Violent Video Game Effects On Aggression

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

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.

The sample for this study consisted of 222 participants who were second year psychology students from the University of Newcastle. All students were participating as part of a course requirement and all had given their consent to participating in the study.

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

American Psychological Association. (1996) . Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed.) . Washington, DC: American Psychological

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Lauren Lago, Department of Psychology, University of Central Oklahoma, 100 N. University Drive, Edmond, OK 73034. Email:llago@uco.edu

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.

Works Cited Craighead, W. Edward, and Charles B. Nemeroff. The Concise Corsini Encyclopedia Of Psychology And Behavioral Science. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2004. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost).

From the late 1970s until the present day, the video game industry has been growing in popularity and profit at an amazing rate, with profits exceeding $10 billion in 1999 (Senate Commitee on the Judiciary, 1999). As time has progressed, the content of these games has become more and more realistic, and the violence in them has become more realistic. Concerns about this violence, from the relatively tame Pac-Man of the early 1980s to the near photo-realistic bestsellers of today, have been around since video games first enter the public consciousness. Video game violence appears in nearly all genres of game, from fantasy, to action, to sports and children of both genders have indicated a preference for video games containing violent content (Funk J. , 1993).

The participants for this study were 31 females and 11 males, all from Statistics of Psychology class or Research in Methods of Psychology classes in a university located in the Rocky Mountain. This was a convenience sampling conducted within a school setting close to participants and those conducting the study.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Eduardo Bunn, Undergraduate student of Psychology, Texas A & M International University, TX.

This study was overseen by the department of psychology at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. There were 112 student participants. As part of the experiment, they either performed a

Author Note This research paper was done for Psychology 240, Section 4001, taught by Professor Mason

Video Games have come a long way since their first introduction into the main stream. With video games becoming more sophisticated and using advanced technology, it seems as if video games are closing in on the gap between games and reality. However, as video games become ever so life-like it brings up the question of if the violence associated with video games is having a negative consequence. There have been many accusations over the years over the harm video games are causing children and teenagers. Experiments have been conducted trying to associate a link between video games and aggressive behavior. Even the media has been known to point fingers at video games for the cause of children

“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