Use of military-themed first-person shooter games and militarism: An investigation of two potential facilitating mechanisms

•Study explored military-themed first-person shooter use and militaristic attitudes.•First-person shooter use was associated with heightened moral disengagement.•Moral disengagement was associated with militaristic attitudes.•Use of military-themed first-person shooters was indirectly related to militarism.

This study explored the link between use of military-themed first-person shooter games and militaristic attitudes. Using cultivation theory as a backdrop, the present work suggested that moral disengagement and hostile attribution bias facilitate a positive relationship between military-themed first-person shooter game use and militaristic attitudes. Results of a path model indicated that moral disengagement did, in fact, serve as an intermediary in the relationship between military-themed first-person shooter game use and participant militarism. However, this study did not show any evidence that use of military-themed first-person games was statistically related to hostile attribution bias or that hostile attribution bias was associated with militaristic attitudes.