9
Violent video games and effect on behavior
Nicholas Anderson
PSY 316
Professor Abby Halston
Abstract
The explosion of the video game industry in the past decade has had many people questioning the content of the games being released. The main concern is that of violence and violent acts within the games. Violent Video games are accessible by many young kids and is a popular leisure activity. This study will help us find out if the continued playing of these games will increase aggression in kids. 50 kids consisting of 25 boys and 25 girls will be randomly selected to play either a violent game or a nonviolent game. Kids will play video games for 2 hours then will be analyzed by a TCRT for pre and post test results. A meta-analytic review of the video-game research literature reveals that violent video games increase aggressive behavior in children and young adults.
Introduction
Violence is the norm today. We glorify violence in our sports, movies, tv shows and most of all our video games. We live in a technological age where everything is at our fingertips, and in our free time we will cling to that technology. Violent Video games is at the top of the list. Kids are playing violent video games at a very high rate today. Blood and gore, intense violence, strong sexual content, use of drugs these are all in the games teenagers play, and there may be fear that the overplaying of these violent video games could affect the aggression level of adolescents in our kids today.
The Pew Research Center reported in 2008 that 97% of youths ages 12 to 17 played some type of video game, and that two-thirds of them played action and adventure games that tend to contain violent content. According to the Entertainment Soft Rating Board(ESRB), games such as Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty are rated M for mature, meaning children 17 and above only because of the amount of violence and explicit content in the game. This research study will examine if increased playing time of violent video games increases aggression in teens. The American Academy of Pediatrics(AAP) describes studies that link exposure to violent video games with aggression and violent behavior in teenagers. Researchers believe that video games are particularly harmful because they are interactive and encourage role playing, authors feel that these games may serve as virtual rehearsals for actual violence. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics(AAP) and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry(AACAP) say that children learn by observing and mimicking certain behaviors, which is a basic principle of Social Learning Theory. In these games kids are committing violent acts, such as killing, shooting, or stabbing. They are often rewarded for this type of behavior which motivates them to continue this behavior. Overtime, exposure to aggressive behavior and violence in video games may desensitize kids by numbing their emotions and may lead to aggressive behavior and bullying. This st...
