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Down21 wrote
Surely you can ask people if they have experience in "virtual aggression" like in Grand theft auto or something. A yes answer may indicate some level of desensitisation to virtual aggression (as in your experiment) without ever influencing the individuals real aggression outside the lab. Either way, any corelation would be interesting and no corelation would mean that kind of thing can be ruled out.
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It would be nearly impossible to gage the type of aggression they show in the games (instrumental or reactive), over their entire lifespan. Furthermore, levels of severityof aggression in previous gaming experiences would be hard to code, and most often not be against another human player (as in this study where they will be under the impression that they are playing against humans in other rooms). The best we could hope to do is to ask "do you play videogames that are violent?", which would give us almost no information. Good idea though.
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Down21 wrote
Do you have access to a truly random sample? I mean not confined to university students. Studies have shown how low parental education level, conduct problems, and hyperactivity in middle childhood predict criminal offenses in later life. University students are less likely than your average banana to have had these disadvantages so do not reflect the general public. Or you could compare university educated students to non university- educated people of the same age?
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No sample can be truly random, but we aren't allowed to rome the streets with nets, nabbing up participants (damn you ethics board!). So the best we can do without expending rediculous resources and time is to open it up to anyone, and advertise around the campus.
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Down21 wrote
I do not pity psychologists when it comes to controlling for variables. Best of luck
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Indeed, lab rats are where its at. The are bred specific, live in boxes, have specific day/night times, etc. Most of our participants have ~20 years of undocumented lifetime that would take rediculous resources to account for.