Experimental Graduate Student
David I. Crittendon
Research Interest
I am interested in a wide variety of subject areas that include but are not limited to Human-Computer Interactions, Virtual Reality application to education and learning, Priming media violence and aggression, Political and National Ideology, In-Group/Out-Group Bias, Terror management Theory, Racial Intolerance/Phobia.
Most recent research has been on video game intensity and it's effects on various "core" attitudes mediated by aggressive thought. As well as Terror Management through media exposure, specifically with parasocial relationship mortality.
Completed Projects
Presented at national and regional conferences in psychology.
Predicting Ideology: The Reliability and Validity of the Core Conservatism Scale
Crittendon, D., Hackathorn, J. & Solomon, E.
Arguably, existing measures on political and nationalistic ideology are outdated, too explicit, unidimensional, or focus on issues that are subject to change (Solomon & Harvey, 2011). As many attitudes are likely to be influenced by a desire to conform to societal norms, a less obvious way to measure these attitudes should be taken (Gruen, 2005). The Core Conservatism Scale (CCS) focuses on enduring traits that should be unaffected by the time period or social climate. To replicate Solomon and Harvey (2011), and continue validating the Core Conservatism Scale, the CCS was included as a covariate in five studies
The Effects of Character Death on Aggressive Thought
Crittendon, D., Â Roberts, A. &Â Hackathorn, J.
Terror management theory embraces the idea that humans use adherence to religion and cultural values to manage the fear of their inevitable death. Traditionally, this has been studied by having participants think about their own death, called mortality salience.Few TMT studies have investigated the anxiety from the MS of others. One notable study showed that MS in close relationships can result in similar anxiety. We expected that these same results would occur for individuals who have a strong parasocial relationship with a favorite character.The purpose of this study was to examine whether mortality salience of a favorite media character would be more likely to prime aggressive thought than the collaboration of the favorite character or a traditionally used comparison (i.e., dental pain).
Bombs, Bullets, and Bad Guys: Realistic Violence in Video Games
Crittendon, D.,  Cushen, P., Rife, S., & Hackathorn, J.
Prior research suggests that violence in video games can increase aggression (Anderson & Bushman, 2001). Additionally, exposure to violence in video games may influence both implicit and explicit aggression , as well as other anti-social behavior (Anderson, Carnagey, & Eubanks, 2003; Anderson et al., 2010). As modern video games (e.g., Call of Duty and Battlefield) are more realistic and players can now be exposed to these details in virtual reality, there is real potential for increased influence in how gamers relate and react to real life situations. The purpose of this study was to examine whether intensity (i.e., realism and violence) is related to primed aggressive thought.
For more information on presented posters, or ongoing  experiments please e-mail me and I would be happy to provide additional information.