Today's parents are increasingly working harder and are spending less and less time with their children. It is easier to sit children down in front of a video game than to interact with them after a long day at work. Xbox and Playstation have now become hyper realistic in their graphics and images, especially when it comes to violence. Severed limbs, brutal beatings with inanimate objects, and executions are common place in today's video game environment. Games like "Grand Theft Auto" depict such violence. For example, there is a scenario where one can pick up a prostitute, "conduct business", and then run her over with a car to get your money back. It may seem benign or even humorous to an adult observer, but it is that indifference to life can have a major impact to a child who's moral values have not yet been set and who cannot fully comprehend fantasy from reality.
Recent studies in the Psychological Bulletin state that children that are exposed to violent video games show less remorse and virtually no empathy. They also show an increase in aggressive behavior. (Anderson, Shibuya, Ihori, Swing, & Bushman, 2010) The study went on to say that not only children, but young adults who play violent video games will be more prone to resolve a conflict in a violent manner after playing violent video games. In fact, video games have a greater impact than both violent movies or television. What's worse is the online community. I have personally played video games online and have been subjected to abusive language that I wouldn't even be comfortable repeating in front of my best of friends during casual conversation.
What this tells me is that it is imperative that we, as adults, need to monitor what our children are playing. The government has put a rating system in place, much like a movie rating. Parents should take these ratings seriously and limit violent exposure from video games if they want to help their children grow into a balanced adult.
Anderson, C. A., Shibuya, A., Ihori, N., Swing, E. L, & Bushman, B. J. (2010). Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and western countries: a meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WY5-4YJRMGV-1&_user=10&_coverDate=03%2F31%2F2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_origin=browse&_zone=rslt_list_item&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%237177%232010%23998639997%231783411%23FLP%23display%23Volume)&_cdi=7177&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct=12&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=ce3e5def3142796fcf87efbd27d97a5c&searchtype=a
The overall consensus about violent video games causing violence is inconclusive. There are too many factors in which can cause a person to act out in aggression. answer this... What is media violence? Perhaps we should stop blaming violent media and point to things that actually cause violence like...
ReplyDeletelack of Gun control
Divorce rates of 50 percent
lack of health care
high drop out rates
lack of jobs
Drug abuse
Homelessness
try and solve these and see if they make a change in societal violence.
Actually, the consensus about both violent video games and violent television are quite conclusive. A simple google search will net plenty of academic, pediatric, and psychiatric studies about the subject. (I'll include some links at the bottom)
ReplyDeleteAlso, both our modern military and police forces use a video game style training device to simulate live fire scenarios. They are called Milo ranges and are designed to recreate violent situations that the participant is forced to react to. (I'll include that link too)
If you can provide links to any scholarly journals or academic works that correlate to violence among children against any of the examples you provided, please post them... I am eager to learn about them!!
Many thanks!!
http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED446319&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED446319
http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:qYtdCGhN6JIJ:scholar.google.com/+television+violence+and+children&hl=en&as_sdt=20000000
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WH0-4B9D74R-1&_user=10&_coverDate=02%2F29%2F2004&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1484956200&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=a34b7e4256bc9585a4999e8d7809dde4&searchtype=a
http://web.clark.edu/mjackson/anderson.and.dill.html
http://www.ies-usa.com/milo-range-pro.html
i personally like playing violent games, but i dont get aggressive as far as i know. i mean when i play games like halo, and call of duty, i really enjoy them, because they are so realistic. i guess the realistic part of these games is what causes aggressive behaviours. because young people get confused about what is real and what is not. this is the main problem with the gaming world. every new game that comes out on the market has better graphics than the games before. therefore more young people get attracted to these types of games. so i do belive that some games make young people get confused and act more aggressive towards others.
ReplyDeleteHere's the thing, their are too many variables that hinder conclusive evidence on why a child shows aggressive behavior. For example, socioeconomic status, psychological status of the child, learning disabilities that all play in factors of why a child may show aggression. It is impossible to conclude that video games cause long term aggression. Perhaps it does cause short term aggression, but does not cause long term aggression.
ReplyDeleteAnd define aggression...their studys are biased and look for things that some people may say aggression, and some people may not call aggression.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of violent acts due to violent games, and television are just scape goats for the unresolved issues. It's easy to blame television and video games for an aggressive teen but what about the society he or she lives in? Is a person more likely to commit a crime if easily in possession of a gun? If we look at other countries who have the same games and same television their crime rate is much lower than the United States such as Canada/Europe. It's simply to easy to blame explicit television and video game violence, thus a scape goat.We have ratings for television and video games, but if people feel that way don't buy your kids Rated Mature games.
ReplyDelete