He does not look like video games made him do it: Racial stereotypes and school shootings.

Patrick M. Markey, James D. Ivory, Erica B. Slotter, Mary Beth Oliver, Omar Maglalang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Despite a lack of research linking school shootings to video games, video games are frequently associated with school shootings carried out by White perpetrators. Because there is a stereotypical association between racial minorities and violent crime, it is possible that people often look toward video games as a cause for school shootings committed by White perpetrators who do not fit this stereotype. Consistent with this notion, Study 1 (n = 169) found that participants who read a mock news story about a school shooting were more likely to blame video games when the shooter was White than when the shooter was Black. Study 2 examined 204,796 news stories of 204 mass shootings committed in the United States and found that, when a shooting occurred at a school, video games were 8.35 times more likely to be discussed when the shooter was White than when the shooter was Black.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)493-498
Number of pages6
JournalPsychology of Popular Media
Volume9
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2020

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Applied Psychology
  • Communication
  • Cultural Studies
  • Psychology (miscellaneous)

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