...As an extremely scientific method, one might choose the physiological perspective as a means by which a psychologist analyzes the link between video games and aggression. This perspective is defined as “an approach to the study of psychology that focuses on the relationships between biological processes and behavior” (Nevid, 2015, p. 10). Therefore, in this psychological approach, the brain, the governing mechanism for one’s actions, is viewed as the basis for all activities and emotions (Nevid, 2015, p. 10). Furthermore, it allows for experiments that are likely to produce replicable results. Even so, it has its limitations as well. First, it lacks the ability to measure one’s thoughts. Secondly, it partially relies on self-reported data. Thus, leaving much room for falsified information....
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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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...Media Violence Tatiana Y Craft Social Psychology Opposing View Points in Social Psychology Capella University September, 2013 Introduction There are always been violence in our world from ancient times when cavemen fought with tribes who came into their domain, the crusades in the 11-13 centuries, to the Iraq war in current days. At what point do we decide what violence is and is not, at what point do we decide what is better for our children to see, violence on television or video games and movies. We see in the news all the time reports about children shooting up schools, like Columbine, and Sandy Brook elementary. In both cases the media and video games were to blame for these tragedies, people have always been tied in their thoughts about why these things happen. At what point do we take responsibility for the way we raise our children? And at what point do we stop the media from depicting horrible images that may cause harm to our children? The Studies on Violence Several theoretical models describe the psychological mechanisms through which media violence can influence later behavior. Fundamentally, the psychological process all rely on learning. With repeated exposure to media violence, one can guess that one will be more aggressive. Many studies have been done the effects of media violence and videos games on the young human mind. Most of the studies done show that after time of playing violent video games many children’s aggressive side came...
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...I believe that cognitive psychologies provide me with the best psychological insight into my love for video games. Cognitive psychology explains my interest and fascination of video games. My perspectives are based off the theory of cognition which is memory, thinking, reasoning and decision making. This area of study suits my preference because my initial memory of video games was based off of interests during my childhood. My grandmother purchased an Intellivision when I was very young and I remember playing the game Pitfall till I would fall asleep on the bedroom floor. There are a lot of Role Playing Games (RPG’s) which require you to remember objectives and strategies to complete missions or quests. There are also a lot of puzzle games which require you to think critical and strategically to come up with the right answer. There are also a few RPG’s that require dictions making. The popular game Fable requires you to make life decisions about the character witch will affect the outcome and ending of the game. Some decisions with make you popular and wealthy and others with turn you into a very dark and evil person. From a biological stand point games are great for hand eye coordination and keeping your mind fresh, and moving forward. Video gamer players have shown “improved skills in vision, attention and certain aspects of cognition. And these skills are not just gaming skills, but real-world skills. They perform better than non-gamers on certain tests of attention, speed...
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...The Vehement Link Between Video Games and Aggression Charlotte M. Roberts Liberty University Online Author Note This research paper is a short and cited, Biblically based review, of previously documented evidence on behavioral links between video games and violence. The Vehement Link Between Video Games And Aggression Researchers from the University of Innsbruck, examined 98 studies that tested close to 37,000 participants from the start of the year 2009 (this study was published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and was a “meta-analysis.” http://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2014/may/06/violent-video-games-murder-aggression-ann-maguire ). In this study, they came to the realization that video games do affect social behaviours of players of violent video games. Between prosocial outcomes and aggressive outcomes, it was evident that players who participated in games with more aggressive and violent plots and tendencies, (Call of Duty, Halo, and Ghost Recon) had a decrease in acts of kindness, care, and compassion- or altruism-, and an increase in aggressive behaviour, and where more likely to become misanthropic- disliking human-kind and avoiding human society. They also made an interesting discovery that supported the idea that games such as “Super Mario Sunshine,” (a game released by Nintendo in 2002, intended for the GameCube-http://www.mariowiki.com/Super_Mario_Sunshine)- where the objective of the game is that of a “prosocial” nature- created...
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...Research on Educational Impact of Games A Literature Review Institute for Games for Learning NYU Education/Assessment Group CUNY Education/Assessment Group White Paper # 02/2009 Version 0.1 June 25, 2009 Florrie Ng Helen Zeng Jan L. Plass Gaming Literature Coding In response to researchers’ calls for more systematic investigations of the use of games for learning, we conducted an extensive literature review on this topic. By surveying prior research, we examined the themes that emerged, the methodology employed, and the findings yielded, the ultimate goal being to identify knowledge gaps in the literature. To this end, we reviewed the relevant research conducted in the last 15 years by following the procedures outlined below. (a) Using the widely used social science database PsycINFO, we searched for articles which focused on both games and learning. The keywords chosen were “gam*” and either “learn*”, “teach*”, or “educat*” (the wildcard * can stand for any of a defined subset of all possible characters; for example “gam*” includes “game,” “games,” “gaming,” etc.). This generated about 4000 peer-reviewed articles from the earliest date (i.e., before 1960) to the end of 2008. (b) Given that studies conducted a decade ago tended to be less rigorous methodologically or yield obsolete results, we decided to focus our attention on more recent research. Once we narrowed down the time period to the years of 1995 to 2008, about 2400 peer-reviewed articles were left in the...
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...and Children 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...
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...Violence in Video Games: Examining Violence and Competitiveness as Predictors of Verbal Aggressiveness Sean D. Badeer, Kathrine L. Lukes, Sarah A. Oltjenbruns, & Sergio D. Orozco Wayne State College Wayne, NE April 11, 2013 Abstract Violence in video games is the topic of much debate and controversy in the public arena. For this reason, it has been a heavily researched topic in areas of psychology and communication (Jeong, Biocca & Bohil, 2012). Much of the research on the topic examines the relationship between the violence in video games and aggression. However, despite the large community of research on the topic, researchers in communication have yet to examine the relationship between video game competitiveness and verbal aggression. Competiveness is a factor that must be considered if there is to be an accurate depiction of the impact of video games on aggressiveness (Adachi and Willoughby, 2011). The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of competitiveness and violence in video games on verbal aggressiveness. Furthermore, this study examines the relationship between verbal aggressiveness and attitudes toward violence. In the results of the study, the correlation between competitiveness and verbal aggressiveness was found to be significant. The correlation between video game violence and verbal aggressiveness was not significant. Furthermore, no significant correlation was...
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...Applied Developmental Psychology 22 (2001) 7 ± 30 The impact of computer use on children's and adolescents' development Kaveri Subrahmanyama,*, Patricia Greenfieldb, Robert Krautc, Elisheva Grossb a Child and Family Studies, California State University, Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA b University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA c Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Abstract In recent years, electronic games, home computers, and the Internet have assumed an important place in our lives. This paper presents a review of the research on the impact of home computer use on the development of children and adolescents. Time use data are presented along with a discussion of factors such as age, gender, and ethnicity, which impact the time spent on computers as well as the activities engaged in. Research on the impact of computer use on cognitive skill and academic development, social development and relationships, and perceptions of reality and violent behavior is reviewed. The special role of the Internet in the lives of adolescents is brought out using data from the HomeNet study. The paper concludes with recommendations for future study in order to better understand the growing impact of computers on our youth. D 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Children; Computers; Internet I really want to move to Antarctica Ð I'd want my cat and Internet access and I'd be happy. ±16 year old HomeNet participant...
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...10/14/2014 [Type the document subtitle] | Kyle Miller | | kids get violent from video games | | kids get violent from video games | Certain things will trigger things that can make them violent, as in a violent memory triggered that can set them off. “15 years later, that hasn’t discouraged teens from playing video games, especially of the violent ilk. Approximately 90% of children in the U.S. play video games, and more than 90% of those games involve mature content that often includes violence. The connection between violent media and aggression has also spawned a body of research that has gone back and forth on the issue.” Children who repeatedly play violent video games are learning thought patterns that will stick with them and influence behaviors as they grow older, according to a new study by Iowa State University researchers. The effect is the same regardless of age, gender or culture. Douglas Gentile, an associate professor of psychology and lead author of the study published in JAMA Pediatrics, says it is really no different than learning math or to play the piano. “If you practice over and over, you have that knowledge in your head. The fact that you haven’t played the piano in years doesn’t mean you can’t still sit down and play something,” Gentile said. “It’s the same with violent games – you practice being vigilant for enemies, practice thinking that it’s acceptable to respond aggressively to provocation, and practice becoming desensitized to the...
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...Going Outside According to Peak Fitness an everyday fitness and health website research, eighty seven percent of Americans spend their time in an enclosed space throughout the day and will rarely ever leave their workspace even when they go on break (Mercola). While playing video games is very fun and are played by many to relax after school or work or to simply have fun sitting in a chair or on your bed kicking back and playing as your favorite character to unwind. However, an alternate activity that is just as accessible and fun as playing video games, but has much more benefits. Although playing video games is enjoyed by many people as a fun activity, a more beneficial way to spend your free time is to go outside. As an activity that...
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... Karen Sternheimer, the author of “Do Video Games Kill,” and world renowned positive psychologist Dan Gilbert, the author of “Immune to reality” challenge this idea. Karen Sternheimer used “Do Video Games Kill,” to show the underlying nature of human psychology. “The video game explanation constructs the white, middle-class shooters as victims of the power of video games, rather than fully culpable criminals. White, middle-class killers retain their status as children easily influenced by a game, victims of an allegedly dangerous product. African-American boys, apparently, are simply dangerous.”17 While biologically the same, the psychological notion that white teen killers are victims and black killers are simply evil is depicted in the media. If one is unbiased they...
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...The Benefits of Playing Video Games Isabela Granic, Adam Lobel, and Rutger C. M. E. Engels Radboud University Nijmegen Video games are a ubiquitous part of almost all children’s and adolescents’ lives, with 97% playing for at least one hour per day in the United States. The vast majority of research by psychologists on the effects of “gaming” has been on its negative impact: the potential harm related to violence, addiction, and depression. We recognize the value of that research; however, we argue that a more balanced perspective is needed, one that considers not only the possible negative effects but also the benefits of playing these games. Considering these potential benefits is important, in part, because the nature of these games has changed dramatically in the last decade, becoming increasingly complex, diverse, realistic, and social in nature. A small but significant body of research has begun to emerge, mostly in the last five years, documenting these benefits. In this article, we summarize the research on the positive effects of playing video games, focusing on four main domains: cognitive, motivational, emotional, and social. By integrating insights from developmental, positive, and social psychology, as well as media psychology, we propose some candidate mechanisms by which playing video games may foster real-world psychosocial benefits. Our aim is to provide strong enough evidence and a theoretical rationale to inspire new programs of research on the largely unexplored...
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...essay (1,265) Internet is a fast developing technology and the popularity of video gaming had been growing in recent years as well. Many people or institutions therefore investigate the negative impacts of video gaming. Since video games often include violence or aggressive language, people often think that video games lead to violent crime such as robbing, bullying and so on. However, Video games do not have direct impact on teenagers’ criminal behaviour because it is not proven that it leads to any criminal activities. This essay will examine the relationship between video games and teenagers’ aggressive behaviour and argue that video games do not assist to any criminal activities. Furthermore, video games also influence teenagers in a positive way. In recent years, many researchers found that teenagers tent to be more violent in behaviour after playing video games which might lead to crime for instance. Bösche (2010) states that video games lead to both aggressive behaviours and positive cognitions simultaneously. One of the positive effects of video games is securing players' attention and it can be implemented in education. Ferguson (2010) suggests that the violence and excitement of video games can draw players' attention easily, therefore video games can be used as a medium for spreading positive information. For example, educational tasks can be included in a first-person shooter game which appears to be a life saving mission. Besides conveying the importance of life...
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...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. These results...
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