Does Playing Violent Video Games Promote Aggressive Behavior?

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Recommended: The effects of violent video games on adolescents

Introduction

Violent video games are becoming more popular among children and adolescents of all ages since its debut approximately 30 years ago. This growing popularity is generating an increasing concern that these sometimes very graphic videos and life like characters can have a negative influence on the younger generation. Although never proven, there has been speculation that some of the high school shootings across the country were committed by students who were habitual players of violent video games. Due to these concerns, a non-profit, self-regulatory organization was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) to appropriately rate all video games from EC (early childhood), E (everyone), E10+ (everyone 10 and over), T (teen), M (mature), and AO (adults only). While assessing the efficacy of violent video game ratings, it is unknown how effective these ratings are for the intended audience (Becker-Olsen & Norberg, 2010).

The purpose of this paper is to present a literature review on existing articles relating to the possibility of violent video games promoting aggressive behavior. The hypothesis set forth was that people who played non-violent video games displayed more Prosocial behavior versus those who played violent video games displayed more antisocial and aggressive behavior. A search was conducted on regular search engines on the internet, and on EBSCOhost using the title “can violent video games promote aggressive behavior.” The research articles presented are obtained from five case studies each focusing on different measures that were obtained, methods used, the participants involved, the designs of the study, and the results of the studies.

Measures Demonstrating Viole...

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DOI: 10.1080/10888690903288748. Retrieved from EBSCOhost Research Database.

Polman, H., Orobio De Castro, B. & Van Aken, M. A.G. (2008). Experimental Study of the

Differential Effects of Playing Versus Watching Violent Video Games on Children’s

Aggressive Behavior. Wiley-Liss Inc. Interscience. Doi: 10.1002/ab.20245. Retrieved from

EBSCOhost Research Database.

Saunderson, Matt (August 17th, 2005). The American Psychological Association says violence in

Videogames is bad for children’s health. Kombo.com. Retrieved from http://ps3.kombo.com/

Article.php?artid=1760.

Suhn Lee, M., & Barr, R. (August 2004,). Effects of Video Game Violence on Prosocial and

Antisocial Behaviors. Journal of Young Investigators, 11(2). Retrieved from

http://www.jyi.org/Volumes/volume11/issue2/articles/lee.html.

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