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<td><span style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;">PsyPost – Psychology News</span></td>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/cognitive-inflexibility-amplifies-risk-of-disordered-exercise-in-men/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Cognitive inflexibility amplifies risk of disordered exercise in men</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Jun 25th 2025, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>A study of undergraduate male students found that cognitive inflexibility related to body weight, shape, and exercise moderates the link between drive for muscularity and dysfunctional exercise. In other words, men who were highly inflexible about their exercise and body image were more likely to engage in dysfunctional exercise when they also had a strong drive for muscularity. The research was published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2025.101985">Eating Behaviors</a></em>.</p>
<p>The drive for muscularity is an individual’s desire to build muscle and achieve a lean, muscular physique. It is influenced by cultural ideals that associate muscularity with masculinity, strength, and attractiveness. This drive can motivate healthy behaviors such as regular exercise and balanced nutrition. However, in some cases, it can also lead to excessive workout routines, strict diets, and the use of performance-enhancing substances. High levels of drive for muscularity are linked to body dissatisfaction and conditions such as muscle dysmorphia. This is especially common among adolescent and young adult males.</p>
<p>The lead author, McKenzie L. Miller, and her colleagues sought to explore the role of cognitive inflexibility in the relationship between disordered exercise and the drive for muscularity in men. They hypothesized that the drive for muscularity would be associated with dysfunctional exercise in men who were highly inflexible about their body weight, shape, food, and exercise. Cognitive inflexibility is defined as difficulty adapting thoughts or behavior when faced with changes in goals, rules, or environmental demands.</p>
<p>The study included 243 male undergraduate students with an average age of 19 years. Of these, 54% identified as White, and 94% identified as heterosexual. Participants completed an online survey administered via Qualtrics, including questionnaires on drive for muscularity (using the Drive for Muscularity Scale), cognitive flexibility (using the Eating Disorder Flexibility Index Questionnaire), and dysfunctional exercise (using the Exercise Dependence Scale–21).</p>
<p>Results showed that participants with higher cognitive inflexibility were more prone to dysfunctional exercise. Here, “dysfunctional exercise” refers to patterns of excessive or rigid exercise behavior — for example, training despite injury, inability to adjust routines despite physical demands, or preoccupation with exercise to the detriment of well‑being.</p>
<p>More specifically, cognitive inflexibility related to food, exercise, and body weight or shape (but not general cognitive inflexibility) strengthened the link between drive for muscularity and dysfunctional exercise. In other words, participants who were highly inflexible about their body and exercise habits were more likely to exhibit dysfunctional exercise when also highly driven by muscularity.</p>
<p>“Results suggest that domain‑specific cognitive inflexibility amplifies the risk of dysfunctional exercise in men with a strong drive for muscularity. Findings point to the potential benefits of interventions targeting cognitive inflexibility to help mitigate this risk,” the authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study provides valuable insights into the role of cognitive inflexibility in increasing vulnerability to disordered exercise behavior. However, its cross‑sectional design means that it cannot confirm a cause‑and‑effect relationship. Additionally, because the sample comprised exclusively male undergraduate students, the findings may not generalize to other demographic groups.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1471015325000455?via%3Dihub">Cognitive inflexibility moderates the association between drive for muscularity and dysfunctional exercise in men</a>,” was authored by McKenzie L. Miller, Christina M. Sanzari, and Julia M. Hormes.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/girls-as-young-as-8-show-cognitive-sensitivity-to-their-own-body-weight-new-study-finds/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Girls as young as 8 show cognitive sensitivity to their own body weight, new study finds</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Jun 25th 2025, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study has found that girls as young as eight or nine years old already have a tendency to notice and respond to numbers representing their own body weight, in ways that are different from boys. When these girls were shown a number referring to their weight, their attention was drawn to it and it distracted them from other visual information. This was not the case for boys, suggesting that an awareness of one’s body weight develops differently for girls and appears surprisingly early in childhood. The findings were published in <em><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00221-025-07086-9" target="_blank">Experimental Brain Research</a></em>.</p>
<p>Previous research has shown that infants can recognize when a person’s body is shaped in an expected or unexpected way and can sense when a touch is happening to their own body. Newborns can even tell when a visual and a tactile signal match, and this ability improves as children get older. Yet very little is known about when and how children begin to understand abstract ideas about their bodies, such as their weight. This study aimed to shed light on that process.</p>
<p>The researchers wanted to test if knowing one’s own body weight influences attention, especially in children. Body weight is a measure that many people become aware of early in life. In Japan, where this study was conducted, children have regular health checkups in schools, making weight an important number that many children recognize. The researchers wondered if seeing this number would automatically capture a child’s attention and if this effect would be different for girls and boys.</p>
<p>“Our interest was driven by growing public health concerns surrounding childhood obesity and its potential impact on cognitive development. While many studies have examined physical health outcomes, we were particularly interested in understanding how body weight might relate to attentional processes in children—a relatively under explored area,” said study author <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/shumatsurumi/home-in-english?authuser=0" target="_blank">Shuma Tsurumi</a>, an assistant professor of psychology at Hokkaido University.</p>
<p>The team conducted an experiment with 44 Japanese children between the ages of eight and nine. The group was balanced with an equal number of girls and boys. All of the participants had normal or corrected-to-normal eyesight and were able to recognize both their own weight and the Latin alphabet. Before starting, the researchers confirmed with the children and their parents that the children knew their weight and were comfortable identifying letters.</p>
<p>Each child participated in a computer-based test called a rapid serial visual presentation task. The test involved focusing on a stream of letters that appeared quickly one after another. Among these letters was a target letter, and the child’s goal was to identify which letter was presented. Occasionally, right before the target appeared, the researchers inserted a number — sometimes a number representing the child’s own body weight, and sometimes a neutral number unrelated to the child. The researchers varied the time gap between this number and the target letter, using a short gap of 200 milliseconds and a longer one of 800 milliseconds.</p>
<p>If the number captured the child’s attention, it would interfere with their ability to identify the target quickly and accurately. The researchers measured this by looking at how often the child correctly identified the target.</p>
<p>The researchers observed a notable difference between girls and boys. Girls were less accurate when the number representing their body weight appeared just before the target, regardless of the time interval. In other words, their own weight distracted them from focusing on the task. The neutral number had no such effect. In contrast, boys were equally accurate regardless of whether the number shown was their weight or not.</p>
<p>This finding suggests that girls at this age already have a stronger internal link between their attention and their own body weight. Girls also tend to have more body awareness and are better at estimating their own body size compared to boys. Other studies have found that girls of this age often have higher levels of body dissatisfaction, and this might make weight a more meaningful piece of information for them. These differences could potentially be the starting point for the well-documented focus that adolescent girls and adult women have on their body image.</p>
<p>The effect lasted for both short and long delays between the number and the target letter. This means that the girls’ attention was captured by the number for an extended period of nearly a second. Similar long-lasting attention effects have been observed in clinical studies with people who have obsessive-compulsive tendencies or addiction, suggesting that highly relevant or triggering information can dominate attention beyond the usual time span.</p>
<p>“We were surprised to find that simply presenting a numerical value representing body weight was enough to capture children’s attention,” Tsurumi told PsyPost. “This suggests that, for some children—especially girls—body weight may serve as an important marker, one that they are attuned to either consciously or unconsciously. It raises the possibility that even at a young age, children may already be sensitive to weight-related cues. This may help explain, in part, why eating disorders are more prevalent among females, as weight becomes a salient psychological concern early in development.”</p>
<p>“Notably, these differences were most evident in children under the age of 10. This suggests that the relationship between attention and factors like body weight may emerge early in development and may differ by gender, highlighting the importance of considering age and sex when examining cognitive processes in childhood.”</p>
<p>Although the study provides valuable insights, it has some limitations. The researchers only tested a narrow range of ages — eight and nine years old. “While we observed the effect in this specific developmental period, it remains unclear when exactly these attentional differences first emerge and how long they persist,” Tsurumi noted. “Future research will be needed to track these patterns across a wider age span.”</p>
<p>“We hope to continue exploring how physical health factors—such as body weight, sleep, and physical activity—interact with cognitive development in children. We believe that this line of research can contribute to a more integrated understanding of child development. By bridging cognitive science and health research, we hope to encourage more holistic approaches in education and pediatric care.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-025-07086-9" target="_blank">Body weight and attentional capture in children</a>,” was authored by Shuma Tsurumi, So Kanazawa, Masami K. Yamaguchi.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/economic-data-reveal-the-disturbing-echo-of-anxiety-after-fatal-school-shootings/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Economic data reveal the disturbing “echo of anxiety” after fatal school shootings</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Jun 25th 2025, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study finds that deadly school shootings affect the wider communities where they occur long after the tragedy. Researchers discovered that when a fatal shooting takes place, people buy fewer groceries, eat out less, and spend less money in stores. The findings, published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00222437251350150" target="_blank">Journal of Marketing Research</a></em>, provide new insight into how traumatic events reshape everyday habits and hurt the economic health of neighborhoods long after the police tape is gone.</p>
<p>“This project began with a difficult but important question: How do communities cope with the unthinkable? After tragic school shootings, our public conversations often focus—rightly—on the loss of life and psychological trauma. But we wondered: are there quieter, less visible ways that communities are affected? Does fear bleed into the everyday fabric of life?” explained <a href="https://mays.tamu.edu/directory/shrihari-sridhar/" target="_blank">Shrihari Sridhar</a>, a professor at Texas A&M University and the senior author of the new study.</p>
<p>“As researchers who study economic and consumer behavior, we were drawn to the idea that these events might disrupt even the most mundane routines—like grocery shopping or going out to eat. We wanted to understand how far-reaching the effects of violence could be, even for those not directly involved. That curiosity, coupled with a desire to quantify the hidden toll of such tragedies, led us to this project.”</p>
<p>To examine this, Sridhar and his co-authors (Muzeeb Shaik, John P. Costello, Mike Palazzolo, and Adithya Pattabhiramaiah) conducted a series of four studies.</p>
<p>The researchers started by focusing on grocery shopping because it is a routine activity for almost every household. They collected data from the Center for Homeland Defense and Security, which tracks every school shooting in the United States where a bullet hit school property. They focused on 63 fatal incidents between 2012 and 2019. They matched this data to household-level data from the NielsenIQ Homescan Panel, which monitors weekly grocery purchases across the country. The panel included over 8,000 households in counties where the shootings had taken place.</p>
<p>To understand the shootings’ effects, the researchers used a technique called “difference-in-differences” analysis. This method compares how a household’s behavior changed after the shooting relative to its own behavior in the same weeks a year earlier, when no shooting had occurred. </p>
<p>The results showed that after a shooting, household grocery spending dropped by roughly 2.09% and remained lower for the following six months. The researchers noticed this drop was stronger in politically liberal counties (around 2.44%) compared to conservative counties (around 1.28%), suggesting that political context influenced how people responded.</p>
<p>They also analyzed how people changed their shopping habits. Households made fewer trips to stores, visited fewer different stores, and shopped across fewer departments within those stores. These changes reflected a desire to spend less time in public spaces, possibly due to increased feelings of vulnerability and anxiety.</p>
<p>“One surprising result was that the reduction in public activity didn’t lead to a corresponding increase in online activity,” Sridhar told PsyPost. “We expected people to shift some grocery purchases online as a coping mechanism, but we didn’t find meaningful substitution. That means the drop in spending isn’t just displaced—it’s a real economic contraction.”</p>
<p>“Another unexpected finding was the persistence of the effect. In many cases, spending remained depressed for up to six months. That’s a long tail for something that might otherwise be seen as a single-day tragedy. It underscores how deeply these events reverberate in a community’s sense of normalcy.”</p>
<p>To understand why these changes occurred, the researchers conducted an online experiment with about 1,000 participants across the United States. The participants were asked to imagine living in a town called Maplewood, where one of three tragedies had occurred: a school shooting, a motor vehicle accident, or a drowning accident. All scenarios involved the death of young people to match the emotional weight of the school shooting.</p>
<p>Each participant rated their likelihood of going grocery shopping and answered questions about how anxious they felt. The results were clear: those in the school shooting condition felt significantly more anxious and were much less likely to consider going grocery shopping. Compared with the other tragedy scenarios, anxiety about visiting public spaces was the biggest reason for this change in behavior. The researchers also tested other emotions, such as guilt and shame, but found that anxiety was by far the dominant mediator of behavior.</p>
<p>Importantly, political ideology shaped this reaction. Liberal participants felt more anxious about a school shooting than conservative participants, making them even less likely to shop in public spaces. This finding matched the patterns seen in the first study.</p>
<p>In the next study, the researchers asked a new sample of 1,000 people across the United States to imagine a school shooting or a motor vehicle accident in the town of Maplewood. This time, participants rated their likelihood of going out to dinner, and the researchers measured a wider range of emotions, including thoughts about death, feelings of mourning, distraction, and shock.</p>
<p>The results confirmed that people felt more anxious and less likely to visit restaurants after a school shooting, compared to a car accident. Other emotions like mourning, shock, and distraction also played a role, but statistical analyses revealed that anxiety was the largest and most significant factor driving people’s reluctance to spend time in public spaces. As with the second study, participants who were more liberal felt more anxious about school shootings and were less likely to consider going out to eat, highlighting how political ideology shaped consumer behavior.</p>
<p>In the final study, the researchers explored whether the effect was specific to public spaces. They recruited roughly 2,000 people online and asked them to imagine a school shooting or motor vehicle accident in a town called Maplewood. This time, participants rated their likelihood of making purchases in both public and private settings — such as going to a grocery store versus ordering groceries online, and seeing a movie in a public theater versus watching one at home.</p>
<p>The results revealed a sharp difference. The school shooting significantly reduced people’s interest in public consumption activities (such as going to a grocery store or movie theater), but had no effect on private alternatives (such as online shopping or watching movies at home). The findings confirmed that the impact of a school shooting is tied closely to the context of public spaces where people worry about their safety.</p>
<p>Taken together, the four studies reveal a common thread: after a school shooting, people’s behavior changes because of increased feelings of vulnerability and anxiety in public spaces. </p>
<p>“There are three primary takeaways,” Sridhar explained. “First, school shootings affect far more than the direct victims—they shake entire communities. We found that in the six months following a fatal school shooting, household grocery spending drops by about 2.1%, restaurant and bar spending drops by 8%, and overall food and beverage retail spending drops by 3%. These are not small numbers—they represent a substantial hit to local economies.”</p>
<p>“Second, this drop is not primarily driven by grief—it’s driven by anxiety. Our controlled experiments show that anxiety about public safety, more than sadness or distraction, causes people to avoid routine public activities. In other words, people pull back from public life not because they are mourning, but because they feel unsafe.”</p>
<p>“Third, the effect is stronger in liberal-leaning communities than in conservative ones. The difference appears to stem from political psychology: liberals are more likely to view shootings as evidence of systemic risk, while conservatives tend to see them as isolated acts. These differing worldviews shape how people perceive safety—and how they respond behaviorally.”</p>
<p>But as with all research, there are some limitations to consider. The data focused mostly on grocery and food service spending, and it only captured certain areas and time periods. It is still unclear whether other types of violence have a similar impact, or if the effects last longer than six months.</p>
<p>“While our results are robust across multiple data sets and methods, they apply specifically to fatal school shootings,” Sridhar noted. “Non-fatal incidents, or other forms of community trauma, may have different effects.”</p>
<p>“Also, while we focus on consumer behavior, we don’t want to suggest that economic impact is the most important consequence of school shootings. The human loss is always primary. Our work seeks to highlight a downstream effect that has, until now, received less attention but is nonetheless meaningful—especially for policymakers and business leaders trying to support community recovery.”</p>
<p>Future studies could investigate the role that neighborhood characteristics or socioeconomic status play in shaping consumer behavior after tragedy. Understanding these dynamics could help retailers and policymakers design more effective recovery and support measures for communities dealing with trauma.</p>
<p>“We see this as the beginning of a broader inquiry into the hidden costs of community trauma,” Sridhar explained. “We’re exploring follow-up projects on how businesses and local leaders respond to collective tragedies, and whether certain strategies—like trauma-informed marketing or community engagement—can accelerate healing.”</p>
<p>“More broadly, we’re interested in how consumer psychology and perceived safety interact. What does it take for a shaken community to feel whole again—not just emotionally, but behaviorally? These are the kinds of questions we hope to keep pursuing.”</p>
<p>“Behind every statistic in our study is a community trying to find its footing again,” Sridhar added. “While our data tracks foot traffic and spending, what we’re really observing is the behavioral echo of anxiety. Grocery trips become shorter, nights out are cancelled, errands get postponed. These aren’t just data points—they’re choices made by anxious people trying to regain a sense of control. If our study helps even a few local leaders better understand and support that process, then we feel the work was worthwhile.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00222437251350150" target="_blank">How Fatal School Shootings Impact a Community’s Consumption</a>,” was authored by Muzeeb Shaik, John P. Costello, Mike Palazzolo, Adithya Pattabhiramaiah, and Shrihari Sridhar.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/maximization-style-and-social-media-addiction-linked-to-relationship-obsessive-compulsive-disorder/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Maximization style and social media addiction linked to relationship obsessive compulsive disorder</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Jun 24th 2025, 16:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in the journal <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2023.0348" target="_blank">Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking</a></em> has shed light on why some people have intrusive thoughts and obsessive concerns about their romantic relationships. The researchers focused on a phenomenon called Relationship Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or ROCD, which is a form of obsessive–compulsive behavior that emerges in romantic connections. They found that certain patterns of social media use and decision making, combined with perceptions about the quality of a relationship, can be associated with these intrusive thoughts.</p>
<p>People with ROCD experience repeating doubts and concerns about their relationships. Sometimes the focus is on the nature of the bond itself, with thoughts about whether one truly loves their partner or whether the partner feels the same. In other instances, the focus shifts to perceived flaws in a partner, such as their physical appearance, character, or intelligence. These thoughts can undermine emotional closeness and satisfaction within the relationship.</p>
<p>The researchers wanted to understand why these thoughts arise. They knew from earlier studies that ROCD often appears when people have certain ways of thinking about relationships, especially when they struggle with accepting uncertainty or have deep-seated fears about making the wrong choice. They also suspected that social media platforms could play a role. </p>
<p>Social media exposes people to countless profiles and images, making it easy to compare their own partner and relationship to idealized versions online. At the same time, certain people have a strong tendency to seek the “best” possible choice in every area of life, a trait called a maximization style. This can intensify feelings of doubt and dissatisfaction.</p>
<p>To investigate, the researchers surveyed 211 adults from Italy who were in committed relationships. The participants were between 19 and 67 years old, with an average age of roughly 30. All were asked about the quality of their relationships, their use of social media, and their tendency to seek the best option when making decisions. </p>
<p>The survey measured ROCD symptoms using questionnaires that assessed intrusive thoughts about a person’s relationship and intrusive thoughts about a person’s partner. It also measured perceptions of emotional closeness, conflict, help, and security within the relationship, as well as the degree of addiction-like behavior related to social media use. The maximization scale assessed how much a person felt compelled to seek the best option when making decisions.</p>
<p>The quality of the relationship emerged as an important factor. People who felt more conflict and less emotional closeness with their partners were more likely to experience intrusive thoughts about the relationship. This applied both when focusing on the state of the relationship itself and when focusing on perceived flaws in the partner. Conflict and emotional disconnection seemed to intensify feelings of doubt.</p>
<p>The researchers also found that social media addiction was associated with ROCD thoughts. People who felt compelled to spend more time on platforms like Facebook or Instagram were more likely to experience intrusive thoughts about their relationship, especially when focusing on its quality. Social media can create a sense that countless alternatives are available and present idealized images of relationships, making people more prone to compare and doubt.</p>
<p>Another significant finding was the role of the maximization style. People who felt the need to seek the best possible choice were more likely to experience ROCD symptoms, regardless of whether their focus was on the quality of their relationship or the perceived flaws of their partner. The drive to make the best decision appeared to intensify feelings of doubt and hesitation within the relationship.</p>
<p>The researchers emphasized that these findings highlight risk factors for ROCD thoughts that could be addressed in therapy. Helping people accept uncertainty, manage social media habits, and reduce the tendency to seek perfection in relationships may aid in reducing intrusive thoughts and concerns about their partner and the state of the relationship. The results also point to the importance of focusing on emotional closeness and minimizing conflict within relationships.</p>
<p>The researchers acknowledged limitations to their work. The study relied on self-reported questionnaires and focused exclusively on people in relationships at the time of the survey, which means it is unclear how ROCD symptoms evolve for people who have been through breakups or have long histories of dating. It was also conducted exclusively with Italian participants, making it unclear how the findings apply across different cultures. The study was cross-sectional, making it hard to draw conclusions about how ROCD develops over time.</p>
<p>Future research could expand the participant pool to include people with clinical ROCD diagnoses, test ways that social media and decision-making styles affect relationships, and investigate the role of social comparisons more directly. The researchers also suggested exploring couples’ long-term dynamics to understand how ROCD symptoms evolve over time.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2023.0348" target="_blank">‘Can I Have More Than This?’ The Role of Romantic Relationship Quality, Maximization Style, and Social Media Addiction in Relationship Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Symptoms</a>,” was authored by Paolo Mancin, Anna Malerba, Guy Doron, Marta Ghisi, and Silvia Cerea.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/video-games-calm-the-body-after-stress-even-when-players-feel-on-edge/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Video games calm the body after stress, even when players feel on edge</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Jun 24th 2025, 14:00</div>
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<p><p>A recent study has found that physiological stress indicators decreased while participants were playing the video game <em>A Plague Tale: Requiem</em>, regardless of which part of the game they were playing. In contrast, when asked about their stress, participants playing a violent passage of the game reported feeling more stressed and aggressive, while those playing a non-violent passage felt more relaxed. The research was published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2025.112518">International Journal of Psychophysiology</a></em>.</p>
<p>Estimates state that over 3 billion people worldwide play video games. People play video games because they are fun, but also because they provide an escape from daily life, an opportunity to socialize, and can serve as a method of relieving stress. In a recent large-scale survey, 89% of gamers stated that video games are a stress reliever for them. Many players report feeling more relaxed and emotionally balanced after a gaming session. Games can also provide a sense of achievement and control, which can counteract feelings of helplessness or anxiety.</p>
<p>However, this effect is not always clear. Excessive gaming may increase stress over time, especially if it interferes with sleep, relationships, or responsibilities. Competitive or fast-paced games can also trigger physiological stress responses, such as an increased heart rate. Social games may help reduce loneliness, a common source of stress, but they can also include instances of online toxicity or cyberbullying, making stress worse.</p>
<p>The study, led by Gary L. Wagener and colleagues, aimed to explore the stress-relieving effects of violent versus non-violent video games. They hypothesized that video games in general would reduce both self-reported and physiological stress, that violent games would have stronger stress-reduction effects, and that playing a violent video game would not affect aggression levels.</p>
<p>The participants were 82 individuals between 18 and 40 years of age (average age 23). Of these, 42 were female. Seventy-nine stated that they had played video games before. On average, participants played video games for approximately 4–5 hours per week.</p>
<p>To test the stress-relieving effects of a video game, the researchers first induced stress using the Socially Evaluated Cold Pressor Test (SECPT). This procedure required participants to hold their non-dominant hand in a basin of ice-cold water (~4 °C, or ~39.2 °F) for a period of three minutes, the length of which was not announced beforehand. During this time, participants were instructed to look into a camera, and a researcher stood nearby, asking every 20 seconds how they felt. Studies have shown this procedure to be highly effective in inducing physiological and psychological stress.</p>
<p>After the cold pressor test, participants were divided into two groups. One group played two violent passages of <em>A Plague Tale: Requiem</em> on a PlayStation 5 console, while the other played two non-violent passages of the same game. The total playing time was approximately 25 minutes. <em>A Plague Tale: Requiem</em> is a story-driven action-adventure game that follows siblings Amicia and Hugo as they struggle to survive in a plague-ravaged, war-torn medieval France while confronting supernatural forces.</p>
<p>Throughout the study, participants were monitored both before, during, and after the game. The researchers used an electrocardiogram (ECG) to measure heart activity, collected saliva samples (to estimate cortisol levels, a biomarker of stress), and administered questionnaires assessing participants’ self-reported stress and relaxation levels.</p>
<p>Results showed that self-reported stress increased in the group that played the violent game passage as the game progressed, although no significant changes were observed after the ice-water test. Conversely, this group also reported lower relaxation levels throughout the study. In contrast, the group that played the non-violent game passage felt more relaxed and less stressed after gaming.</p>
<p>Physiologically, both groups exhibited a similar trend: heart rate and cortisol levels increased during the ice-water test, indicating heightened stress, and then decreased after gaming, suggesting recovery and relaxation. This was observed regardless of the game’s violent or non-violent content.</p>
<p>“This dissociation between self-reported and physiological stress results suggests that people may assess their own state of arousal incorrectly. This may be due to differences in cognitive appraisal of the characteristics of the respective game groups, as the violent game sequence was judged to be more challenging and difficult. However, the observed physiological relaxation effect may point to the potential of video game engagement for stress interventions,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study sheds light on the effects that video games can have on stress. However, it should be noted that the study focused exclusively on one specific game. The effects of different games on stress may vary, and results from one game may not necessarily apply to others.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2025.112518">A Plague(d) Tale: Are violent video games effective in reducing stress levels?</a>” was authored by Gary L. Wagener, Andre Schulz, and Andre Melzer.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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