Based on previous research on the effect of video games on aggression, Paul Adachi and Teena Willoughby conducted research to determine whether it was the competitiveness or the violence of video games that could provoke an aggressive reaction toward university students. According to Adachi & Willoughby, much of the previous research on the topic had failed to level out external variables such as competitiveness, difficulty, and pace of action, and these variables could have easily affected the results. They also did not take into consideration whether aggressive behavior was caused by either competitiveness, violence, or a combination of the two. In their research, Adachy and Willoughby (2011 p. 260) included and defined the following independent variables: violence (e.g. fighting, shooting or killing), competitiveness (e.g. competing with other players or created opponents by computer), difficulty (e.g., how difficult is it to win the game), and pace of action (e.g., how fast does the action sequence unfold). They also defined aggressive behavior (dependent variable) based on Lieberman's (1999) hot sauce paradigm, which assigned a standardized number based on spiciness index and weight in grams. Pilot Study 1 The objectives of the pilot study were to define whether Conan and Fuel (two selected video games) differed in terms of violence, but were similar in terms of competitiveness, difficulty and pace of action (Adachi & Willoughby, 2011 p.262). Conan was defined as a violent game in which players fought using words and axes to survive and defeat their opponents. Fuel is a racing game in which players compete in a series of races using cars and motorcycles. In this study, fourteen students (6 men and 8 women) ...... middle of paper ...... research, were theory and practice went well together. The researchers were able to control secondary variables and obtain reliable data to prove the hypothesis that there is a relationship between violent video games and aggression, and that by isolating specific characteristics of the video game, competitiveness had a much greater impact on aggressive behavior than violent content. Works Cited Adachi, PJC and Willoughby, T. (2011). The effect of competition and violence in video games on aggressive behavior: which characteristic has the greatest influence? Psychology of Violence 1(4), 259-274.Barlett, CP, Branch, O., Rodeheffer, C., and Harris, R. (2009). How long do the short-term violent effects of video games last? Aggressive Behavior, 35, 1-12. doi:10.1002/ab.20301Cozby, PC & Bates, SC (2012). Behavioral Research Methods (11th ed.). New York: NY, McGraw Hill.