To assess how claims of “green” advertising influence consumers, this study examined whether argument strength and imagery used in environmental claims on product packaging affected participants' perceptions of the claims' credibility, perceptions of the products' “greenness,” attitudes toward the product, purchasing intent, and general attitudes toward “green” product advertising. A 3 (Argument: No argument, Weak, or Strong)×2 (Image: Present or Absent) factorial experiment was conducted by varying product packaging on a bottle of laundry detergent. While argument strength influenced perceptions of credibility, product greenness, and attitudes, a weak argument was as effective as a strong argument in eliciting purchasing intent. Similarly, the presence of a green seal image influenced purchasing intent regardless of argument strength. These results suggest that though consumers are able to evaluate the quality of green arguments, the mere presence of any green cue affects purchasing intent regardless of format, modality, or quality.

This study explores whether people's perceptions of violent video games' potential for negatively affecting others and their support for censoring such games are influenced by whether people consider specific or abstract content and persons. In a 2 (content abstraction) × 3 (person abstraction) between-subjects experiment, 122 undergraduate students from two eastern U.S. universities estimated effects of either a specific violent game or violent games in general on a specific person, others on their campus, or others in the United States, then rated their support for censoring violent video games. Findings indicate that content abstraction influences perceived effects and censorship support.

Although violent video game content and its effects have been examined extensively by empirical research, verbal aggression in the form of profanity has received less attention. Building on preliminary findings from previous studies, an extensive content analysis of profanity in video games was conducted using a sample of the 150 top-selling video games across all popular game platforms (including home consoles, portable consoles, and personal computers). The frequency of profanity, both in general and across three profanity categories, was measured and compared to games' ratings, sales, and platforms. Generally, profanity was found in about one in five games and appeared primarily in games rated for teenagers or above. Games containing profanity, however, tended to contain it frequently. Profanity was not found to be related to games' sales or platforms.