The Effects Of Violent Video Games On Children

A study published in Psychology of Popular Media Culture is proof of this theory. In this study, it is stated that 90% of pediatricians, 67% of parents, and 66% of researchers agreed that violent video games can increase child aggression. In addition to this study, a statement by six leading national medical associations, including the American Medical Association and American Psychological Association, stated, “Well over 1,000 studies - including reports from the Surgeon General's office, the National Institute of Mental Health, and numerous studies conducted by leading figures within our medical and public health organizations - our own members - point overwhelmingly to a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some

Anderson, Craig A. (2003). An update on the effects of playing violent video games. Retrieved October 5, 2010 from http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/fa09/dis/02/extra/update_violence.pdf

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

Over the past few centuries,video games have become a great leisure and hobby among kids of all ages and cultures. With the advancement of technology, video games have advanced highly in its realism and genres. This high type of advancement brought the video game industry to a multi-billion dollar industry. However, with realism, comes negative effects as well. Ever since the creation of violent or “mature” video games, there has been a constant debate on whether it will increase violence in the player. Although, not all video games are violent, and just increase skills in a player such as hand-eye coordination. Nevertheless, there is research going on for the link between violent video games and youth violence. The question is which event happens first in the sequence, do violent video games aggravate a person’s violent behavior, or does a person get rid of their anger through playing violent video games? Either way, violent video games are not beneficial to our society.

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.

A significantly large portion of the video games created within the past 5 to 10 years contain some form of violence. On top of that, some of the most popular video games out in the market today are extremely violent and warrant an “M” rating for mature. Video game developers are well aware of this trend and continue to produce more graphic, interactive, and realistic content. Therefore, there is a concern that the vast amount of violence in video games is changing how youth develop and what they perceive as normal. Many researchers believe that there is a link between video games and increased aggression in the people who play them.

In two studies conducted by Anderson and Dill, Study 1, found that real-life violent video game playing was positively related to aggressive behavior and delinquency. The second study found that laboratory exposure to graphically violent video games increased aggressive thoughts and behavior. In both of these studies men had a more hostile view than that of women. The findings from these studies are consistent to that of the General Affective

A violent video game is defined as a video game where the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2010). For many years there has been increasing concern by the general public, policy makers and social scientists as to whether or not violent video games have a negative influence on the behaviour of youth. With the popularity of the gaming culture growing dramatically amongst children and adolescences; the marketing of violent video games to youth has become increasingly successful, allowing such games to become more easily obtainable regardless of age (Anderson et al 2007). Consequently, the increase has raised the question of exactly what impact exposure to these highly graphic games has on the younger generation; resulting in a range of research and studies to continue to take place on the subject. It has become the norm in most modern societies to associate violent video games as a considerable cause to the violent and aggressive outbursts of youth (Ferguson 2010). Some even go as far as connecting some crimes committed by young people as a result of their exposure to violent video games. While others claim there is no link between violent video games and negative youth behaviour; some suggesting that violent video games have a positive impact on the behaviour of youth.

The advancement of technology in the contemporary word has increased the use of video games by children, teenagers and young adults. The video games have existed for almost three decades and the controversy of their causing violent behavior spans the same period (Porter and Starcevic,422). The release of Death Race game in 1970s initiated a debate with organizations, governments officials and other institution taking sides in the argument of whether violent video games cause violent behaviors. The issue has been a bond of contention and has attracted several scientific studies as well as psychological explanations. As a result, the media, regulatory authorities and professionals in mental health have debated the effects of video games on the behavior of those that play, especially the young people. This essay argues that video games do not cause violent behaviors.

Findings supporting these claims also show that with an increase in violence comes other negative health risks such as an increased likelihood of substance abuse, sexual activity, and obesity(Denniston, Swahn, Feldman, and Romero). Media use, and subsequent exposure to violent content is extremely prevalent among 8 to 18 year old children who spend, on average, 7.4 hours a day using media or computers and 80% of teens have some type of gaming console(Denniston, Swahn, Feldman, and Romero) These claims and the amount of media children are exposed to were concerning enough that the American Academy of Pediatrics started making advisory statements about violent video games and media being health risks for children in 2001. (Hall, Day, and Hall) Since then the link between violent games and violent behavior in youths has been researched across many “population groups”(Denniston, Swahn, Feldman, and Romero). The second theory revolves around any positive effects that might be gained from playing these games (Hall, Day, and Hall). Stating that these may offer “safe” outlets for negative emotions and thusly allowing players to be more emotionally balanced. (Hall, Day, and Hall)

Another contributor to violent behavior is media. For many years, video games have been highly criticized to have harmful effects. Vincent Cicchirillo and Rebecca Chory-Assad’s article “Effects of Affective Orientation and Video Game Play on Aggressive Thoughts and Behaviors” states, “Regarding media violence, Sparks and Sparks (2002) suggested that the role played by individual differences in the media violence–aggressive behavior link and effects of video games on aggressive behavior will be the foci of future research” (Cicchirillo & Chory-Assad 436). They believe video games are the significant cause of violent behavior and focus on exploiting the effects. In another article called “Popular Video Games: Quantifying the Presentation of Violence and Its Context”, Ken Lachlan, Stacy L. Smith, and Ron Tamborini claim, “Theory and research reveals playing video games can have a negative impact on

The topic of violence in video games has been a highly controversial conversation for many years. According to a 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation study, 10 hours and 45 minutes on average are spent per day using technology among all 8- to 18-year-olds, which is over a 2 hour increase over the past five years (Rideout et al, 2010, 2). Exposure to violent video games is significantly linked to increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and delinquency and decreases in prosocial and helping behavior (Anderson, 2004, 118), consistent with the General Affective Aggression Model. This model predicts the short and long term effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior. Many experiments have proven this, though there are some researchers who think that the results may be flawed and that the research needs to be corrected.

What images pop up in your head when you hear the word aggression? Have you ever thought whether violence portrayed in different forms of media make people more aggressive? The immediate reaction to such a word is fighting or violence. Many issues are determinants of aggression but media violence has played a huge role in influencing aggressive behavior. Over the past years, aggression has been tied to numerous video games that are violent in many different ways. Aggression has been defined as “behavior motivated by feelings of anger and hostility and whose primary aim is to harm another, either physically or psychologically (Gilovich, Keltner, Chen & Nisbett, 2016). Even though individuals do not realize, many aspects pertaining to violent video games have been thought to be correlated with aggression in individuals who play them. Some issues include how violent they are, how long the games are engaged in and what age the individual is. In this present paper, the timing of a violent video game and its role in influencing aggression, is investigated.

This article provides a brief overview of existing research on the effects of exposure to violent video games. An updated meta-analysis reveals that exposure to violent video games is significantly linked to increases in aggressive behavior, cognition, affect, and cardiovascular arousal, and to decreases in helping behavior. Experimental studies reveal the linkage is causal. Correlational studies reveal a links to serious, real types of violence. Methodologically weaker studies yielded smaller effect sizes than methodologically stronger studies, suggesting that previous meta-analytic studies of violent video games do not compare to the true magnitude of observed deleterious effects on behavior, cognition, and affect.