...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...
Words: 1599 - Pages: 7
...Violence 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...
Words: 11640 - Pages: 47
...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. ...
Words: 2843 - Pages: 12
...Video Games Annotated Bibliography American Military University SOCI 220 January 29, 2012 Video Games and the Effect on Children The popular culture subtopic I choose that interests me is video games and the effects on children. To start my research I need to find articles, both peer-reviewed and popular source, to gather information. I used both the internet and the online university library and searched terms such as video games and children, popular culture and video games, video game addiction, and video game violence. Listed below are some of the numerous sources I discovered. I choose a small sampling of the sources available, briefly explained their relevance, gave a short overview of the article, completed a quick pro and con review and lastly I completed a compare and contract of the source against two other sources. | Source 1 | 1) Source Title | The Effects of Video Games on Children | 2) APA-formatted citation for source | Gentile, D. A. (2004). The effects of video games on children: What parents need to know? Pediatrics for Parents, 21(6), 23-25. | 3) Source Evaluation | Peer-reviewed journal | 4) Relevance of source to Subtopic | This article shows the effects of gaming and that excessive time spent playing video games can have a negative effect on children. | 5) 3-5 sentence description of source | This article discusses the fact that video games can have both a positive and negative influence on children. It discusses the need for parents...
Words: 2809 - Pages: 12
...Effects of Video Games on Individuals and Families Clinton C. Hallford Axia College of University of Phoenix Effects of Video Games on Individuals and Families Video games have many different effects on the people who play them. There are good aspects to educational games being developed for business, schools, and even the military. The military uses video games for teaching combat tactics and skills needed by pilots. Drone aircraft are controlled from miles away, in a video game fashion. Piloting these drone aircraft is similar to playing a flight simulator video game. Several businesses and industries have started the use of video games in different aspects to teach team unity, sales and management skills. These educational and training games are being developed with the learning aspect at heart. Schools around the world have started to use different learning video games to keep students involved and motivated about learning. Along with the upside of educational games there is also a downside to video games as well. The downside to video games is the violent content in the games being sold to children. Some of these types of games can pull a child in without them knowing it and in some cases can alter their mindset between right and wrong. When children continuously see the violence of video games it starts to take a hold on the child. Some of these players start to think that the types of things they are exposed to in these video games are alright. Even though...
Words: 2176 - Pages: 9
...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...
Words: 2868 - Pages: 12
...Stream Media Violence and the Effects on Society Violence can be found in almost every form of media from television to video games. Violence exists in sports, news, movies, and games. This violence has many implications on society. The impact of this violence is different from one person to the next and from children to adults. There are many forms of violence in the media today. Violence is most prevalent on TV and in movies, video games, and the daily news from around the world. Violence can be found in sports such as boxing, mixed martial arts, hockey, and football. The news reports of murder and other forms of violence every day. News about foreign wars or news of violence in your local inner city, bet your bottom dollar you will hear something new every day. It seems like every day there is a new and violent video game coming out. Games about war and games about crime life, even games about fantasy violence are all over the market. Children are affected by violent media more so than adults. Studies have shown that on average, American children watch no less than 4 hours of TV a day. Studies have also proven that violent programming can have some very adverse effects on children. Children can become emotionally numb to violence and develop a lack of empathy for victims, as noted by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Children have been known to imitate the violence they see on TV. Some children may even learn to use violence...
Words: 1195 - Pages: 5
...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...
Words: 707 - Pages: 3
...Do Violent Video Games Lead to Real World Violence? ABSTRACT As our society becomes more reliant on technology and the mass media, the notion that the media may have a profound influence on people has become more prevalent. Research into Media Violence and its effects on values, beliefs and behaviour has been well documented over the past 50 years. This systematic review, looking at both research reports and other relevant literature relating to the topic explores whether or not violent video games lead to real world violence. This topic has been selected due to the unique participatory nature of this type of media. The review demonstrates the inconclusive nature of the research on this topic. It focuses on the short term and long term effects possible while also investigating the need to consider alternate explanations to violent behaviour in children and youth. The review concludes with suggestions for further research. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW Children spend an increasing amount of time playing video games with the majority of them violent in nature (Huesmann, 2007). Players participate in and create the violence, often receiving reward for their violent behaviors rather than negative consequences (Funk, Baldacci, Pasold & Baumgardner, 2004). The area of violent video games in regards to Media Violence is relatively new with somewhat limited research as video games have only been available to the general population since the 1980s. It is however in...
Words: 1555 - Pages: 7
...disadvantage children. Who do we blame and what contributes to the way of how they think. I believe the media, which includes music, television, and video games do impact their behavior and actions. Some games do have educational content yet majority of them promote negative theme such as the abuse of drugs and alcohol, the killing of people and animals, disrespect for authority and the law, foul language and obscene gestures, criminal behavior just to name a few. Kids, typically boys, love the games that blast and shoot things. These are just some examples of the conversation...
Words: 2294 - Pages: 10
...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...
Words: 1619 - Pages: 7
...11/13/12 (1510) The M Game Effect Technology has been an ever-developing innovation in our society. We make use of it for a variety of things. One of those things is for our entertainment. Gaming has been one of the more popular forms of entertainment as the decades have passed due to its evolving nature. Video games are played by people all over the world ranging from young children to even senior citizens. Given the audiences that have been amassed, the different types of video games are regulated into ratings due to their content material by an organization that specializes in this area for gaming. Now imagine the idea where video games intended for a mature audience fell into the hands of younger children. Video games with themes of constant violence or that of which rewards the players for taking part in acts of violence. This is where most of the controversies regarding video games fall upon, raising the suspicion of parents and scientists alike. Since many of the negative aspects of video games are put in the control of children at such a young age, do kids suffer as a result of graphic contents in video games? Such incidents could possibly play a role in the emotional, behavioral, and intellectual aspect of kids who are exposed to contents like the violence and suggestive themes within the video games that are played. It has been believed by many supporters that playing violent video games that involves shootings and killings would lead children into committing similar...
Words: 1749 - Pages: 7
...Running head: Reduce the marketing of violent toys, games and entertainment to children. Position paper : Reduce the marketing of violent toys, games and entertainment to children. DeVry University Engl-112-61206: Composition Professor: Jamie Pacton Student: Valeriya Zakreski Violence is a physical action to injure people or property. We can read a lot of information and watch news about violence. We can say that violence is a part of our life and he human condition. But the worst fact that today, our children are involved to this part of human condition. From child abuse to murder, to school-yard bullying, violence takes its toll, often with children being the innocent. But what can cause the violence between the children? Today we can hear a lot of information about it, as: toy guns and video games affect on the children’s health and behavior, violent homes lead children to the crime. “More than 1,000 studies on the effects of television and film violence have been done over the past 40 years. The majority of these studies reach the same conclusion: television and film violence leads to real-world violence. By age 18 an American child will have seen 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence.” Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Utah, Chairman Committee on the Judiciary. September 14,1999. Children, Violence, And the Media. A report for Parents and Policy...
Words: 2041 - Pages: 9
...Video Games and Aggression in Children Video Games and Aggression in Children Video games cause violence and aggression in children. This is a popular misconception that many people share. The fact is, according to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the United States is at a thirty year low (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010). This comes at a time when video games are more popular, more violent and more realistic than ever before. The idea that video games expose our youth to a level of violence that will in turn lead to aggression and violence is simply false. Many people believe there are more likely causes of aggression and that video games are merely a scapegoat. I will argue that playing video games can actually have a positive effect on children, and that environment, personality, and lack of parental involvement are responsible for violence and aggression in our nation’s youth. In today’s world there are numerous reports on television and in newspapers and magazines about video games causing aggression and violence in children. Numerous politicians and watchdog groups claim that video games are leading our children down a dangerous path. This is entirely untrue. Since the early 1990s, video games have exploded in popularity. Conversely, in that same time period, violent crime rates in the United States and Canada have plummeted (Ferguson, 2008). Christopher Ferguson, a licensed psychologist and professor who researches...
Words: 1020 - Pages: 5
...new laws were passed, it made parent’s hesitant to punish their children. There are so many contributors to why child behavior has worsened over the years. Some of the contributors that will be discussed in this paper are the effects of violent video games, violent television, and poor parenting/disciplinary skills which negatively impact children’s behavior. In 1972, the Surgeon General issued the following warning on violent TV programs: "It is clear to me that the causal relationship between televised violence and antisocial behavior is sufficient to warrant appropriate and immediate remedial action. … There comes a time when the data are sufficient to justify action. That time has come."" (Steinfeld, 1972). Popular games such as Black Ops and Call of Duty are filled with violence which has an impact on children that play them causing them to become violent. Some resulted actions include physical fighting, poor word usage, or just simply being belligerent. Over time, video games become addicting which is why violence has increased in kids. Although most children and adolescents do not seem to be negatively affected by video games, research has shown that those who already have violent thoughts or behaviors are more likely to be negatively affected by exposure to video games. On the other hand, some people claim that violent video games are beneficial. Some players believe that violent video games are cathartic, allowing players to release...
Words: 1267 - Pages: 6
