 2016.
• Road traffic violations are associated with aggressive behaviors, and dark personality traits with antisocial behavior and aggression.
• Participants with higher in-game aggression scored higher in psychopathy.
• In addition, high aggression in-game, Machiavellianism, and sadism predicted (serious) traffic violations.
"According to the World Health Organization (2021), road traffic injury is the leading cause of death for children and young adults, and the eighth leading cause of death for people of all ages." [1]
In 2016 alone, road traffic fatalities in the US were estimated to be 12.4 deaths per 100,000 people. An even more extreme case is Iran, where the mortality rate of road traffic accidents was 43.8 deaths per 100,000 people in 2016.
A high number of traffic accidents involve some form of risky and aggressive behavior. This includes excessive speeding, car chases, and rodeo. To prevent traffic accidents and understand the psychological mechanisms that lead to them, the researchers used a video game to measure the level of general aggression people have.
Another factor besides aggressive behavior is so-called "dark personality traits," including Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism. These personality traits are known to contribute to some, let's call them "unwanted," behaviors in people and are associated with various forms of aggression and antisocial behavior.
Machiavellianism is characterized by manipulating and exploiting others. Narcissism includes pride, egotism, and a lack of empathy. Psychopathy is defined by thrill-seeking and unemotionality.
"This study investigates the relationship between dark personality traits, aggressive behavior in violent video games, and severe traffic violations among 200 driving offenders from Tehran, Iran..." [1]
The image below shows the game the 200 traffic offenders played. In this "violent video game," participants had to decide whether or when to shoot the armed trial on the left and (not) shoot the unarmed person with a bottle (?) on the right. (I'm always impressed by what researchers come up with.)
🚸 F* the Children Crossing the Road!
The results they found showed that there was a significant association between some dark personality traits and both the shooting bias in the game and severe driving offenses.
In particular, those scoring high in psychopathy (someone being thrill-seeking and unemotional) had a significant shooting bias, meaning they shot more innocent targets in the game.
Moreover, Machiavellianism (manipulating and exploiting others), sadism, and general aggression (shooting in-game) predicted serious driving offenses. Such people are the ones that behave terribly on the road and add (severe) offenses to their names.
I hope you all have a great week, and that you enjoyed the episode. Cheers,
Christian 🙂
