The Effect of Violent Video Games on Children
Since the rise of video games in the last decade younger kids are spending a lot of their time on games. One problem with children having access to video games is the bloody and gory violence some games contain. With children growing up playing these violent games it raises a question that most parents wonder, do violent video games make children more aggressive towards others? There are results from studies and incidents in real life that prove violence in video games does influence certain children. Violent video games do increase aggression in children who are already aggressive in nature but do not have a negative effect on most children.
Studies have been conducted to test whether or not violent video games increase aggression in children. The first study was conducted by Jia-Kun Zhang from Shanghai University of Sport and Qian Zhang from Southwest University. The purpose of this study was to investigate how aggression resulting from video games varies by gender and the child´s trait aggressiveness level. Two tests were conducted: the first being a test of two hundred and twenty children to see what games the children found violent. The second test was to see whether another set of two hundred and forty children showed more aggression after playing the violent game. Overall the results indicated that gender and trait aggressiveness affect aggression in children who play violent video games. “…children with high trait
Hundreds of studies have been done to determine whether violent video games will really make juveniles more violent. Randomized experiments were used in several studies to examine the short-term effect of violent video games (Anderson and Berkowitz et al. 90). In these studies, children were randomly assigned to play violent or nonviolent video games and then were observed when given an opportunity to be aggressive. The result was that children who played violent video games usually behaved aggressively.
This article is a very useful source. Is useful because it answers the question, “Do violent video games cause an increase in aggression.” The question is answered thoroughly by the author because they cited recent studies, examples, and peer reviewed or scholarly sources that all concluded that violent video games cause an increase in aggression. The author is objective because they countered their argument by stating that
“According to data recently released by The NPD Group, in 2012, U.S. video game software sales reached $6.7 billion (174.8 million units) and computer game sales were $380 million (13.2 million units)” (Improving Economy). To many, the violent video game industry has turned all adolescents into mass murderers. However, they’re absolutely wrong. Very seldom do adolescents who play violent video games commit acts of violence, and the ones who do usually have a mental disorder. Instead of blaming the tragedies that occur on violent video games, the news media should explain to people that a large percentage of young males play violent video games, indicating that the two are uncorrelated. They should alternatively research other possible solutions to the crisis. In lieu of negatively affecting people’s lives, video games could potentially improve their lives!
Prolonged scenes of massive violence, graphic sexual content, and animated blood are examples of statements that the Entertainment Software Rating Board uses to depict the content in over fifty- five percent of the video games rated yearly. The debate of whether the aggressive nature of these video games influences youth violence in our country has been heatedly battled for decades. Since the mid 1980’s, it has been suggested that high profile cases of violence are due to an aggressor’s excessive video game use. However, much like a cold case the type of connection between video game use and youth violence remains without a definite answer. Most believe that video game use negatively influences child aggression acts in our country. Others firmly declare that video games provide a realm of opportunity for child development. Ultimately, it is impossible to say that video game use affects every child the same way. New studies suggest that video games do not affect every child that plays a game. Although violent video games are innocuous for the majority of adolescents between the ages of twelve and eighteen, the effects of these games are aggravated in those with pre- existing antisocial or depressive traits.
“Approximately 90 percent of kids in the U.S. play video games, and more than 90 percent of those games involve mature content that includes violence.”-(Time Health). The link between violent media and aggression in video games has also created a spawn of research studies that has gone back and forth on the issue of whether
While violent video games have increased as a form of entertainment, an issue has begun to form on whether violent video games have a negative impact on children and adolescents. Steven F. Gruel (2010) formed an argument about the negative impacts of violent video games on children. The purpose of this paper is to critique Gruel’s argument by finding flaws and strengths using the methods of claims without data, overgeneralization, failing to cite sources, and considering alternative explanations.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical review of a recent study examining the effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior in young children. Let me first provide a brief summary of the study. (a) The hypothesis is that violent video games cause aggression in young children. (b) The target population is young children. (c) The samples are young school age children and the sample sizes are sixty children separated into two groups with 30 children being in the experimental group and 30 children being in the control group. (d) The independent variable is violent video games and the dependent variable is aggression. (e) The result of the experiment were
Since violent video games, like Mortal Kombat, were created, adolescents who play these games become more aggressive than before. To me, playing violent video games is unsafe for these people since they have the negative influence on these people. I believe that researching on that topic would help us get the sense of what problems to avoid. I wish to know what are the possible effects of violent video games on adolescents’ aggression. The independent variable is violent video games, and the dependent variable is adolescents’ aggression. My hypothesis is that adolescents who play violent video games become very aggressive than those who don’t. For this essay, I would like to present the findings from each article that will answer
A video game is “an electronic game in which players control images on a television or computer screen” (Merriam-Webster). Video games have been entertaining and challenging gamers since the Game Boy to modern console games. Despite the simplicity of the definition of video games, a video game, especially ones containing violence can have a large effect on the gamer. Because of the realism and advancements in the video game industry, video games can influence the player, and can make the gamer more aggressive, even if the game is not a violent video game. Even though video games have grown in popularity over the past decade, some have not been too popular with parents, for the reason that they are too violent. Violent video games affect
The video game industry is a multibillion-dollar business that has the power to influence how many people view the world. There are millions of people of all ages, gender, and nationalities who play video games. In the past decade the production and sales of violent video games has skyrocketed. Violent video games have been used as a correlation to the horrific mass shootings that have occurred in recent months. There have been studies conducted that have proven that playing violent video games can causes aggression. Violent video games have desensitized the gamer, to the point where he or she has the ability to block all activities happening in his or her surroundings. Violent video games are introducing violence to the minds of children, which is detrimental. Males who are exposed to violent video games for a prolonged period of time can increase hostility. Most activities that are performed for an extended period of time can cause certain changes in a person’s behavior and personality; therefore playing violent video games will increase aggression.
Child exposure to violent video games is significantly linked to increases in violent behavior , desensitization and unruly cognition. The excessive amount of time spent on videogames that are filled with brutality and violent interactions lead to short and long term effects on children after they finish playing the games. Whether violent video games are played in gaming consoles or
“Recent contents analyses of video games show that many as 89% of games contain some violent contents” (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, Walsh 3). More than half of video games being sold around the world contain some form of violence. All of the violence involved in the video games being played by children is a pattern leading to aggression. Aggression can be caused by many things; however, violent video games are the main cause of aggression in young adults. “If a child began playing violent video games at a young age, then he might think that violence in real life is the same as the game violence and that it doesn’t have a real impact on others” (Gilad, Alto 1). Thinking that violence in the virtual world is the same as in the real world is the first step to showing aggression. Aggression in children caused by video games is the biggest effect parents and researchers worry about. Violent video games teach children that shooting and killing people are
There has been a lot of factors linked to child aggression. One of biggest factors is children playing violent video games. Although video games are commonly used by children there can be negative effects when introduced to violent video games. Recent studies have shown a correlation between violent video games and the behavior of young children. Violent video games influence children's behavior because their attitudes become more aggressive, the availability of violent games has become very easy for children , and with the help of technology the graphics of the video games make the game look identical to real life.
It is still being debated whether or not video games can lead to one being more aggressive than usual. Constantly playing a violent video game that has characters showing acts of violence can lead to one learning and practicing these acts of violence. Many researchers have talked about the effects of viewing violence in the media and how it affects children. Videogames takes this to another level, where the children are actually participating in being violent in the video games. There are many games out there that allow the children to play gun bearing characters who can kill anyone that they want, steal cars, and commit all sorts of heinous activities. These games can have negative implications on the children as
The purpose of this research is to determine if aggressive behavior amongst the adolescent stem from playing violent video games. In 1976, the first violent video game “Death Race” was released but, never held accountable for wrong doings of the youths of that time era. It has only been in recent years that society blames the violence within these games for the negative behaviors of youths. The graphics within these games have consistently improved over that past few decades and now seem just as realistic as life itself. Although, video games are more realistic than decades before, they are only one minute factor in determining ones behavior. When determining if violent video games is a factor of aggressive behavior , one needs to also needs to take into consideration how long that youth is playing a particular game, is that youth being supervised as he or she is playing that particular game, what type of social setting is involved, and etc. From bullying to high school shootings, violent video games have been held responsible for numerous wrong doings by youths.