As expected, aggressive thoughts increased more for those who played than for those who observed the virtual reality game or simulated game movements, providing support for the social cognitive theory over the arousal theory. More specifically, the aggressive content of thoughts separated virtual reality game players from those in other conditions. In contrast, the total number of thoughts, as would be expected from a straight arousal effect, did not distinguish the three conditions. One implication is that immersion has a more profound impact on thoughts than does observation.