The Allure of the Forbidden

Abstract

Although people typically avoid engaging in antisocial or taboo behaviors, such as cheating and stealing, they may succumb in order to maximize their personal benefit. Moreover, they may be frustrated when the chance to commit a taboo behavior is withdrawn. The present study tested whether the desire to commit a taboo behavior, and the frustration from being denied such an opportunity, increases attraction to violent video games. Playing violent games allegedly offers an outlet for aggression prompted by frustration. In two experiments, some participants had no chance to commit a taboo behavior (cheating in Experiment 1, stealing in Experiment 2), others had a chance to commit a taboo behavior, and others had a withdrawn chance to commit a taboo behavior. Those in the latter group were most attracted to violent video games. Withdrawing the chance for participants to commit a taboo behavior increased their frustration, which in turn increased their attraction to violent video games.

Keywords

violent video games frustration taboos stealing cheating

There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.

—Mark Twain (from Mark Twain’s Notebook, cited by www.twainquotes.com, n.d.)

Society typically forbids people from engaging in taboo behaviors, such as cheating and stealing. Violating taboos often has legal or social repercussions (Webster, 1942/1952), as well as personal repercussions, such as intense negative affect (Asch, 1951). Therefore, one might expect that blocking the ability to break a taboo would prevent people from engaging in the behavior. However, blocking taboos might also have unintended consequences, such as increasing frustration.

Frustration-aggression theory posits that when a desirable goal is blocked, people feel frustrated, and are therefore more prone to aggression (Berkowitz, 1989; Dollard, Doob, Miller, Mowrer, & Sears, 1939). Frustration is typically associated with the prevention of socially normative or desirable behaviors, but has not been examined with regard to violation of social norms. The present research tested whether preventing a taboo behavior elicits frustration and aggression-seeking behavior.

This research also investigated attraction to violent video games. Violent video games present players with a unique opportunity to perform aggressive behaviors (e.g., assault, murder). Although considerable research has investigated the effects of such games (e.g., Anderson et al., 2010), little research has been conducted on why people are attracted to violent games in the first place. Media can serve many functions, including emotion regulation (Jansz, 2005; Katz, Haas, & Gurevitch, 1973). In surveys, many teenagers (especially boys) report that they play violent video games because they expect a cathartic effect (i.e., violent games allow them to purge angry feelings; Kutner & Olson, 2008). Experimental studies show that angry people who believe in catharsis play violent video games to purge angry feelings (Bushman & Whitaker, 2010). Thus, one’s current and intended emotional states play a key role in the decision to play a violent game. Indeed, according to mood-management theory (e.g., Zillmann, 1988), people often turn to the media in order to regulate their moods. Video games are a potent interactive form of media that users actively select for mood management. People may therefore deliberately choose to play violent games to manage aggressive impulses generated by frustration.

This research tested whether preventing people from committing a taboo act (cheating in Experiment 1 and stealing in Experiment 2) elicits frustration, and whether such frustration, in turn, increases people’s attraction to violent video games. No research has explored the possible association between taboo behavior and attraction to violent video games. The present research fills this gap in the literature, and also offers a unique and important extension of frustration-aggression theory.

Experiment 1

Participants in our first experiment were given a reward based on the number of exam questions they answered correctly. Some participants had the ability to cheat on the exam, and they could maximize their reward by doing so. Among those given the opportunity to cheat, half had that option withdrawn (to induce frustration). Because violent video games offer an outlet for aggression, we expected that they would be more attractive to participants who were initially given the ability to cheat but were frustrated by having that opportunity withdrawn. We predicted that preventing people from cheating would not increase their attraction to nonviolent games.

Method

Participants

Participants were 120 male college students (mean age = 20.9 years, SD = 1.7), who received extra credit in a course they were taking.

Procedure

After giving their consent, participants were given 30 min to complete a multiple-choice American history exam, which consisted of 12 easy questions (e.g., “What colors are the American flag?”), 12 moderately difficult questions (e.g., “Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States during which war?”), and 12 very difficult questions (e.g., “The Battle of Reams Station was fought in what year?”). The 12 very difficult questions were so difficult that two American history professors who had no connection to this study answered all 12 incorrectly. Thus, we did not expect our participants to know the answers to these questions. This same exam has been used successfully in other studies of cheating behavior (Treynor, 2004). Participants were given an incentive to perform well on the exam. Specifically, they could earn chocolates or apples (their choice) for answering items correctly.

Participants were randomly assigned to receive either a completed exam or a blank exam in an envelope. The completed exam had a score of 100% marked at the top, but no name on it, so that participants could claim it was theirs. The experimenter was blind to condition. After 5 min, the experimenter interrupted participants and said: “Sorry, I gave you the wrong copy of the exam.” The experimenter told participants to place their exam back in the envelope and then handed them another envelope containing an exam (also either scored 100% or left blank). Thus, among the participants who were initially given a chance to cheat on the exam, half still had the chance to cheat, whereas the other half had that chance withdrawn, which we expected would frustrate them.

Next, the experimenter collected the exams and took them to a grading machine to be scored. The experimenter told participants that while waiting for their results, they could complete a brief study about video games for another experimenter if they wanted to (all said “yes”). Participants read descriptions of eight fictitious video games (four violent, four nonviolent), and they rated how much they wanted to play each game, on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 10 (extremely; see Bushman & Whitaker, 2010).¹ Participants also listed their three favorite video games. To measure habitual exposure to violent games, we counted the number of M-rated (age 17+) games listed. However, using habitual exposure to violent games as a covariate did not significantly affect the results, and this measure is not discussed further.

A debriefing, which included a probe for suspicion, followed completion of the video-game questionnaire. No participant expressed suspicion about the true purpose of the experiment, and no participant confessed to cheating on the exam. All participants were given the maximum reward of chocolates or apples.

Results

Cheating manipulation check

A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that experimental condition (chance to cheat the entire time, withdrawn chance to cheat, no chance to cheat) significantly influenced responses to the 12 difficult questions, F(2, 117) = 6.67, p < .002, η² = .10. Because four answer choices were provided for each exam question, the expected number of correct responses based purely on chance was three. The participants who were not given a chance to cheat on the exam had an average score of 3.10 (SD = 2.58), which was comparable to chance level, t(39) = 0.25, p < .80, d = 0.04. Those who had a withdrawn chance to cheat on the exam had an average score of 4.63 (SD = 3.51), which was significantly greater than chance, t(39) = 2.93, p < .01, d = 0.46. Participants who had the chance to cheat on the exam the entire time had an average score of 5.78 (SD = 3.67), which also was significantly greater than chance, t(39) = 4.78, p < .001, d = 0.76. All pairwise comparisons between groups were significant (ps < .05). Responses to the moderately difficult and easy questions did not differ significantly across conditions (ps > .08)

Effects of the chance to cheat on attraction to violent video game

Composite attraction scores were created by averaging the scores for the four violent video-game descriptions and the scores for the four nonviolent video-game descriptions (Cronbach’s α = .87 and .89, respectively). Descriptive statistics for these scores are in Table 1.

Table 1.

Mean Attraction to Violent and Nonviolent Video Games as a Function of Condition in Experiment 1

	Condition
Type of video game	Chance to cheat	Withdrawn chance to cheat	No chance to cheat
Violent	5.04_a (2.62)	6.61_b (1.82)	4.41_a (2.46)
Nonviolent	4.51_a (2.02)	4.99_a (2.22)	5.06_a (2.27)

Note: Standard deviations are in parentheses. Within a row, means with different subscripts are significantly different, p < .05.

Data were analyzed using a 3 (condition: chance to cheat the entire time, withdrawn chance to cheat, no chance to cheat) × 2 (type of game: violent, nonviolent) repeated measures ANOVA. Condition was a between-subjects factor, whereas type of game was a repeated measures factor. Main effects were obtained for both condition and type of game, F(2, 117) = 4.53, p < .013, η² = .072, and F(1, 117) = 4.04, p < .047, η² = .033, respectively. These main effects, however, were qualified by the predicted interaction between condition and type of game, F(2, 117) = 6.98, p < .001, η² = .11. As expected, condition influenced attraction to violent games, F(2, 117) = 9.52, p < .0001, η² = .14. Participants who had the chance to cheat withdrawn were more attracted to violent video games than were participants who had no chance to cheat or who had a chance to cheat the entire time, t(117) = 4.24, p < .0001, d = 0.78, and t(117) = 3.02, p < .003, d = 0.56, respectively. The latter two groups did not differ in their attraction to violent video games, t(117) = 1.23, p > .22, d = 0.23. As expected, condition did not influence attraction to nonviolent games, F(2, 117) = 0.73, p > .48, η² = .012.

Discussion

Participants who had the chance to cheat withdrawn were most attracted to violent video games. These results indicate a connection between the prevention of a social-norms violation and attraction to violent games. However, the mechanism underlying this connection was not examined in Experiment 1. According to frustration-aggression theory, frustration can lead to aggression (Berkowitz, 1989; Dollard et al., 1939). Because violent games permit aggressive acts, they may be especially attractive to people who experience frustration. In Experiment 1, the group that should have experienced the most frustration was the one that had the chance to cheat withdrawn.

It is important to determine whether blocking undesirable goals (e.g., committing taboo behaviors, such as cheating and stealing) generates frustration, just as does blocking desirable goals. The results from Experiment 1 provide initial support for this idea. However, Experiment 2 was designed to test it more specifically.

Experiment 2

In Experiment 2, we attempted to replicate the results of Experiment 1 using a different taboo behavior—stealing. It could be argued that cheating on exams is a taboo behavior mainly for students, whereas stealing is a taboo behavior for everyone.

We also sought to examine why being denied the opportunity to engage in a taboo behavior increases attraction to violent video games. Frustration-aggression theory posits that when a goal is blocked, people feel frustrated (Berkowitz, 1989; Dollard et al., 1939), and according to mood-management theory, people often use the media to regulate their emotions, such as frustration (Zillmann, 1988). Thus, we hypothesized that having the chance to engage in a taboo behavior and then having that chance withdrawn is frustrating, and that such frustration increases attraction to violent video games (but not nonviolent video games). We tested this hypothesis directly in Experiment 2.

Method

Participants

Participants were 141 male college students (mean age = 19.6 years, SD = 2.6), who received extra credit in a course they were taking.

Procedure

Participants were tested in groups of 2. They were told that the researchers were studying cognition and weight perception. They were also told that whichever participant in the experimental session was more accurate in guessing the weights of objects would receive a reward (chocolates or apples—the participant’s choice). Participants estimated the weight of two mundane items—a bottle of water and a stapler—using quarters. The objects and quarters were placed in four numbered cubicles; the objects were placed in odd-numbered cubicles, and bowls of quarters were placed in even-numbered cubicles. Each participant first visited an odd-numbered cubicle containing an object for 2 min, in order to assess the weight of the object, and then moved into an even-numbered cubicle. During the 2 min allotted for the even-numbered cubicles, each participant placed into a plastic bag the number of coins he or she thought would equal the weight of the object just handled. This process was repeated for the other object, but when the participants were in the odd-numbered cubicles assessing the weight of the objects, the experimenter surreptitiously switched the bowls in the even-numbered cubicles, so that the same bowl followed each participant.

For this weight-approximation portion of the procedure, participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (as in Experiment 1). Participants who were given no opportunity to steal were told that the doors of the cubicles would remain open, and the experimenter remained in sight of the participants throughout the procedure. Participants who could steal the entire time were told that they would be given privacy during the coin task, and the experimenter closed the doors to the even-numbered cubicles both times the participants were in these rooms, leaving the participants alone with the coins. This allowed the participants the opportunity to steal from the piles of quarters in the bowls. Because participants were tested in pairs, if a participant chose to steal, the experimenter would ostensibly not know which participant had stolen the coins. However, because the bowls actually followed the participants, we could easily assess the number of coins each participant stole, if any (Treynor, 2004).

Participants who had an opportunity to steal that was withdrawn were told that the doors of the even-numbered cubicles would be closed both times during the coin task, and these doors were indeed closed the first time the participants approximated the weight of an object in coins. However, the second time the participants were led to the cubicles with the coins, the experimenter said, “Sorry, I made a mistake. The procedure states that the door is supposed to remain open.” Thus, participants in this condition were led to believe they would have the opportunity to steal during both of the weight-approximation trials, but the chance was withdrawn during the second trial.

After the coin task was completed, the experimenter collected each participant’s two bags of coins and announced that it was time to tally the results to see who was closer at guessing the correct weights. The experimenter asked the participants if they would be willing to participate in a second study, to pass the time while they waited (all said “yes”). First, participants completed a mood form, rating how they felt “right now, at the present moment” (1 = very slightly or not at all, 5 = extremely). The mood form included the adjective frustrated, along with several other adjectives added as fillers (e.g., active). Next, participants rated how much they wanted to play the same eight fictitious video games rated by participants in Experiment 1 and listed their three favorite games. As in Experiment 1, we counted the number of M-rated games listed, but using habitual exposure to violent games as a covariate did not significantly affect the results.

A debriefing, which included a probe for suspicion, followed completion of the video-game questionnaire. No participant expressed suspicion about the purpose of the experiment, nor did any participant confess to stealing. The food reward was given to all participants.

Results

Stealing manipulation check

The number of quarters stolen was counted for each participant. A one-way ANOVA revealed a significant effect of experimental condition (chance to steal the entire time, withdrawn chance to steal, no chance to steal), F(2, 138) = 15.80, p < .001, η² = .19. Participants who had the chance to steal during both weight-approximation trials stole more quarters (M = 2.91, SD = 3.36) than did those who had the chance to steal during only the first trial (M = 1.60, SD = 1.91) and those who had no chance to steal (M = 0.28, SD = 0.77), t(92) = −2.34, p < .02, d = 0.49, and t(92) = 4.40, p < .0001, d = 0.92, respectively. The latter two groups also differed in the number of coins they stole, t(92) = −5.25, p < .0001, d = 1.09. Thus, participants who had the chance to steal did so.

Frustration manipulation check

A one-way ANOVA revealed a significant effect of experimental condition on frustration, F(2, 138) = 13.39, p < .0001, η² = .16. Participants who had the chance to steal withdrawn felt more frustrated (M = 4.04, SD = 0.82) than did those who had no chance to steal (M = 3.11, SD = 1.12) and those who had a chance to steal the entire time (M = 3.04, SD = 1.13), t(92) = 4.86, p < .0001, d = 1.01, and t(92) = 4.54, p < .0001, d = 0.95, respectively. The latter two groups did not differ in their frustration, t(92) = −0.30, p > .74, d = 0.06. Thus, participants who had the chance to steal withdrawn felt most frustrated.

Effects of the chance to steal on attraction to violent video games

Composite attraction scores were created by averaging the scores for the four violent video-game descriptions and the scores for the four nonviolent video-game descriptions (Cronbach’s α = .90 and .91, respectively). Descriptive statistics for these scores are in Table 2.

Table 2.

Mean Attraction to Violent and Nonviolent Video Games as a Function of Condition in Experiment 2

	Condition
Type of video game	Chance to steal	Withdrawn chance to steal	No chance to steal
Violent	4.31_b (2.37)	5.28_c (2.39)	3.39_a (2.03)
Nonviolent	5.75_a (1.94)	6.06_a (1.61)	6.01_a (1.61)

Note: Standard deviations are in parentheses. Within a row, means with different subscripts are significantly different, p < .05.

Participants’ desire to play violent video games was analyzed using a 3 (condition: chance to steal the entire time, withdrawn chance to steal, no chance to steal) × 2 (type of game: violent, nonviolent) repeated measures ANOVA. Condition was a between-subjects factor, whereas type of video game was a repeated measures factor. Main effects were found for condition and type of video game, F(2, 138) = 5.64, p < .008, η² = .076, and F(1, 138) = 44.80, p < .0001, η² = .25. These main effects, however, were qualified by the predicted significant interaction between condition and type of game, F(2, 138) = 4.98, p < .008, η² = .067. As expected, experimental condition influenced attraction to violent games, F(2, 138) = 8.13, p < .0001, η² = .11. Participants who had the chance to steal withdrawn were more attracted to violent video games than were participants who had no chance to steal or who had a chance to steal the entire time, t(138) = 4.04, p < .0001, d = 0.69, and t(138) = 2.07, p < .04, d = 0.35, respectively. The latter two groups also differed in their attraction to violent games, t(117) = 1.97, p < .05, d = 0.33. As expected, condition did not influence attraction to nonviolent games, F(2, 138) = 0.43, p > .64, η² = .006.

Mediating effect of frustration

Bootstrap procedures (with 10,000 samples) were used to test whether frustration mediated the link between condition and attraction to violent video games (Preacher & Hayes, 2004). Two orthogonal contrasts were performed (Hayes & Preacher, 2012). The first contrast compared attraction to violent games between people who had the chance to steal withdrawn, on the one hand, and those who had the chance to steal the entire time or no chance to steal, on the other. The second contrast compared the latter two groups’ attraction to violent games. As expected, the first contrast was significant, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [0.16, 0.89] (CI excluded the value zero), but the second contrast was not significant, 95% CI = [−0.23, 0.28] (CI included the value zero). Thus, having the chance to steal withdrawn increased frustration more than having no chance to steal or having a continuous chance to steal. Increased feelings of frustration, in turn, were associated with increased attraction to violent video games.

Discussion

The results obtained in Experiment 2 replicate and extend the results in Experiment 1. Participants who had a withdrawn chance to commit a different taboo behavior (i.e., stealing) wanted to play violent games the most. Moreover, the results indicate that being denied the chance to steal increases frustration, which in turn increases the desire to play violent video games. Participants who were able to indulge their desire to steal did not experience high levels of frustration, nor did participants who had no chance to steal. In other words, only those participants who were given the chance to steal and who had that chance later denied became frustrated. Frustration, in turn, increased attraction to violent video games.

General Discussion

Taboo acts, or acts that violate social norms, are unique in that although people may wish to commit these acts when given the chance (and when they believe they will not be caught or held responsible), these acts are generally not socially acceptable. Negative social consequences usually follow from violating social norms. People also experience personal negative consequences, such as strong negative affect, after violating social norms (Asch, 1951).

Frustration-aggression theory posits that frustration is generated when a desirable goal (e.g., obtaining some pleasant reward, such as food) is blocked. The current research provides evidence for an important extension to frustration-aggression theory: Frustration is also generated when one is prevented from violating a social norm, something usually considered undesirable. In other words, the prevention of taboo behaviors produces frustration, just as does the prevention of more desirable goals. This finding is a unique contribution to the existing research on frustration and aggression.

These results also shed light on one factor that might influence people to play violent video games—frustration. Specifically, our results indicate that frustration resulting from the prevention of taboo behavior can increase attraction to violent games. Because violent games offer the ability to manage one’s frustration by engaging in (virtual) aggressive behavior (e.g., assault, murder), such games become more attractive when one becomes frustrated.

Our results are also consistent with mood-management theory (Zillmann, 1988), which states that people actively try to control their mood by seeking out particular kinds of media. This theory has been explored in relation to certain types of media, such as music (Knobloch & Zillmann, 2002) and television shows (Bryant & Zillmann, 1984), but has not been directly applied to video games. In our experiments, participants who were frustrated were more attracted to violent games than other participants were. Moreover, in Experiment 2, frustration mediated the link between a withdrawn opportunity to commit a taboo behavior and attraction to violent games. Participants expected that they would be able to manage their frustration by playing violent games. This finding is supported by previous research showing that belief in catharsis is positively associated with attraction to violent games (Bushman & Whitaker, 2010). Many teenagers (especially boys) believe that violent video games allow them to alleviate angry feelings (Kutner & Olson, 2008).

It is important to note that attraction to nonviolent games was unaffected by frustration or the desire to commit a taboo behavior. If frustrated people were interested in playing any type of video game to improve their mood, attraction to both violent and nonviolent games should have increased when the opportunity to cheat or steal was withdrawn. Such a result would support a simple mood-management process—that players were attracted to any type of game that would improve their mood. However, only attraction to violent games was influenced by the opportunity to commit a taboo. This indicates that the violent nature of the games was attractive when participants had the opportunity to cheat or to steal withdrawn. Violent games offer a chance to engage in aggressive behavior in the virtual world, which is attractive when one experiences frustration, such as the frustration generated when one is prevented from committing a taboo behavior.

This research is also consistent with cognitive-neoassociation theory (Berkowitz, 1984), which proposes a link between frustration and the urge to fight, especially in the presence of violent cues such as those contained in violent video games.

Limitations and future research

In Experiment 2, participants who had the chance to steal coins withdrawn may have felt frustration for an additional reason. In this condition, during the second half of the weight-approximation task, the cubicle doors were left open after previously being closed. The experimenter explained that the doors should have remained open all along. However, some participants may have interpreted the change as an indication that the experimenter did not trust them, rather than as a correction of a procedural violation. They could have been frustrated by this perceived mistrust, as well as by being prevented from stealing coins. This alternative explanation, however, seems unlikely because Experiment 1 also showed that having the chance to commit a taboo behavior withdrawn increased attraction to violent games, and participants in that experiment probably did not feel mistrust from the experimenter.

The goals of this research were to determine if the prevention of taboo behaviors fosters frustration, and if such frustration increases attraction to violent games. We did not test whether other types of frustration increase attraction to violent games as well. Future experiments could examine if frustration induced in other ways (e.g., by negative feedback on task performance) also increases attraction to violent games.

Another limitation is that we do not know if our results generalize to women. Previous research has shown that both men and women cheat (Shu, Gino, & Bazerman, 2011) and steal (Mazar & Zhong, 2010). Previous research has also shown that frustration increases aggression in both men and women (Verona & Curtin, 2006). Surveys show that the number of women who play video games (including violent games) increases each year (Entertainment Software Association, 2012). We therefore predict similar (but perhaps weaker) results for women, but this remains a topic for future research.

Conclusion

As Mark Twain noted, forbidden behaviors are often alluring. This research provides important insight into the effects of preventing taboo behaviors. It is well known that frustration occurs when a desirable goal is blocked. Our results demonstrate that preventing violations of social norms can also generate frustration—an important extension of frustration- aggression theory. The results also shed light on why people want to play violent video games. One possibility is that violent games permit aggressive behavior, which is attractive when one experiences frustration. When the opportunity to commit a taboo behavior is withdrawn, attraction to violent games increases.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared that they had no conflicts of interest with respect to their authorship or the publication of this article.

Notes

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