Violent Video Games Cause Violence Essay

Studies have shown that repeated exposure to violent video games over time does affect the structure and functioning of the adolescent brain. The brain is a malleable and ‘plastic’ structure that can change and evolve with every stimulus we give it. Whether this stimulus comes from studying Spanish, training in basketball or playing a video game, every single input can affect the structure and functions of the brain if the conditions are right. While some video games enhance multitasking, visual perception and the brain’s ability to process information, research has suggested that violent video games can influence aggressive behaviour, aggressive cognition and physiological arousal. A study conducted by Doctor Vincent Matthews and his colleagues at Indiana University School of Medicine have found that there were sustained changes in the regions of the brain associated with cognitive function and emotional control after a group of young adult men were playing violent video games for a week. Similarly, in laboratory studies, some researchers have found an increase of about four percent in gamers’ levels of aggression after playing violent video games. However, other research groups have concluded that factors such as family background, mental health and

A huge controversy in today’s society is violent video games and their behavioral effect on the children and adults who play them. Violent video games have been blamed for bullying, school shootings, and even violence towards women. Many have fought that violent video games desensitize players to real-life violence, and that they are teaching the youth that violence is an acceptable conflict-solving strategy. Other sources have stated otherwise. The 2004 Secret Service has stated that only one-eighth of attackers have exhibited interests in video games. Violent Video games do not cause violent behavior or behavior problems because it has not been proven that there is a link between violent video games and behavioral issues, playing video games provide a safe outlet for aggressive and angry feelings and reduces violence in young children, and violent juvenile crime has actually gone down since the violent video game popularity has increased.

Video games have become very influential on children and adults (Stafford, 1999). With violent video games humans are more prone to act aggressively, to have aggressive thoughts and become numb towards violence (Harding, 2009). Apart from these they are

It is scientifically proven that kids that play video games have an increase in violent behavior compared to kids that do not. 91 percent of children ages three

According to Hollingdale and Greitemeyer (2014), Video games that are violent are identified as very popular games that are played by the consumers. There is a concern that violent video games may pose a public health risk due to the levels of aggression due to the effects of the video games. In a cross sectional studies it has been found that there is a positive correlations with real life and video game aggression. Also in longitudinal studies shows that playing violent video games constantly it can predict that there may be later aggression even after controlling for initial levels of aggression. Experimental studies have showed that playing the video game is a factor of an increase level of

In a pro-con website, a countless amount of people were arguing concerning the fact that if violent video games contribute to youth violence. One person argued that it fails to contribute to youth violence since “violent video games allow players to release their stress and anger in the game, leading to less real world aggression.” In order to prove that the person’s statement is right, that person showed the results of a survey conducted by a researcher. “A peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health discovered that children, especially boys, play video games as a means of managing their emotions: "61.9% of boys played to 'help me relax,' 47.8% because 'it helps me forget my problems,' and 45.4% because 'it helps me get my anger out."” Many teens play video games in order to reduce and relieve the amount the pain they have. Even though these games are violent, they do relieve strain and it does make people feel relaxed. Games can be enjoyable for teens who admires playing a great deal of

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

As many as 97% of US kids age 12-17 play video games, contributing to the $21.53 billion domestic video game industry. More than 50% of games have violence. (Procon.org) Video games that have violence have been blamed to have caused bullying, mass shootings, and violence towards women. (Procon.org) An estimated four out of five US households with a male child own a video game system and worldwide series of video games are predicted to reach $102.9 billion in 2017. (Procon.org) Critics argue that these games desensitize players to violence and it rewards players for simulating violence . (Procon.org)

noticing an increase in the aggression of their children as well. This brought about the assumption that the violence in video games has a large impact on the way children behave.

According to the article “Shooting in the Dark” author, Benedict Carey, states that studies today on violent video games show no concrete evidence on actually long term negative effects on gamers. Mr. Carey is not a researcher or scientist but is a veteran writer of neuroscience, neurology, and psychology. Throughout this article he gives factual evidence and quotes from scholarly sources such as doctors and researchers in the fields of behavior and psychology. The author gives ample explanation on evidence used from his sources to give the optimal understanding to the reader of the results and/or findings given by the sources. The article connects to the modern age of gamers with examples from big name video

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)

Violent video games can desensitize children. Studies show that most video games in today’s society contain some type of

Many tests have been made and done to try to explain the effects video games have on the human brain along with other parts of the body it can affect. One of many tests performed was one on 20 teenage boys they had them take a test of how they would react to the situation. Examples of the questions would be “You are driving and you get an a car accident a male then steps out of the other car and comes up to yours and starts to yell and scream at you. What would you do?” or “You have been in line to see a movie that just came out. You have been standing there for an hour and a half. You are about 10 people from the door then a party of seven people push you back and cut in front of you this will set you back another 20 minutes to get in. What would you do?” The 20 teens would answer the questions and turn them in. After that they played violent video games for three days then took the same type of test then turn it again three days later do the same for a month. The end results said The longer the teens played the video games the more violent there answers became. Test 2 was with a group of 50 teens 10 girls and 40 boys split into 2 groups of 25, 5 girls and 20 boys each. One group played violent video games the other group played non-violent video

Video games are one of the fastest growing media industries. The Interactive Digital Software reports that from 1997 to 2000, there was a 15% increase in game software sales, which surpasses other U.S. industries such as amusement parks, fitness centers, and motion picture production (Weber). During this time of rapid economic growth, video games also incurred societal wrath due to some graphic, violent content. Such concern may be warranted, given the fact that playing violent video game has been found in the laboratory to increase aggressive responses (Weber).

Even federal government research has failed to find a statistically significant correlation between increased aggression and violence in video games.