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The effects of violent video games on adolescents
do violent video games cause aggression
do violent video games cause aggression
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Recommended: The effects of violent video games on adolescents
According to Valadez and Fergusion (2012), “The effects of violent video game exposure, both positive and negative, on various behaviors are still highly contested within academia and the general public” (p. 608). Violence in video games is often wrongfully perused as a topic of extreme criticism pertaining to an individual’s act of violence in today society. Examples of such would include the shooting that occurred in April 2007 at Virginia Technical College; where Jack Thompson and Philip McGraw asserted that violent video games were the ultimate cause of the tragic incident, but further investigation suggested that Seung-Hui Cho had never played any such games (Valadez & Fergusion, 2012). Since the early days of mankind, society has often enlisted the service of a scapegoat in the attempt to correct the unethical or immoral conduct of a few individuals; violence in video games is no exception to this type of social misconduct. Possibly, one may want to consider human nature and its unyielding desire to be competitively better than the next person; compared to an individuals need to be excessively violent regardless of visual representation of violence in the first place. Although many will argue the effect that violent video games have on the human psyche; the research is far too inconclusive for one to make an educated assessment of the provided information.
Over the past few centuries there are many incidents where society has found the needs for a scapegoat, although not specifically pertaining to violence in video games; one can see the recent attempts to blame something or someone else for the heinous acts of violence that have occurred. According to Fergusion (2008) the media and politicians are mostly to blame for the...
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...f Violent Video Games on Aggression: Is it More Than Just the Violence? Aggression and Violent Behavior, 55-62.
Anderson, C. (2010, Mar/Apr). Violent Video Games and Other Media Violence, Part II. Pediatrics for Parents, 26(3/4), pp. 21-23.
Ferguson, C. J. (2008, Jan-Jun). The School Shooting/Violent Video Game Link: Casual Relationship or Moral Panic? Journal of Investigative Psycology & Offender Profiling, 5(1/2), 25-37.
Ferguson, C. J. (2010, Mar). Much ado About Nothing: The Misestimation and Overinterpretation of Vidlent Video Game Effects in Eastern and Western Nations: Comment on Anderson et al. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 174-178.
Valadez, J., & Ferguson, C. (2012, March). Just a game after all: Violent video game exposure and time spent playing effects on hostile feelings, depression, and visuospatial cognition. Computers in Human Behavior, 608-619.
Violent video games can lead to aggressive and violent behavior in children and adolescents. “Violent media increase aggression by teaching observers how to aggress, by priming aggressive cognition (including previously learned aggressive scripts and aggressive perceptual schemata), by increasing arousal, or by creating an aggressive state” (Anderson and Bushman 355). As more children are becoming exposed violence in video games in the recent years, violence in schools and other locations where children are prominent has increased. “A national crime victimization survey compiled and maintained by the United States Department of Justice, shows that overall crime rates in United States society have fallen. Simultaneously, school- based studies reveal that many violent behaviors have increased among children and adolescents” (“Causes of School Violence” 1). Exposure to violence in video games can lead to aggressive behavior, desensitization, and an increase in crimes committed by children and teens in our society.
Video games are widely popular as a form of entertainment for young children and teenagers in the United States, and many of these games contain forms of violence. Because this causes exposure to such graphic images for many children, there has been a concern that these violent forms of entertainment affect these children. Numerous studies conducted by groups of psychologists have been directed on this particular issue, leading to evidence both for and against this claim. This is an issue which parents should acknowledge, as it greatly impacts their children. Therefore, parents must become aware of the issue of violence in video games and monitor their children’s access to such games because history as well as numerous studies and statistics to have shown that they have negative effects on children, causing desensitization due to the exposure to such intense images.
Many People have put their attention directly on the influence violent video games have on the bad behavior of children. People believe videogames intensify aggression in children, while others say it can be a safe getaway for a child to express his aggression. Many opinions on this issue are stated still today, and they remain divided amongst the people who claim videogames to be a cause of aggression and those who claim otherwise. A child’s behavior can not be determined by violent video games, but instead is caused by a variety of environmental and domestic factors. It is easy to blame video games on violence, instead of looking at factors such as economic status, familial issues, and exposure to other entities such as television and media. This paper will bring forward the opinions of those who believe in no relationship between violent video games and bad behavior with one counter argument expressing the opinion of those who believe there is a relationship.
One would be hard-pressed to find a household without any video gaming devices. In fact, over eighty percent of American households some sort of gaming device. On top of all that, violent video games have surged in popularity, occupying over 50% of the 30 top video games sold in 2015 (Kain). In light of recent mass shootings, video games are routinely accused as the culprit that influences one to violence. Researchers all over the world have tried to establish a causal relationship between video games and violence. Some researchers have come to the conclusion that video games, specifically violent ones, spark aggression. However, other researchers have come up with the opposite conclusion, that the studies that portray video games as detrimental
According to Henry Jenkins, an American Media Scholar and professor at MIT, “young people in general are more likely to be gamers —90 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls play.” That is an overwhelming amount of young people. In recent years, there have been incidents such as the Columbine school shooting which have shown young people committing terrible acts of violence. In the case of the Columbine shooting, the teenagers who committed the shooting were both found to be avid players of a violent computer video game known as Doom (Ferguson, 26). This has raised lawmakers and concerned parents to begin opposing violence in video games. These people believe that video games (and violent video games in particular) can cause young people to become extremely desensitized to violence, and in turn cause them to commit acts of violence that they would not have committed otherwise. However, these people fail to realize that our youths have been exposed to violence far longer than modern media has been around. For example, Wired.com writer Michael Venables points out that many of our classic fairy tales deal with violent conditions. He reminds people that “Cinderella’s evil stepsisters have their eyes pecked out by doves.” and “Hansel and Gretel kill their captor by baking her in an oven.” People who oppose video games pose a major threat to the development of youth in our modern society, because video games can have many positive effects on young people.
Scott, D. The Effect of Video Games on Feelings of Aggression. The Journal of Psychology. March 1995 v129 n2 p121-132.
The second reason video games are an issue is that videogames have been linked to a variety of mental and physical ailments. The most common physical health problems tend to be arthritis from barely moving the fingers while using a keyboard or game controller, and a variety of eye problems due to constantly staring at the game screen. The most frequently occurring mental problems range from delusions to schizophrenia and becoming desensitized to violence. Keegan says that "repeated exposure to violent images can make people less sensitive to the effects of violence" (1). All of these ailments, both mental and physical, can and will occur in many people, but this statement only holds true if the player spends much of his or her free time playing video games. The essay “Violence and the Media: A Psychological Analysis,” shows how the number of hours spent watching a television program may be more influential than the nature of the program itself (Javier 4). While this statement refers ...
Keim, B. (2013, February 28). Do Video Games Cause Violence? — NOVA Next | PBS. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/body/what-science-knows-about-video-games-and-violence/
One of today’s most debated topics is whether violent video games cause bad behavior. This topic has been researched for almost 30 years and there are still major opinion differences. Many psychologists say violent video games do cause bad behavior, and claim that games such as Manhunt, Grand Theft Auto, and Modern Warfare, desensitize people to violence, making it a norm in society. Others disagree, claiming that these games, although they can be very violent, can help people develop critical thinking skills. (Nonviolent video games are preferred for this though). The truth is, violent video games do both; studies indicated that some games increase aggressive thought, feelings and behaviors in both the long and short term. But, studies also show that some benefits include visual attention to the periphery of a computer screen, improve adults contrast sensitivity, and some games require team work, which helps develop collaboration skills.
The greatest of importance are the studies from the ISU Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Craig Anderson, that show video games that are violent can make people have violent behavior (2010). Anderson and his team tested the effects of violent video game play on the behaviors, thoughts, and feelings of the individuals by using meta-analytic procedure (2010). New longitudinal data which provided further confirmation that playing violent video games could make some people violent were included in the research (Iowa State University 2010). Anderson said that they were not huge effects but also not small ones (2010). Violent video game effects are significant in both Eastern and Western cultures in males and females, and in all age groups, which was the analysis of Anderson’s work (2010).
“Contrary to the claims that violent video games are linked to aggressive assaults and homicides, no evidence was found to suggest that this medium was a major (or minor) contributing cause of violence in the United States.” (Markey, 290)
Vastag, Brian. “Does Video Game Violence Sow Aggression? Studies Probe Effects of Virtual Violence on Children”, JAMA, Chicago: April 2201. Vol. 291, Iss. 15; pg. 1822. Retrieved: 16 August 2004
Social scientists have been examining the effect that video games have on behavior. From the introduction of video games in the 1980s, there have been numerous research studies to this effect (Andersen & Taylor, 2008). The issue has become even more significant in the modern context because these video games have become bloodier and more realistic than ever before. Even though boys play these games more than girls in America, the consumption of video games has generally been high. Carey (2013) indicates that 32% of these gamers are below the age of 18. Therefore, it would be crucial to evaluate the effects that these video games have on the behavior of such children.
The arguments that video games does not have a causational effect toward real life violence are less publicized. In an article about video games Christo...
Several studies display that video games with violent content are related to more hostile behavior in teens. This is a concern because most of the popular video games contain violence. Part of the upsurge in aggressive behavior is connected to the amount of time children are permitted