With the rise of violent videogames in recent years, there has been consistent worry that they will negatively affect society. However, giving people the opportunity to engage in violent behaviour in a virtual world may actually cause an increased sense of moral sensitivity in the real world. This may seem like an oxymoron but it has been suggested that violent videogame behaviour causes a sense of guilt.

 A new study in the journal of Cyber Psychology Behaviour, led by Matthew Grizzard, assigned 185 university students to complete a video game as either a terrorist or a UN peacekeeper. Afterwards they were asked to write a paragraph about either a time they felt ‘particularly guilty’ or a typical day in their lives.

To hear more about the results of this study and its implications, listen to the podcast: