...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 of a consequence. Video games were created in...
Words: 1599 - Pages: 7
...Do violent video games contribute to youth violence? There was a time when children were always playing outside during sunny days, but that was until video games were invented. Video games provided people with countless hours of entertainment at the comfort of their own home. People enjoyed it because it was a temporary break from reality. People played video games so much that it raised a lot if concerns. One of the concerns is violent video games affecting children’s behavior. Violent video games like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty have often been blamed for school shootings but do they really affect children’s behavior or are these just hasty generalizations? There are different studies saying that violent video games affect children’s behavior. One study says that there has been an increase in bullying cases because of mature video games that are sold to children. Psychologists say that children may think that violence is a solution for their problems. They will think that the world is a hostile place and violence is normal. ( Harding,2009). Some kids may also develop trust issues and become aggressive to protect themselves. Christopher Barlett, a psychologist at Iowa State University wanted to test if students become more aggressive after playing a violent video game. He made 47 students play Mortal Kombat for 15 minutes. Afterwards, he tested whether they became more aggressive or not. There were compared to a group who played a nonviolent video game. Obviously...
Words: 765 - Pages: 4
...the Design of an Educational Computer Game and Exploring Adolescents’ Gaming Beliefs” that previous studies indicate that computer-assisted instruction (CAI) programs have important factors that can motivate, challenge, increase curiosity and control, and promote fantasy in children. Despite the fact that computer and video games gave the same multimedia capability as CAI programs, Begg et. al. (2005) stressed in their study “Game-Informed Learning: Applying Computer Game Processes to Higher Education” that their potential learning impact is often discounted by parents and educators. Recently, computer-based video games presence and popularity have been ever-growing, and game developers and researchers have started to investigate video games impact on students’ cognitive learning. For, example Pillay (2002) commenced a study entitled “Journal of Research on Technology in Education” investigating the influence of recreational computer games on children’s subsequent performance on instructional tasks. While game-playing is regarded somewhat negative in educational settings, particularly for young children, re-scrutinization of its influence in a teaching and learning context is crucial. This study investigated whether computer-based video games facilitate children’s cognitive learning achievement. In comparison to traditional CAI programs, this study explored the impact of the varied types of instructional delivery strategies on children’s learning achievement. Research results...
Words: 933 - Pages: 4
...Just Video Games "Man dies in Taiwan after 3-day online gaming binge" (Hunt, 2015). One of the most significant things that are constantly and rapidly evolving is technology. Technology has a direct impact on the social, economic, political, and cultural life. Nobody these days can do the daily responsibilities without using transportation or without their phone. Technology has become part of everything in the life. This rapid development has many advantages, but unfortunately it also has some disadvantages. Currently, the most important advantages is using technology in the educational process. On the other hand, technology has also some negative impacts especially on the kids. The worst disadvantage of using technology is that...
Words: 1340 - Pages: 6
...Do violent video games cause changes in children’s behavior? A Research paper about video games Marino Tamberella ITT TECH INSTITUTE This paper was written for GE117P Composition 1 taught by Professor Jared Kornblat Introduction The question is do violent video games cause changes in a child’s behavior? For many people video games are a way to pass time or to have fun when there is nothing to do. Today’s video games have better graphics and are very realistic do to the fact game developers have better software. Due to the realism that video games have become there has been many more critics that believe that videogames do in fact cause children to act a lot more violent. You may ask yourself what is considered to be categorized as a violent video game. What makes a videogame violent is to beat up characters or causing harm to characters in order to get rewarded. There is a video game called, “Grand Theft Auto” and you are a part of a gang and the objective of the game is to go around and do missions. These missions ask for you to go around and kill mob bosses or blow things up. Some parents believe that violent video games do cause their children’s behavior to change. Since some parents believe this they have been pulling their kids away from the video game consoles and making them part take in other activities. Some of the things the parents believe the games to cause are: problems in school, bullying in school, violence against women, and school...
Words: 1194 - Pages: 5
...In my opinion, I do agree that child behavior has worsened and is worse than it was 10 years ago. Western society approved the ‘raise a child – not a temper, voice or hand’ policy. In the late 80’s and early 90’s, schools were stopped from using corporal punishment. Not long after laws became strict on parental rights, newer laws were passed that outlawed hitting and spanking. I think that after all of these 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...
Words: 1267 - Pages: 6
...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 Video Games and Young People. (2010). Harvard Mental Health Letter, 27(4), 1-3. With the number of video games out there, I am finding that the majority of them have some level of violence within the game playing. Some concerns about the violent video games are that the child becomes fully engrossed in the game and its characters. The child is the one making the decisions to inflict violent or aggressive behavior. An opposing view is the popularity of these types of violent video games versus the actual crime rates. The popularity of the games is increasing whereas the violent crime rate is decreasing. If the games caused aggressive behavior, wouldn’t the crime rate be going up as well? Edwards, S. (2010). Game Plan. On The Brain, 16(3). 3-4. Retrieved from http://hms.harvard.edu/public/news/2011/013111_bickham_olson/index .html Controversy over violent video games dates back even further than most people are aware of and it seems that we still have the same questions. First, if I let my child be exposed to or even play violent video games, will they start showing signs of aggression? Second, are video games beneficial because they teach cognitive learning skills? While a child plays any video game they are using and improving their hand-eye coordination in addition to planning skills that will help with childhood development. Finally, does the duration of playing violent video games make an overall difference? Hastings, E. C., Karas, T. L., Winsler, A., Way, E...
Words: 671 - Pages: 3
...Violent Video Games August 2, 2014 English Composition Do violent video games led to children having more violence in their lives, and their behaviors? Since the “Grand Theft Auto” games have come out many more kids are getting into trouble for crimes that they shouldn’t. Many kids these days are playing video games to stay out of their parents’ way and to keep them entertained for the summer while there is no school. “Since 2008 they are estimated to be playing at least 13.2 hours a week.” (http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/video-game-violence.htm) That sure is a lot of time on playing video games. As the level of violence in the video games is getting worse so are the children’s attitudes and behaviors. Children and violent video games are not a good combination; the more a kid plays violent video games the more their way of getting their anxiety out turns to attacking something instead of throwing a fit. According to the American Psychological Association violent video games can increase the children’s aggression. Also, violent video games do not teach children moral consequences, for example while playing these games if you shoot someone you do not go to jail ( like in real life ) you get extra points in the games. Come to find out it’s not just children that we need to be concerned about, teenagers also. Teenagers are at their growing points. Part of playing these games is for kids to learn and improve their manual dexterity and computer literacy. But with all...
Words: 555 - Pages: 3
...The Development of Children and Violent Video Games Jerry Pierre Post University Strategic analytical studies including well-identified statistics have shown that the violence between youth is increasing drastically every year. Inconsiderable amount of people blame Mainstream Musical Artists in all genres who portray abrogating actions, as something affirmative. Others might blame the guardians for not overseeing their children, but many people fail to convey technology as a bombshell. The au courant DVD that visually shows violent sex acts and violence or computers that give adolescence ingress to unauthorized sites, technology is something that many guardians need to have full introspection awareness. Annulling video games can also have a major impact on a child’s introspective and vitality. Video games have a negative impact on young children’s behavior in today’s commonality. Video games are expediently the utmost asked for when a child sits on Saint Nicholas lap the season of nativity, to include when making a wish while blowing out the candles on their birthday cake. The latest installment in the Modern Warfare 3 video game franchise Call of Duty reached outlandish sales of $775,000,000 in five days. At Sixty dollars, that means that this game is present in over 12,000,000 homes worldwide. Whereas the gaming industry is a remunerative one, it can also have contrary effects on children and adolescents. Scientific studies, done by researchers and psychologist around the...
Words: 1206 - Pages: 5
...Studies have shown that today’s shows on television have a negative effect on the social behavior on children, causing them, among other things, to be more hostile toward others, and interact less with others. While in the past, cartoons could have been an easy target by parents and other watchdogs on this issue, these days, other types of shows and programming have been culprits as well. The suggested solutions on how to remedy this stem from parents connecting with their children. As the saying goes, easy to say, but hard to do. In today’s busy world, parents often miss how big a presence television is in their children’s live. According to the University of Michigan Health System, “television viewing among kids is at an eight year high” (Boyse, 2010, para. 6). Children spend an average of 32 hours a week in front of the television, collectively from watching movies, playing videogames, or just watching shows on TV. As their parents get busier with work, children spend more time finding ways to entertain themselves, and the most obvious choice is the TV. Television executives are aware of this, of course, and today many shows are being geared toward babies and toddlers as opposed to past generations, making television the number one teacher in the early lives of these young ones. According to Jerry Odland (2004), “young children are spending more time watching television, playing video games, or interacting with a computer screen than they do exploring books.” Older kids have...
Words: 1944 - Pages: 8
...UNV - 104 August 11, 2013 Video Games and Violence Video games and violence have different effects on children according to the type of video games that is being watched It is important to understand the world of video games. All video games do not prevent violence in children. Parents should take into consideration in monitoring their child while choosing video games. Depending on the video game that is chosen, does not mean the child will result in violent behavior later on in life. There are many types of video games that may promote either positive or negative effects in children. As there are many types of video games that are being played by children for different pleasures. To name a few, there are adventure, puzzle, platform, educational, and so on. When choosing the right video game for your child, or anyone’s child. Keep in mind the reason and purpose of that video game. What do you want the child to gain from playing the game? For this reason parents should research video game tips for parents. As a parent of three children, I have experienced myself purchasing video games for my seven year old. I would stick to the educational games. Parents should take control of their child’s video game use. Parents should always supervise how long their child plays a game and when to take a break. Negative effects on children with video games can be the most harmful on any child. Due to the child becoming aggressive, confusing, not knowing reality from...
Words: 680 - Pages: 3
...causes violence, but there have been several studies conducted to prove otherwise. Bittman, Rutherford, Brown, and Unsworth (2011), “negative impacts on children’s cognitive development and educational achievement have been associated with displacement of cognitively more valuable activities, especially in infancy (Anderson & Pempek, 2005) and early childhood” (Schmidt & Anderson, 20007). There has been so much focus on media that society has forgotten that age appropriate television works. Age-appropriate television increases language and development. Television and media are visual aids children learn from. It is hard to determine if a certain form of media causes the most violence. However, it has been proven that exposure to the media has been known to cause violent behavior, especially in the youth. Hundreds of these studies have been conducted, and they all seem to come back to the same conclusion. One analysis stated that media has been causing violence since as early as 1975. Violence in video games is the newest form of media violence. A recent study by Pew Research Center states 97 percent of youth between the ages of 12 and 17 plays some type of video games. No effects could be found on the advertisement of video games, but it was determined that the violence occurs from the content in the video games”. Graphic content, such as cursing and...
Words: 915 - Pages: 4
...are playing these computer games said that they are playing these games just for fun, to keep away from the heat of the sun, without knowing that there are a lot of effects of playing these games that are more than what they think. In 2006, Luke Ahearn stated that “Game development is booming! In the past few years many books have been written, more information than ever is available on the internet, and many colleges are offering courses – even degrees – in game development.” In addition, Adams & Rolling (2007) stated that games are created to serve a purpose and they are related to the human desire for play and our capacity to pretend. Also video games are forms of art, thus aesthetics are part of their design. It’s also shown in some studies that computer gaming helps the brain, especially to the young at age, to develop their logic skills. “Computer-based video games can clearly facilitate students’ learning performance. This finding indicated that computer-based video game playing not only can improve participants’ fact differentiation/recall processes, but also promotes problem-solving skills by recognizing multiple solutions for problems.” (Chuang & Chen, 2009, p.7). In addition, playing computer games according to some research is beneficial. It enables the mind of the players to be more active, especially those puzzle-based games. It helps the player to come up with decisions in tight situations, especially those adventure games that keep the players to...
Words: 2445 - Pages: 10
...Effects of Video Games Vs. The Benefits Aaron Winterstein October 14, 2012 The Harmful Affects of Video Games Vs. The Benefits There are many questions about video games and how they affect children. I believe that video games are harmful to children in many ways. Many studies have tried to prove that they are harmful, as well that they are also beneficial to children. It is difficult to understand which argument is the truth behind the research. I believe that the harmful effects are greater than the benefits. The benefits that the children can learn through video games can also be taught to them other ways besides just video games. Video games are not the only way to teach the children values and how to live properly. Video games are damaging the way that our children think and act, as well as harming their bodies by teaching them wrong morals about themselves and others. The first way that video games are harming our youth is psychologically. There was a study published in the Journal of personality and Social Psychology that children that were playing video games were reported to be more aggressive than those of children that do not play video games. Previous research has documented that playing violent video games has various negative effects on social behavior in that it causes an increase in aggressive behavior and a decrease in prosocial behavior. In contrast...
Words: 1501 - Pages: 7
