Do violent video games cause behavior problems?
Do violent video games cause behavior problems?
Since the 1999 merciless shooting of students in Colorado High School by their fellow students, a lot questions have risen on the effect of violent video games on people’s overall behavior. This is because, as per investigations, the two used to play numerous violent games such as Wolfenstein 3D and Mortal combat. The recent shooting of students at Sandy Hook made this scenario worse, because according to the preliminary report of the team that was formulated to investigate the matter, the shooter was acting out of a video game fantasy. Therefore, although video games are very enjoyable and some of them can help somebody to learn some important life concepts, the violence in some video games has made many to question their overall effect on people’s behavior. As compared to some few years ago, nowadays it is very rare to find a child without a video game or who is not actively involved in playing some form of video game. This is because, nowadays even if you do not own a game console, one can play most of the video games online, as long as one has access to the internet or a local network. As of 2001, research studies showed that over 79% of American teens actively played video games. This has made many to question how such exposure may translate to peoples’ behavioral change. When looking at this subject, the first assumption one gets, especially when the question is posed in its entirety, is that a violent game should naturally attract violent tendencies from the one playing the game, as this assumption is supported by the ever-increasing cases of violent and antisocial behavior of majority of those who play these video games (Anderson and Bushman 353-359). This paper is going to explore how exposure to video games can cause behavioral changes in individuals.
Why Watching Violent Video Games can Cause Change of Behavior
Research has mostly concluded that there is indeed a strong correlation between watching
Since the 1999 merciless shooting of students in Colorado High School by their fellow students, a lot questions have risen on the effect of violent video games on people’s overall behavior. This is because, as per investigations, the two used to play numerous violent games such as Wolfenstein 3D and Mortal combat. The recent shooting of students at Sandy Hook made this scenario worse, because according to the preliminary report of the team that was formulated to investigate the matter, the shooter was acting out of a video game fantasy. Therefore, although video games are very enjoyable and some of them can help somebody to learn some important life concepts, the violence in some video games has made many to question their overall effect on people’s behavior. As compared to some few years ago, nowadays it is very rare to find a child without a video game or who is not actively involved in playing some form of video game. This is because, nowadays even if you do not own a game console, one can play most of the video games online, as long as one has access to the internet or a local network. As of 2001, research studies showed that over 79% of American teens actively played video games. This has made many to question how such exposure may translate to peoples’ behavioral change. When looking at this subject, the first assumption one gets, especially when the question is posed in its entirety, is that a violent game should naturally attract violent tendencies from the one playing the game, as this assumption is supported by the ever-increasing cases of violent and antisocial behavior of majority of those who play these video games (Anderson and Bushman 353-359). This paper is going to explore how exposure to video games can cause behavioral changes in individuals.
Why Watching Violent Video Games can Cause Change of Behavior
Research has mostly concluded that there is indeed a strong correlation between watching
Cited: Adachi, Paul, Good, Marie and Willoughby, Teena. “A longitudinal study of the association between violent video game play and aggression among adolescents.” Developmental Psychology 48.4 (2012): 1044-1057 Anderson, Craig. Violent video games increase aggression and violence. 2000. Web. 9 Feb. 2013 Anderson, Craig and Carnagey, Nicholas. “The effects of reward and punishment in violent video games on aggressive affect, cognition, and behavior.” Psychological Science 16.11 (2005): 882-889 Irwin, Roland and Gross, Alan.” Cognitive tempo, violent video games, and aggressive behavior in young boys.” Journal of Family Violence 10.3 (1995): 337-350