Violent games cause Macbeth effect

Inexperienced players of violent games are more likely to want to ‘wash away their sin’. This means that they buy hygienic products faster than average. The phenomenon is known as the Macbeth effect.

Researchers from the University of Luxembourg let a group consisting of both experienced and inexperienced players playing a violent game for fifteen minutes. At the end of the play session, the group of 76 subjects was asked to choose a gift from a list of products. The inexperienced players tended to opt for hygiene products such as shower gel, deodorant and toothpaste. The inexperienced players thus display behavior known in psychology as the Macbeth effect, i.e. the tendency to want to cleanse yourself after an embarrassing act. The inexperienced players would like to keep their ‘moral purity’ intact, thinks Andre Melzer, head of the research team.

The effect is named after a scene from Shakespeare’s play in which Lady Macbeth suffers from pangs of conscience after having a dream about murdering the king. This act released a lot of blood, which she tried to wash from her hands. The researchers now suggest that inexperienced players of violent games also suffer from remorse. Anyone who plays violent games more often apparently no longer suffers from the Macbeth effect.