My final draft of the final paper
Do Violent Video Games Cause Behavior
Problems?
One’s mode of living can be affected by
entertainment media. Most behaviors that kids and adults deem suitable come,
partially, from the lessons they obtain from movies and television. There exist
solid theoretical rationales to suppose that violent video games will include
analogous, and perhaps additional, impacts on aggression. Nevertheless, there
exist few writings on the impact of exposure to video game violence since it is
a new area of concern in the present U.S. culture. Hence, some people argue
that video games do not cause as much aggression as that caused by watching
violent TV and movies. This paper proofs that video games have severe, long
term and short term behavior effects, which are worse than those of TV and
movies.
Prevalence
of Video Games in the United States
Media violence is vastly consumed by the U.S.
residents. Children and youths with years between 8 and 18 use over 40 hours
every week on media excluding time spent on homework and school assignments (Ballard
and Jefferson 717). Although television is the most common form of media used,
electronic, video games have speedily gained popularity. A number of children
between the ages 2 to 18, approximately 10%, spend over one hour each day
playing computer video games (Fling 39). Amongst boys aged between 8 to 13
years, the average number of hours spent on these games is over 7.5 hour each
week (Harris and Williams 306). Learners in higher institutions of learning as
well play video games frequently. By 1998, 13.3% of men joining universities
spent at least 6 hr per week on video games (Irwin 337). A year later, the
number had augmented to 14.8%. Besides, 2% of the men accounted playing video
games over 20 hour each week in 1998. A year later, the number enlarged to
2.5%. While the initial video games surfaced in the late 1970s, violent video
games became popular in 1990s, with the homicide games Street Fighter, Wolfenstein
3D and Mortal Kombat (Ballard and Jefferson 717). All these three games involve murdering or hurting enemies.
The graphics, for instance, blood and echoes
of these games were radical at the phase of their establishment. Before the
last part of the 20th century, further graphically violent games grew to be
accessible to all players, regardless of age (Gerbner 10). Although a number of
enlightening, nonviolent, games subsist, the most profoundly advertised and
utilized games are those that are violent. Girls and boys in the fourth grade,
59% and 73% respectively, report that most of their preferred games are those
that contain acts of violence (Dietz 425). A key area of concern is the lack of
parental supervision. Most youths in grades 8 up to 12 details that merely 1%
of their parents ever disallowed a purchase due to its rating, and 90% of their
parents never verified the ratings of the games ahead of their purchase (Kirsh
180).
Why Video
Games Increase Aggression and Violence?
A number of reasons for predicting exposure
to violent video games to augment aggressive conduct in both the long term
(constant exposure over a phase of years) and short term (in about 20 minutes
of the game) exist. Founded on some former models of human aggression, the
General Aggression Model is a valuable framework for appreciating the impacts
of violent media. The act of aggression is mainly founded on the learning,
stimulating, and use of aggression-associated knowledge constructions amassed
in the memory, such as schemas and scripts.
Conditional input variables, such as latest
exposure to violent media games, pressure aggressive behavior via their effect
on the individual’s current
internal state, symbolized by affective, cognitive and stimulation
variables.
Violent media augment aggression through
teaching spectators how to be hostile, through priming violent cognitions,
counting, formerly, learned aggressive perceptual schemata and aggressive
scripts, by mounting arousal, or by forming an aggressive affective condition (Anderson
and Deuser 166). Long-term impacts, as
well, engross learning procedures. From childhood, humans discover how to
perceive, understand, critic, and react to actions in the social and physical
surroundings (Geen and Mathew 15). A variety of knowledge constructions for
these actions builds up ultimately. They are normally founded on daily
interpretations and relations with other persons. Every violent-media incident
becomes a new learning experience. As the cognitions constructions are repeated,
they grow to be highly differentiated, composite and hard to modify. Another
model of academic and social impacts of exposure to media violence has been created
by Huesmann (Huesmann 37). This model demonstrates that as a child grows to be
aggressive regularly, the qualities and social relations that she/he practices
also vary. All told the amalgamations of long-term and short-term procedures
create the positive relation linking aggressive-violent behavior and exposure
to media violence.
GAAM:
Input Variables and Internal States
Both situational and personal variables can
alter an individual’s character through affective, arousal and cognitive
variables. For instance, individuals who score high on tests of aggressive
traits have highly available information structures for aggression-associated
knowledge. They assume aggressive views more regularly than do those persons
who attain less on aggressive personality tests, and have social acuity schemas
that result to aggressive perception, belief, and provenance prejudices.
The present accessibility of
aggression-associated cognitive structures can as well be influenced by
situational input variables. Being affronted may lead an individual to consider
of how to revenge the insult in a destructive manner. Playing a violent video
game, as well, can augment the availability of violent cognitions by semantic
priming procedures. Just seeing an image of a gun or other arm can augment the
availability of aggressive feelings. Both input variables control an individual’s
existing affective condition, for instance, aggression-associated feelings of
aggression or rage. Several individuals feel irritated nearly at all times. A
number of circumstances can make someone irritated. Nevertheless, we do
anticipate that playing violent video games will habitually boost thoughts of
rage, weighed against playing a peaceful game. Certainly, playing an annoying
game is apt to amplify rage (Bandura 91). Nevertheless violent material, in the
lack of another aggravation, is liable to have small direct effect on affect.
Long-Term
Effects of Video Game Violence
Impacts of long-term media violence on
aggression emerge from over-learning, growth and reinforcement of
aggression-linked cognition systems. Every occasion persons play violent video
games they practice aggressive scripts that edify and strengthen violent acts
against others, positive thinking about the use of violence, caution for
opponents, anticipations that others
will act in violent ways and viewpoints that aggressive solutions are efficient
and suitable.
Moreover, frequent exposure to graphic acts
of violence is apt to be desensitizing. The formation of these
aggression-linked cognitive structures and the desensitization outcomes
transform the individual's character. Players involved in video game for long
can emerge more aggressive in attitudes, perceptual prejudices, attitudes,
values, and actions than they were prior to the frequent exposure or would have
befallen with no such exposure.
Hypothetically, these long-term transformations in aggressive behavior
function in the instant situation via both input variables explained in GAAM;
situation and person variables. The relation to person variables is clear–the
individual is now violent in attitude and tendency. However, the way long-term
impacts of frequent contact to violent video games can alter situational
variables is less apparent. Nevertheless, Huesmann has constructed a lucid
model of the academic and social impacts of experience to violence on
television (Huesmann 37). When an individual grows to be aggressive, the social
surroundings react. Persons who are ready to interrelate with them, the nature
of exchanges that are made, and the circumstances made accessible to the
individual all transform. Relations with parents, teachers, and nonviolent
peers are apt to deteriorate, whereas exchanges with other aggressive peers
might augment. Hence, we anticipate getting a positive relationship between an
individual’s height of experience to violent video games and his/her aggressive
actions.
Unique
Dangers of Violent Video Games
Current information indicates that concern
regarding the potentially harmful effects of playing violent video games is not
mislaid. Additional reflection on some key traits of violent video games denotes
that their risks may well be larger than the risks of violent movies or violent
television. Three motives can elucidate this. The first is the desire to
identify with the aggressive person (Leyens 375). The player presumes the
characteristics of the champion, and at times, selects a trait whose qualities
the player then adopts. The player directs the act of this character and
frequently visualizes the video game globe via that character's sight. Hence,
the chief character is identical with the game player, latently intensifying
the effect of the game. The second cause of concern is the active contribution
pertaining video games. Study on the catharsis hypothesis discloses that
aggressive behavior typically augments later aggressive mannerisms (Bushman 955).
The dynamic task of the video game player entails opting to aggress and
behaving g in an aggressive way. This preference and action constituent of
video games might lead to the building of a more whole aggressive script, than
would happen in the inert role adopted in watching violent TV shows and movies.
The final reason to suppose video games to
include a larger effect than movies or TV engrosses their addictive character.
The strengthening distinctiveness of violent video games can also boost the
training and presentation of violent scripts. Video games obsession can stem,
partially, from the penalties and rewards, which the game accords the player (Griffiths
and Newton 473), similar to the reward construction of slot apparatus.
Logically, violent video games present an absolute learning atmosphere for
aggression, with concurrent exposure to reinforcement, modeling and practice of
behaviors. This amalgamation of learning approach has been revealed to be more
potent than any other technique employed (Klein, 395).
In conclusion, video games, which are
violent, give a forum for discovering and practicing aggressive resolutions to
conflict circumstances. The outcome of violent video games seems to be
cognitive in trait. In the short term, playing violent video games influences
aggression through priming violent thoughts. Long term impacts are apt to stay
for long, as the player discovers and practices novel aggression-linked scripts
that grow to be progressively available for utilization when real-life conflict
circumstances occur. If frequent, exposure to violent video games can lead to
the formation and heightened availability of a range of aggressive cognitive
constructions, hence, varying the individual’s basic persona structure. The
resultant changes in daily social relations might also lead to steady augments
in the aggressive change. The lively nature of the learning atmosphere of the
video game puts forward that this medium is more risky than the more profoundly
explored movie and TV media. With the latest drift toward vast realism and
graphic aggression in video games, in addition to, the growing recognition of
these games, users of violent video games, as well as parents of users, are
supposed to be aware of these latent hazards.
Topical proceedings in the news, for instance, the relation between
youth killers in Colorado and violent video game play, have flickered civic
debate regarding the impacts of video game violence. While the debate goes on,
video games are growing to be increasingly violent, explicit and rampant.
Scientists must add new research to the
presently small and lacking text on video game violence impacts and elucidate
for society what these dangers involve precisely. The General Affective Aggression
Model has been demonstrated as helpful in organizing a broad array of research
results on human aggression and in creating testable schemes, including the
current exploration on video game violence. Further short-term investigation on
the impacts of violent video games is required in order to identify the natures
of game players and games that decrease and deepen the aggression-linked
impacts.
Resources:
Works
Cited
Anderson,
Karl and Deuser Anderson. “The Interactive Relations between Trait Hostility,
Pain, and Aggressive Thoughts.” Aggressive
Behavior 24 (1998): 161-171.
Ballard,
Michael and Jefferson Weist. “Mortal
Kombat: The Effects of Violent Video Game Play on Males' Hostility and Cardiovascular
Responding.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology
26 (1996): 717-730.
Bandura,
Alois. Aggression: A social Learning
Analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973
Bushman,
Beckham. “Moderating Role of Trait Aggressiveness in the Effects of Violent
Media on Aggression.” Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology 69 (1995): 950-960.
Dietz,
Tyre. “An Examination of Violence and Gender Role Portrayals in Video Games:
Implications for Gender Socialization and Aggressive Behavior.” Sex Roles 38(1998): 425-442.
Fling,
Smith. “Videogames, Aggression, and
Self-Esteem: A Survey.” Social Behavior
and Personality 20 (1992): 39-46.
Geen,
Robert and Mathew Quanty. “The Catharsis of Aggression: An Evaluation of a Hypothesis.” Advances
in Experimental Social Psychology 10 (1977): 1-37
Gerbner,
Gilbert. “The Mainstreaming of America: Violence Profile No. II.” Journal of Communication 30 (1980):10-29.
Griffiths,
Michael and Newton Hunt. “Dependence on Computer Games by Adolescents.” Psychological Reports 82(1990): 475-480.
Harris,
Morris and Williams, Reagan. “Video Games and School Performance.” Education 105 (1980): 306-309.
Huesmann,
Lois. Aggressive Behavior: Current Perspectives.
New York: Plenum Press, 1994
Irwin,
Gross. “Cognitive Tempo, Violent Video Games, and Aggressive Behavior in Young
Boys.” Journal of Family Violence 10
(1995): 337-350.
Kirsh,
Smith. “Seeing the World through Mortal Kombat-Colored Glasses: Violent Video
Games and the Development of a Short-Term Hostile Attribution Bias.” Childhood 5(1998): 177-184.
Klein,
Morris. “The Bite of Pac-Man.” The Journal
of Psychohistory 11(1984): 395-401.
Leyens,
Picus. “Identification with the Winner of a Fight and Name Mediation: Their
Differential Effects upon Subsequent Aggressive Behavior.” British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 12(1973): 374-377.
