...Growing up, I balanced myself between love and fear for a man I was supposed to idealize. It’s a very thin tightrope for a small girl, one that leaves a voice in the back of your head warning you to watch your step and keep your distance. There are many effects from walking such a tightrope. There are trust issues, anger issues, and deeply imbedded fear to overcome while balancing against the effects of a violent father. I am six years old. I play quietly with my toys in the corner of the room. I could play alone with my toys for hours. I make up stories, characters, and worlds for my dolls, my stuffed animals, and my Fisher-Price Little People. I hear the yelling in the background, but if I concentrate hard enough I can almost drown it out. Almost. I hear my sister’s back talk and I sense it isn’t good, but I keep playing in my corner. My father doesn’t like a smart mouth. He’s had too much to drink again, his temper is raging again, and his fists are demanding respect that he isn’t receiving…again. She’s asking for it; she’s sassy, she’s questioning, she’s complaining, and she’s not his real daughter. My brother tries to intervene; he’s always trying to protect her. He’s athletic, he’s valiant, he’s brave, but he’s not his real son. He’s pushing it today. I can’t ignore them any longer. Like a moth to a flame, I’m drawn in for a closer look. It’s like a horrible TV show that I can’t turn off. My sister is sobbing in the hallway. My brother is pinned against the wall with...
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...Violent media’s effects on youths According to Smith and Wilson (Smith., 1997; Wilson., 1997), the National Television Violence Study, a three-year assessment of more than 3000 programs a year, found out that “60 percent of programs across twenty-six channels contain some physical aggressions”. Some points of view believe that there are connections between media violence and violent behaviour. However, other people don’t think so. This essay will argue that violence in the media is one of the main causes of increasing violent behaviour among youths because children learn behaviours from the media, youth who watch violent TV programs become more aggressive and they show less sympathy for other people. First of all, children may learn violent behaviours via media. According to Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986), children learn ideas, values, emotions and even behaviours by observing others in their social environment. They tend to imitate observed behaviours that are rewarded than those that are punished. For example, they are more likely to mimic hero characters in the movies or games that usually use violence to solve the problems. These characters always get rewarded for their actions. This kind of scenario has become too common and Rowell Huesmann (1986) stated that children might learn from it and develop it into a script, a solution for every problem. Furthermore, there are researches that show children can imitate and reproduce the violent actions for eight months...
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...Effects of video games on society The future of entertainment revolves around technology. Video games become more and more realistic. Gaming is now mainstream. And if there is anyone who doubts this, the figures speak for themselves. By age 21, an average person in a developed economy would have spent more than 10 000 hours playing computer games (http://memeburn.com) — this is comparable to the total time we spend at school. The main consumers for violent video games are in fact teens and people in their early 30s. More ways of playing violent video games are created each year, but most of us have this question in mind. Do violent video games influence people to act aggressively? Overplaying video games can have many disastrous effects on people limiting gameplay can have multiple positive effects. Overplaying can incite young players to act violently. Repetitive killing can train them to act aggressively. Most video games are just killing if the player does these actions to often he can subconsciously learn those actions and be violent himself in theory. In a study two groups of kids were asked to play violent video games more than another group. The group who had more exposure to the game was more violent than the one who did not play as much. (CNN.com) Playing too many violent video games can make the player think violence is fun. When the game is played the teen can associates violence with entertainment. Also for performing violent acts the player always gets...
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...Everything that children see or hear in the media early on in their lives affects them in some way. Positive parenting role models indicate that in the best interest of our children we should limit their exposure to violent acts. Unfortunately, violence is one of the most popular forms of entertainment. Over sixty percent of television shows being shown in prime time contain some form of violence. There are two very opposite sides of this issue. The media who market the violent television, video games and other forms of entertainment argue this is safe entertainment and the others argue that violence promotes violence Current research tends to agree with the proponents who argue that violent media is associated with aggressive behavior. Risky behavior by children and young adults can include violence against others, lack of remorse for consequences. The type of faulty thinking creates stressors in children which can lead to the onset of many different symptoms. Children who view media violence are more likely to have increased feelings of hostility, decreased emotional response to the portrayal of violence and injury that lead to violent behavior through imitation. An example here would be the television show Jack Ass. There have been several accidents related to young men attempting stunts that are done on the show. The act of imitating what they have seen on a television show causes injury to themselves or others around them. The Academy of Pediatrics says “More...
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...Study of Different Effects of Playing vs. Watching Violent Video Games on Children's Behavior Richie McGinnis Front Range Community College (Psychology 101-004) Required Research Paper Abstract: Ever since video games were created there was a concern about the effects it would have on developing children, there is a fear that the violence contained within these games would cause violent behaviors and increased aggression in children. The experimental study conducted by the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, investigated the claim that there is a difference in aggressive behaviors when children play violent video games versus when they watch violent video games. Fifty-seven children that ranged in age from 10-13 played a violent video game, watched a violent video game, or played a non violent video game. The children were allowed a free play time with the other children after playing the video games to measure any increase in aggressiveness. The results showed only a small increase in aggressiveness with boys who played the violent video games, compared to the boys who did not play. The results showed no significance between video games and aggression in girls. Study of Different Effects of Playing vs. Watching Violent Video Games on Children's Behavior When video games were created, arguments started about what effects they would have on children. Some people suggest video games have no effects on children, and others question how it could not have some sort...
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...Violent Video Games and the Effects on Children Swameka Williams COM/172 June 6, 2013 Jenifer Casey Violent Video Games and the Effects on Children In today’s world technology is everywhere and in everything. One of the largest parts of technology is the video gaming industry. Video games play a huge part of a child’s play time because much of a child’s time is spent playing some sort of video game. There are all types of video games to play, for example, brain builders, strategy, hidden objects, first person, multiplayers, and even educational just to name a few. Although these types of video games are available, there are also the violent games and games made with an “M” (mature) or “AO" (Adult Only) rating getting into the hands of young children. Parents who allow children to become exposed to violent video games are promoting a decline in emotional and physical health, communication skills as well as academic performance. The first video game was introduce in 1958 by Physicist Willy Higginbotham. His invention was a game like Table Tennis only it was played on an Oscilloscope (Kudler, 2007). Even though video games were introduce in the late 1950s, it was not until 1972 that the first video game console was introduce. Ralph Baer invented The Magnavox Odyssey. Since that time, the video gaming industry has become more popular because of how advance the systems have become. Today, there are many companies that produce and manufacture different video game consoles...
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...The negative effects of violent video games on children and teenagers Since the advent of coin operated arcade games, video games have come a long way and spread to the homes of many children and teenagers, in both developed and developing countries (Bryant & Vorderer, 2006). On one hand, the fierce competitions among the gaming giants such as Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft can be blamed for this phenomenon; while on the other hand, the internet alone is responsible for placing a universe full of games at arms reach of anyone with a computer and a decent internet connection. However, many games are not suitable for certain age groups. These include games which contain material that is explicit in either the lyrics of its songs, its bloody and gory action scenes, or even scenes that are considered borderline pornographic (in the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the main character can enter strip clubs and receive lap dances) (Allofgta, 2008). Usually, many of the games containing significant amounts of violence are designed for mature audiences; nevertheless, their popularity among teenagers and children, who ironically constitute the largest contributors to the profits reaped from these games, is always on the rise. In Lebanon and many other countries in the middle east, no video game rating system or law exists, which allows children and teenagers to buy any game they want. Consequently, as Vorderer and Bryant explain (2006), "young video game players may be exposed to substantially...
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...THE EFFECTS OF MACROECONOMIC EVILS ON PROPERTY AND VIOLENT CRIMES IN MALAYSIA Chor Foon Tang♣ University of Malaya ABSTRACT The main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of macroeconomic evils – unemployment and inflation on different categories of crime rates – property and violent crimes in Malaysia via the multivariate Johansen-Juselius and Granger causality techniques. This study used annual data from 1970 to 2006. Johansen-Juselius cointegration tests revealed that property and violent crimes are cointegrated with unemployment and inflation. Furthermore, the empirical evidence exhibit that unemployment and inflation are the driving factors for crimes in Malaysia. Therefore, supply-side economy may be an ideal choice of policy to reduce crime rates in Malaysia. Keywords: Crime, Inflation, Unemployment, Malaysia 1. INTRODUCTION Recent deliberation on whether “Malaysia is a safe haven for travel and investment?” was frequently asked by the international tourists and foreign investors owing to the increasing trend of crime rates in Malaysia. From the visual inspection in Figure 1, both property and violent crime rates in Malaysia has increased quite significantly between 1970 and 2006. Over a decade from 1970 to 1980, both property and violent crime rates in Malaysia increased more than two folds. The property crime rate increased drastically from 25 thousand cases in 1970 to 66 thousand cases in 1980. In the similar vein, violent crime...
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...CHAPTER 7 Violent Video Games: The A COMPLETE GUIDE FOR PARENTS AND Newest Media Violence Hazard PROFESSIONALS Douglas A. Gentile and Craig A. Anderson Hazard Edited by Douglas A. Gentile In creating this electronic reprint, we have attempted to keep the style, pagination, and format as close to the published form as possible. Nonetheless, some errors may have occurred. If you discover a substantial error, please contact Craig Anderson using the following email address: caa@iastate.edu. Please note that this electronic reprint is provided as a courtesy. Please do not post or distribute this reprint in any fashion that may violate the copyright of the original publisher or the authors. Thank you for your interest in this work. In 1972, a new form of entertainment became commercially available with the release of the video game Pong. In Pong, two players tried to "hit" an electronic "ball" back and forth. From these humble beginnings, a revolution in the entertainment industry was born. Interactive game revenues are now significantly greater than the domestic film industry ("Industrial Strengths," 2000). Worldwide video games sales are now at $20 billion annually (Cohen, 2000). The PlayStation video game console, which began as a side project at Sony, now represents $6 billion of the company's $20 billion in annual sales (Cohen, 2000). It is reasonable to question whether video games may have similar effects to the effects of other entertainment...
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...Violent Games: Single Benefit-Double Harm By Dan Nguyen Rhetoric Research Prof. Melody Heide 15 April 2013 One day, I visited a far relative; and when I came into the house, I was startled by the shouts of her kids, “Kill him,” “Die,” “Screw you!” Those kids were playing video games, and they were screaming bad words to each other’s face. I looked up to the screen and saw an extremely gory image of a violent game. I could tell the excitement on the kids’ faces, and when I greeted them, they did not even reply to me. That incident made me think about all the articles of how violent games affect children. Whereas school violence becomes more and more serious, violent games without close control from the government and families is one of the main reasons. Just because of a small contradiction, students can go straight to a fight, acting like some gangsters, and in the worst case, deathly accidents happen. Do violent games lead to violent behaviors? Do they have bad effects on children and society? Many people nowadays would reject those questions and provide various reasons to prove that violent games are good in general. If we take a look on both sides of the problem, video games are great products of entertainment technology that can bring some good effects, but in most of the cases, the bad effects infringe the good effects, especially for violent games, and that’s why we should limit children playing those by banning violent games for all minors in all states. ...
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...bs_bs_banner Journal of Applied Social Psychology 2013, 43, pp. 1862–1868 The changing face of aggression: the effect of personalized avatars in a violent video game on levels of aggressive behavior Jack Hollingdale1, Tobias Greitemeyer2 1 2 University of Sussex, UK University of Innsbruck, Austria Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jack Hollingdale, University of Sussex, Pevensey Building, Brighton, BN1 9RH, UK. E-mail: j.hollingdale@sussex.ac.uk doi: 10.1111/jasp.12148 Abstract Video game developments allow players to design their own personalized avatars. Previous research has shown that this capability increases levels of aggression within socially acceptable forms of violence. Using the general aggression model (GAM), the current study examined the effect of avatar personalization on behavioral aggression within a violent video game. Participants who played a violent video game and designed their own avatars were significantly more aggressive than those who played the same violent video game with a generic avatar, and were also more aggressive than those who played the nonviolent video game, regardless of whether or not they designed their own personalized characters. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed. Games present opportunities to behave in ways that are exhilaratingly wicked and dangerous—out of reach in real life. Freedom from consequences, and hence a feeling of escaping, is...
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...Aggression and Violent Behavior 10 (2004) 99 – 128 Does viewing violent media really cause criminal violence? A methodological review Joanne Savage* Department of Justice, Law and Society, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016-8043, USA Received 9 September 2002; received in revised form 26 October 2003; accepted 30 October 2003 Abstract The topic of media violence has been the subject of heated debate in recent decades. There is a vast empirical literature on the effects of television on aggression but no published comprehensive review has ever focused on those studies that use criminal aggression as their outcome. The present paper represents an attempt to fill this void and provide a resource for those who do not wish to delve into four decades of original research in order to assess this line of investigation. Studies are evaluated based on contemporary standards of research in the field of criminology. Although the possibility that television and film violence has an impact on violent criminality remains, it is concluded here that, despite persistent published reviews that state the contrary, the body of published, empirical evidence on this topic does not establish that viewing violent portrayals causes crime. D 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Television violence; Media violence; Violent crime 1. Introduction A vast empirical literature on the impact of television exposure on aggression has accrued over the...
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...James Lind 21st Century 03/14/15 Elizabeth Larson The effects of video games and violence Violence is not measured by playing video games. All studies do not show a link between video games and acts of violence, but research does show an increase in aggression. (Fournis & Abou, 2014) There have been debates about how violent video games trigger violent, aggressive behavior. (Fournis & Abou, 2014) Violent video games can impact a person’s behavior, have positive effects and negative effects on adults or kids. Violent video games can impact a person’s behavior. “Data showed an increase in aggressive moods or thoughts and hostility after playing violent video games and suggested impairment of prosocial behavior” (Fourmis, Abou, 2014, p.1). Violent video games reward players for increased violence, which enhances violent behaviors. When playing video games with violence, people repeatedly kill people to get what they want. Resulting in aggressive or violent behavior. “Playing a violent video game even for 20 minutes led individuals to become less sensitive to real violence” (Fournis, Abou, 2014, p. 1). The positive effects of playing video games are the mental skills required to play the games. If played correctly video games are used as leisure time entertainment but when people play video games that involve violence some people tend to forget the games aren’t real. Other positive effects are the ability to process knowledge to include reasoning, perception...
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...How it Effects Adolescents Parents are starting to believe that violence in video games, television, and music are having effects on their children. With all the violence that is out there in the media today, should parents be worried that it may be having a harmful effect on their children? This is the question that parents are asking themselves today. Some people today are noticing that their children are acting more aggressively today. Teachers are also reporting that children at school are also acting out with a bit more aggression than normal. Could this be one of the effects that violence could be having on children today? Today parents will finally learn about some of the harmful effects that may or may not be affecting their children. There are two sides almost every story, and we will explore both sides to the question, “is the violence in the media having a harmful effect on my child?” It has been said that violent video games have a harmful effect on children, according to David Bickham (2009) of the Center on Media and Child Health, “there is a strong and consistent relationship between viewing violent media and increased levels of anxiety, desensitization, and aggressive thoughts and behaviors among young people.” Bickham (2009) also found that children exposed to violent video games in laboratories behave more aggressively than children who played non –violent video games. There have also been studies done that show the long term effects of playing violent video...
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...The Effects of Video Game Aggression on Adolescence Aggression Adrienne Nichole Abercrombie Research Methods PSY: 326 Prof. Jennifer Madsen January 7, 2013 The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of video game violence on adolescence aggression. Over the years, the gaming industry has become more advanced and influential. Video games in the past years have advanced with better graphics and more capabilities than ever before. The increasing growth of video game industry has left many of its customers questioning most of the contents of the games that are being purchased. The main concern of many of these customers is the violence that is associated with the games. There have been several studies that have examined the effects that violent video games have on aggression. Huesmann, (2010) conducted a study on violent video games. The studies from this meta-analysis found that violent video games stimulated aggression in the players in the short run and increased the risk for aggressive behaviors by the players later in life. The effects occur for both males and females and for children growing up in Eastern and Western cultures. Konijn, Nije, and Bushman, (2007) conducted a study to examine if violent video games increased aggression if the player identified with the violent game characters. The authors concluded that the most aggressive participants were those who played a violent game and wished they were like a violent character in the game....
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