...[Your Name] [Instructor] [Class] [Date] Violent Video Games do not CAUSE VIOLENCE Introduction Correlation does not prove Causation. Since 1992, there have been 387 school shootings in America. In the wake of these tragedies, the investigators and our society have looked to find somewhere to point the blame. Some blame gun laws, some blame our school system, but almost all conclusions place at least some blame on video games. When 90% of today's teenagers video games are 90% likely to include mature levels of violence, there's clearly an issue. However, the issue is mistakenly simplified down to the equation that violence in games = violence in real life, mistakenly because correlation does not prove causation. Today, I want to talk about why video games do not cause violence, and can even be a healthy way to release aggression. body Research is inconclusive. Unfortunately, research on video games and violence is inconclusive and does not ever come to a consensus. For every study that you find that proves video games cause violence, you have a study that proves that video games have no correlation to real-life violence. Media psychologists, communication scientists, and pediatricians disagree greatly among themselves as to whether or not there is a causal relationship between gaming and violence. There is more than a 20% variation in opinion over whether or not gaming produces real-life violence. That variation does not sound convincing to us, who like to pretend we...
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...Violence in Video Games There has been a debate for years on whether or not violence in video games cause behavioral problems in kids. In this Essay we are going to attempt to take a look at this debate and try to find out once and for all which side has the more legitimate case. The debate over this issue spans back more than two decades and with technology improving leaps and bounds over the past ten years games have become more realistic and violent. In a study in 2013 Doctors Christopher Ferguson and Cheryl Olson discovered violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto, HALO, and Mortal Combat did not cause High Risk Teens those with depression or an attention disorder to become more aggressive or delinquents (Nauert). In fact this study did show a slight calming effect on children with attention disorders. It also showed that it helped calm aggression in those high risk teens as well. This study was important because it goes against the belief that violent games have an effect on teens to become more violent and act out it shows that Societal Violence plays a bigger part on the influence of kids than video games do (Nauert). Ferguson and Olson studied 377 teens with an average age of thirteen from all different backgrounds and economic circumstances. Ferguson goes on records as saying “Statistically speaking, it would actually be more unusual if a youth delinquent or shooter did not play violent video games, given that the majority of youth and young men play such games at least...
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...Video Games and Youth Aggression Reuben Steele Post University Abstract Due to technology advances, video games are becoming more graphically violent these days. Maybe we ask ourselves, is this the reason our youth are becoming more violent and aggressive? Some say that it’s not the video games that cause the aggression, but more of the individual. Our youth are more susceptible to influence, and violent video games are one of the many influences that promotes aggression. Parents/guardians are allowing the youth to purchase and play the games and the distributors are selling the games to minors when there are guidelines that need to be followed. Video Games and Youth Aggression Today in age, we are facing a rising epidemic. Youth aggression (violence) is constantly on the news and radio. What is the cause of this epidemic? Some say it is the music we listen to; others say it is what we watch on TV. And movies, but lately it is something that our youth is becoming more and more active in, video games. Video game over the years has become more violent and aggressive due to the advances in technology. It has come to the point where children can become more physical with the games that are out today. What does this say about how video gaming affecting our youth’s aggression? It is saying that our youth (mainly boys ages 10- 16) are easily influenced by violent acts that are displayed in video games and that what they see is what want to imitate (Punam¨aki, R., Rimpel¨a...
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...of Video Game Violence and Profanity in Children and Young Adults Monika Woods Anderson Introduction This paper will discuss research findings on the potential effects of violence and profanity in video games on the children and young adults that play them. I will discuss various research findings, both positive and negative; as well as what conclusions can be drawn from these findings and whether or not additional research could prove to be beneficial in the future. The issue of violent content in video games has become a growing concern over the years to parents as well as scholars and medical professionals. Since the first computer-based video game made was created in 1958; the computer and video game industry has grown tremendously and sales have grossed billions of dollars worldwide. According to our textbook, as many as 67 percent of American heads of households play video games. Technological advancement has changed these games quite a lot in terms of realism and content variety. As games look more and more realistic and present players with real-life situations; People are becoming more worried about whether or not there is any real link between violent content and/or profanity in games and an increase in aggression and/or violent actions in the individuals that play video games. The majority of research examined for this paper concern video game violence in general; but there are also limited studies that explore the prevalence of profanity in video games...
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...The Misconception of Juvenile Video Game Violence The Misconception of Youth Video Game Violence A teen walks into a school with loaded weapon in hand. A young boy steals a vehicle and drives recklessly causing severe harm to others. A young girl sets her house on fire with family members inside. What do these seemingly uncommon crimes have in common? Each juvenile in these examples has played violent video games. Our media that covers these violent crimes is quick to make that point known. Often times they also erroneously blame the playing of violent video games as the root cause of these crimes. Research suggests that violence in video games does not contribute to violence in today’s youth because juvenile crimes have declined as video game popularity has increased; they in fact provide an outlet to express aggression without causing physical harm, and juvenile violence has been more commonly linked to exposure of family violence. When looking at research from the FBI, crime rates involving juveniles over the past 30 years have declined. In fact, in most violent crime categories the crime rate among our youth is at an all-time low (Butts, J. 2013). At first, this information may be hard to believe. It shouldn’t however, because violence among youth commonly ends up making headline national news. For this reason, we end up being exposed to the details on many of these youth related violent crimes. This can make it difficult to put actual facts into...
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...Video Games Effect on Behavior With games like Assassin’s Creed 3 and Halo 4 recently released, video game sales have been sky-rocketing. Children, teenagers, and adults alike have all been rushing to Game Stop to have the chance to slash victims with a hidden blade or shoot down enemies with AK-47s. This type of game rewards murders. In fact, the National Television Violence Study (1996) found that about 73 percent of violent video games reward violence as an acceptable way to handle conflict (Norcia). This is true for a variety of games ranging from Poke’mon to Mortal Kombat. Due to consumer’s demand, most of the video games sold are violent. Gamers learn to identify with the characters they are controlling. “This identification with characters in video games increases a player's ability to learn and retain aggressive thoughts and behaviors they see portrayed in violent games (Norcia).” Aggression is defined as an action It can be a verbal attack--insults, threats, sarcasm, or attributing nasty motives to them--or a physical punishment or restriction. Direct behavioral signs include being overly critical, fault finding, name-calling, accusing someone of having immoral or despicable traits or motives, nagging, whining, sarcasm, prejudice, and/or flashes of temper (Shin). Research on the subject has suggested that violent video games cause aggressive thoughts and actions. Assassin’s Creed 3, mentioned in the paragraph above, is an example of a classic violent video game...
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...Violent Video Games: The Cause for Aggression – Yes or No? Kimberly Fitzgerald-Amend PSYC3520-Introduction to Social Psychology u10a1-Opposing Viewpoints in Social Psychology Capella University March 2013 Abstract Everyone, at one point or another, may display aggressive behavior. Where did this behavior come from? This paper will discuss opposing viewpoints on the role of media violence and video games in the development of aggressive behavior. Included herein will be a brief overview of Albert Bandura’s “Social Learning Theory”; a discussion of media violence and violent video games and their possible roles in the development of aggression; and the ethical viewpoints on violence in the media. This paper will conclude with an overview of all presented information. Media Violence and Violent Video Games: The Cause for Aggression – Yes or No? It is a beautiful, sunny summer afternoon and spending a few hours at the park seems like a great way to enjoy it. However, only a few minutes into it, Tommy pushes Sara off the swing and now going to the park does not seem to have been the best choice. Why did Tommy do this? What causes children to act aggressively? Is it because shortly before coming to the park Tommy played a violent video game; or maybe on his way out he passed through the room where his father was watching a breaking news story about a murder victim? The role the media and/or violent video games play in the development of aggression has been...
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...1100 Do Video Games Lead To Violence? What am I being asked to believe or accept? In this article, Do Video Games Lead to Violence, the argument being made is that video games either leads to violence or does not lead to violence. There have been arguments that video games cause psychological and physiological problems in children that result to violence. An opposing argument believes that video games do no cause violence and more research is needed to ensure that video games cause violent activities. What evidence is available to support each side of the argument? The evidence available to support each side of the argument is that researches found that playing video games increases aggression in young adolescents. In addition, more realistic video games increase physiological arousal. Video games also make children adapt to the interaction in the game rapidly. Evidence available to support that video games does not influence violent behavior is the little evidence between the contacts to violent video games to violence in real life. Olson, one of the researchers, believes that violent video games is not connected to how the media says it is. There is no legit evidence that playing video games causes aggressive behaviors. What further evidence or information would help me to evaluate the two sides to the argument? Further evidence that supports video games leading to violence are the experiments researches have done. The experiments demonstrated that playing video games...
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...ages 8 to 16 play video games, some spend up to 13 hours a week doing so (Harding). Most of the video games out now include some form of violence. This is a very controversial issue. Some people of the older or “Baby Boomers” generation would blame this on the parents of those children. These violent video games and movies can cause children to desensitize the violence and also cause aggression, but violent video games do not cause violent behavior. Debates about video game violence and player aggression are likely to continue for some time. “…As video games have become more widespread over the past few decades, the incidence rate of criminal youth violence has declined…” (Ferguson 390) In order to keep from behavior becoming an issue with children, parents have to step up and teach them right from wrong and what is good and what is bad. If a television show is on that is provoking violence, then someone needs to point out to the child that it is wrong to fight, curse, etc. Most children learn from experience. As long as they are told what is acceptable from what is not they should have standard morals to know what to do when the parent is not around. It is the parents’ job to be the ones to teach their children the ethics and principles that they want them to follow. When Rihanna’s music video for “Man Down” was released, it sparked a whole new controversy. In her video she shoots the man who raped her while promoting empowerment and self-awareness. Her video did turn out to...
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...Video Games Negative or Positive? Do video games have a direct correlation with the aggression and violence in the people who play them? This is the controversy discussed in the following articles. Jack Hollingdale of the University of Sussex, UK and Tobias Greitemeyer of the University of Innsbruck, Austria have collaborated in writing The changing face of aggression: the effect of personalized avatars in a violent video game on levels of aggressive behaviors. Hollingdale and Greitemeyer argue that “Studies have found that exposure to violent video games correlates negatively with helping behaviors in the real world and, as a result, exposure to violent video games poses a public health threat to children and youth” (Hollingdale and Greitemeyer 1). However, Christopher J Ferguson from Texas A&M International University, the department of behavioral applied science and criminal justice, sees the more positive side of the violent video games. In his article Blazing Angels or Resident Evil? Can Violent Video Games Be a Force for Good he disputes that “the negative effects of violent games have been exaggerated by some elements of the scientific community, fitting with past cycles of media-forced moral panics” (Ferguson 1). Both articles use statistics and specific examples to prove their thesis. Ferguson uses the claim of value more than claims of fact which seem to discredit his argument. Hollingdale and Greitmeyer support their thesis with psychological studies...
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...Does Video Game Violence Promote Aggressive Behavior Chris Foxworth Preston Hughes ITT Technical Institute Alan Cameron 6 May 2016 Does Video Game Violence Promote Aggressive Behavior Some people may say that video games and the violence that is in them, are the causes of the younger generation behavioral problems. No matter what the “issue” is with the child, somehow the focus seems to be diverted back to the media they tend to view and the games they play, but this is not always the case. According to Kennedy-Moore (2015), other factors such as family violence, parental discipline, peer rejection, and school problems are established risk factors for aggression. Few parents worry about if violent videogames will turn their children into criminals. With my personal experience, I don’t worry the least bit whether or not my children will become violent or aggressive; let alone become a criminal due to the videogames they play. If these types of games were so inspiring on the younger generation, I’d really be concerned with my son jumping off rooftops because he likes to play superhero type games like Batman and Spiderman. Another article by Dotinga (2003) that I have come across did a study of videogame violence with some teenage boys and girls. During the research study on boys and girls the researchers found that out of the 22 kids who played video games the most each day, were the likeliest to have behavioral problems, exhibit hyperactivity and have trouble academically...
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... ENG 101-001 04-09-2014 Violent Video Games and Their Alleged Effect Douglas A. Gentile writes that there are positive and negative aspects of video games. If you take video games that do not involve violence, but education instead, you find a positive outcome. Video games could very well be the new form of education to a certain degree. Things like coordination skills, memorization, and even learning a foreign language could be possible outcomes. Violent games on the other hand are a different story in and of themselves. Violent video games are defined as, any game where players can self- inflict harm on something (or someone) in the game. Time is also a huge factor. Putting a school aged kid in front of a violent video game, and allowing him to play for hours a day, will most likely decrease their ability to fulfill academic goals. The answer to this problem is to just limit the amount of time in front of a screen to one or two hours a day (non-academic). Also, limit the amount of violent games and encourage the more educational ones. “The conclusion I draw from the accumulated research is that the question of whether video games are “good” or “bad” for children is oversimplified” (Gentile). The discussion on whether video game play affects sociable behavior could be a matter of dialogue. Several argue that aggression and violence are plagued by video game play, whereas this stance is debatable by others...
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...Video gaming has become a huge part of our society today. Studies have shown that about 70% of the world plays video games, and thousands of people are playing as you read this. Video games can do many great things, like help people grow their imaginations, provide critical thinking skills, create team players and hone social skills, and it has even been said to help medical surgeons improve hand-eye-coordination, helping them to cause 37% less errors while performing surgeries. But along with its acknowledgement, it has its discredit. People are now proclaiming after the previous shootings over the years that video games cause the gamers to become violent, due to the fact that some of these “shooters” were video gamers themselves. But is it truly the video games that make people violent. Since 1958 with the invention of the first video game, “Tennis for Two” sociologists have been studying how video games effect human interactions over time. One Benedict Carey stated that, “The issue is especially relevant today, because the games are more realistic and bloodier than ever...” What he means by this is that as we progress into the future we learn to advance and better ideas and other items. And with the current market, video games holding the use of violence, drugs, nudity, and action are at a high. So in order to have a higher income companies such as Treyarch, Nintendo, and Sony try to make the best and most realistic type of games that the public wants. In This case being...
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...Does Violence in Video Games Influence Negative Behavior? D`Mageo Dickerson University of Phoenix AADV155A84; ENG102 Becky Wilfahrt December 2, 2012 Terry Baker is 18 and addicted to video games, especially violent ones. He loves “ManHunt”, “Max Payne”, “Resident Evil 4”,”Grand Theft Auto”, “God of War”, ”50 Cent: Bulletproof”, “Crime Life: Gang Wars”, and “NARC”. He plays shooting games more than any other type of games. Terry plays at least four hours straight per day. He misses meals when he gets involved in a game he really likes. Terry’s life in the real world is not that pleasant. He hardly spends time with his friends and family. When he gets around to spending time with them, he only shares about an hour or only two of his time. On the other hand, there is Joey Lewis. Joey Lewis is 17, and does not have an addiction to video games. He plays more racing and sport games than violent games. He also plays the same games as Terry. Unlike Terry, Joey plays video games no more than two hours a day. He does not play them every day like Terry does. Joey’s real world life is enjoyable. He spends much of his time with family and friends. In today’s society, there are many children that play video games that contain so much violence, gun shooting, and aggressive behavior. Parents are not aware of the violence that most of the games that they buy their children have. Most children get really into their games and sometimes think that the game is a real life experience...
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...Violence in Music Videos and Music Lyrics has a negative impact on children. Music videos that expose profanity and sexuality are inappropriate and leave a negative impression on young children. Violence in music videos can cause health problem. Music videos that promote negative lyrics are affecting young children. Music lyrics with vulgar languages affect the development and well-being of young children. For example, the study author (Stone, 2009) found “that music with explicit references to drugs, sex or violence can be associated with negative effects on school work behavior and emotions” (p. 2). Media violence not only provokes violence among children, it provokes sexual behaviors. However, Music videos add reinforcement to what is being heard with the use of visuals. Rap music video shows an elevated level of content presented of tobacco and alcohol use than any other kind of music videos. Exposure to violence, sexual imagery and alcohol in music videos persuade violent and hostile feelings, potentially aggressive behavior that may direct them to certain types of sadistic behavior. Teens listen to on an average 40 hours of music per week. Children under eight are still developing emotionally. They cannot distinguish between reality and fantasy. They tend to imitate what they hear on the radio and see on T.V. They idolize artists and build themselves to be like them. Children use music to obtain and control of their sensitivity level and to deal with seclusion...
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