title: Have LEGO Products Become More Violent?
abstract: Although television, computer games and the Internet play an important role in the lives of children they still also play with physical toys, such as dolls, cars and LEGO bricks. The LEGO company has become the world's largest toy manufacturer. Our study investigates if the LEGO company's products have become more violent over time. First, we analyzed the frequency of weapon bricks in LEGO sets. Their use has significantly increased. Second, we empirically investigated the perceived violence in the LEGO product catalogs from the years 1978-2014. Our results show that the violence of the depicted products has increased significantly over time. The LEGO Company's products are not as innocent as they used to be.
authors.affiliation: HIT Lab NZ, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4566-4815
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bartneck
authors.affiliation: HIT Lab NZ, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Min Ser
authors.affiliation: Mathematics and Statistics, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Moltchanova
authors.affiliation: School of Humanities and Creative Arts, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smithies
authors.affiliation: School of Humanities and Creative Arts, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Harrington
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D010988:Play and Playthings / Q000523:psychology*; D018910:Video Games; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*