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Negative effects of playing violent video games on adolescents from psychologists
Increased aggressive behavior associated with videogames esasay
Does violent video games affect behavior
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In 2005, the American Psychological Association suggested that the correlation between violent video games and aggression is stronger than the correlation with television. Some notable scholars have question this correlation, and wondered if it was infact true. This debate came up again after the Virginia Tech Shootings, when Philip McGraw, commonly known as Dr. Phil, and Jack Thompson blamed it on the violent video games. In 2007, the Virginia Tech Review Panel discovered that Seung-Hui Cho, the shooter, did not play video games at all.
There are three theories that explain the link between violent video game exposure and aggression. They are the social learning theory, catharsis hypothesis and mood-management theory. The social learning theory suggests that aggression is a learned behavior through a procedure called behavioral modeling. In regards to violent video games, it suggests that an individual, that is exposed to violent video games, will develop a “cognitive script related to aggression”. The catharsis hypothesis suggests that aggression is a biological and evolutionary ...
Adam would rather play violent video games such as “World of Warcraft” than Dance Dance Revolution with the other kids. In the class lecture on crime and video games, the meta-analysis by Anderson and Bushman (2001) violent video games vs. nonviolent resulted that violent video games increases the probability of physiological arousal and aggression-related thoughts and feelings. Playing violent video games also decreases prosocial behavior. Police have speculated that the shooting was caused by the violent video games he played. It was like he wanted to reenact
At this day in age we bask in the luxury of having easy access to advanced technology at our disposal. From the World Wide Web, to cell phones, music, movies and video games the human race has thought of any and everything to keep us entertained. Over the years studies have shown reasonable concerns regarding the long-term effects of video games. These games can desensitize gamers to real life violence, which is usually seen in the younger crowd. The studies especially hit on the games containing player-on-player violence. Though these games are extremely entertaining and can get kids to settle down for a while, if not properly supervised, they can produce adverse effects. Other studies have shown that video games can be used as way to yield positive outcomes such as, good problem solving skills, cooperation in a group and the ability to flow. Although there has been psychological research on children learning through the actions of others some believe that children are automatically able to distinguish between what is just a game and what is reality. The longer they are allowed on their game system the more they become convinced that their games are real. Some researchers believe violent video games can channel the aggression of the child but the parents are to blame for what happens to the child after playing an excessive amount over a period of time. Children can become preoccupied with these violent video games which have been proven to be the cause of poor social skills, uncontrollable aggression and a false reality.
Dylan Klebold, Eric Harris, Adam Lanza, Steven Phillip Kazmierczak, and Seung-Hui Cho all have a few things in common, they are all school shooters that have killed and injured a combined total of 149 human beings and are or were believed to be avid violent video game players, who also committed suicide immediately after carrying out their attacks. To the public, school shooters seem to share a direct connection to playing violent video games and that playing them leads to violent behavior. Violent videogames have become a highlight in the media and national debate for this very reason but, there is no scientific evidence to support the existence of a causative connection between participants of violent videogames manifesting violent behaviors. The media provides biased information that misleads citizens into believing that said link is well established and accepted. I argue that parents should make responsible and well informed decisions in regards to their child’s videogame activities in spite of the lack of scientific research.
Peckham, Matt. “Researcher Says Linking Video Games to Gun Violence Is a ‘Classic Illusory Correlation’”. time.com. 17 Dec 2013.
Research has shown that immediately after playing a violent video game, kids can have aggressive thoughts, angry feelings and physiological effects such as increased heart rate and blood pressure. In addition, studies that survey large populations of kids on their game-playing habits and measure aggressive personality traits or self-reported aggressive acts — physical fights, arguments with teachers — often find an association between games and aggression.
The problem in determining a cause(s) is further compounded by mixed experimental findings. Scott (1995) did not find a positive relationship between video game violence and aggressive feelings among youth. In fact, there seemed to be a decrease in aggressive attitudes after playing violent games. These result seems to run counter to related studies concerned with the re...
Children today are exposed to more graphic violence in video games compared to any past generations. This is because the media finds that making a profit, surpasses the lives of the adolescents that play these games. However, over time two sets of views formed from the violence in video games. James D. Sauer, is a graduate of the School of Physiology. In his article, “Violent Video Games: The Effects of Narrative Context and Reward Structure on In-Game and Postgame Aggression,” Sauer, describes how adolescents gain forms of aggression and violence after playing certain games.
Research has found that linking violent video games to violent or aggressive behavior is unwarranted and unnecessary. It has been shown that there is yet to be any proof of this revelation being true, and even more proving it to be false. Statistics show that “sales of video games from 1995-2008 have more than quadrupled, while the arrest rate for juvenile murders fell 71.9% and the arrest rate for all juvenile violent crimes declined 49.3% in this same period.”(Akhaven) Another study done in 2005 states that “the US had 2,279 murders committed by teenagers compared to 73 in Japan while per capita video game sales were $5.20 in the US compared to $47 in Japan.”(Goldfein) A few people have went far enough to be able to say through their research that a lot of things said about violence in video games are linked to aggressive behavior is completely false. A duo of people have even stated that “a casual link
The allegation that videogames cause violent behavior in children has been present as long as videogames themselves. Some researchers said that the Sandy Hook shooter, Adam Lanza, was one intense gamer. “Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech Shooter was seen by his roomates as odd because he never joined them in video games.”(Beresin) This debate will continue to go on in this country as long as there are horrific crimes that occur. There is much written in the research regarding this issue, and many differing views. The research that is presented in the next few paragraphs supports the theory that it is not the graphic video games that produce aggressive behavior, but other factors in a child’s life that create violent actions.
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.
Video games have been a rapidly expanding industry since their inception in the 1970s. Along with their growth have come concerns about violent video games and their effects on aggression and violence in young people. The endless numbers of school shootings have pushed this issue to the forefront. These events brought about the question: do violent video games induce aggression in youth? That’s the question I set out to answer by looking at research. The research shows that there is a link between playing video games and increases in aggression in adolescents. What implications does this fact have ethically? It means that video game producers and distributors need to be held responsible for their releases and the way they end up in the hands of kids.
Children and adolescents that play violent video games undergo through aggressive behavior. The violent activity in the video games influence
Do violent video games affect a persons behavior? Why are so many children hooked on violent video games? What do violent video games do to someones mind? Yes, the answer that everybody is looking for is staring us right in the face, yes violent video games makes a person more violent. Do you know video game developers spend millions of dollars developing violent video games and advertising these violent video games. All the money that goes into developing video games have something to do with making the games more addicting. Violent video games desensitizes violence in a childs mind. The answer is simple, violent video games makes a person violent. Exposing children to violent video games will train the child's mind for doing violent actions being done in the game. Mass homicides are linked to violent video games. Many studies show violent video games make a person behavior more aggressive.
For example, regarding if video games cause aggressive behavior in children, in the opposite view think that violent video games should not be banned and sell it in everywhere because it is just a game that they will not be able to do in real life. However, David states "Although a link between video games and what the researchers define as “aggression” may exist, there is no causal link between violent games and violent criminal activity" (Willis 149). This mean that aggression does not have any relation with a criminal activity of an individual at all. In addition, there is another expert who believes there is no link between video games and people’s violent actions. Christopher, who is a professor assistant at Texas A&M University, insists that there is no correlation between aggression behavior and video games showing in his own meta-analysis that this theme was out of evidence and supporting that video games do not cause aggression behavior, that everything arises from the need to find a reason to blame after commit terrible acts of violence (Willis 175-179). However, while this view made some valid observations, this is not entirely base on facts. One of the best example is Andres Behring Breivik who decided to bomb a government structure in Norway, leaving eight people dead and several of them injured and affirming that a shooter game had helped him to do this massacre (Netzley 49). This shows that games are extremely damaging to society and violent video games cause violent actions. Another example is Jared Padgett a freshman student who killed a classmate and then suicide himself. Jared liked to play shooter games what left doubts about if this pastime can encourage children or adolescent to commit a violent act, and the idea that video games are violent in nature (Glynn
“YOU SUCK!” “I killed him!” “Head shot!” These are just a few examples of dialogue spoken by children while they are playing violent video games. These video games might seem like harmless fun, but what if the violence in these games is affecting the behavior of young players interacting with others?