First of all I feel that it is necessary to explain my choice of topic somewhat. I have chosen to only comment on the effects of violent / aggressive video games on young boys as it is apparent that they are the main users of such devices, thus making them the more appropriate gender in which to research in this field. The University of Texas (Centre for Research on the Influences of Television on Children (CRITC)) surveyed children on their video game use in 2001 with results showing that young boys between the ages of 0 – 12 dominated game use in all categories excepting education and to some degree strategy. Aggressive video games were not one of the game types the survey included. I found more proof suggesting young boys play video games more than girls on a psychology web site. It indicated in the ‘findings’ section that Drs. Anderson and Gentile's research found that on average boys played video games for 13 hours per week whereas girls only used them for five hours. As there is so much alcohol related violence currently occurring in our society among males, I naturally found they would be the more interesting subject to study.
On one side of the argument Joel Cooper and Diane Mackie (1986) believe that violence in video games is not related to aggression in the children that play them after their study of 20 pairs of grade five students. The students were put through a small scale test playing both an aggressive and nonaggressive video game. “Neither video game had any significant effect on boys’ free play.” (Joel Cooper, Diane Mackie, 1986) It is the relevance of this study that is in question however. This test was performed in 1986, which is more than 20 years ago. There is considerable difference between the standard of games then, when compared to the present. A journal on a similar subject to this mentions ‘the evolution of video game violence.’ In a drawn out way it discusses how video games have developed from the simplistic Atari becoming more ‘graphic and realistic’, involving players more.
On the other side of the fence there is the belief that violent video games do increase levels of aggression. In a journal of experimental social psychology some more recent research was performed on this question in a laboratory. After the tests were performed they concluded that there was an increase in aggression, more so in the males than in the females. “The results confirmed our hypothesis that playing the violent game would result in more aggression than would playing the nonviolent game.” (Bruce D. Bartholow, Craig A. Anderson, 2000)
This next piece of evidence in support of increased aggression after playing video games, is a little open for interpretation as the targeted age group was high school students. It confirms Bartholow and Anderson’s results about aggression but goes further. "We were surprised to find that exposure to violent video games was a better predictor of the students' own violent behavior than their gender or their beliefs about violence,". This statement was made by Anderson who was also part of the above study.
The above research however only shows that aggression levels are increased for a short period of time after playing the violent video game. The question that began this research is yet to be answered though. Are there long term effects of playing violent video games on aggression?
Another question concerning video game effects on children is arousal. “Playing video games appears to be exciting for children as they manipulate the keyboard, joysticks, buttons, or levers” (Michele J. Fleming, Debra J. Rickwood, 2001). Although this may not be closely related to aggression and violence in video games it is another part of children playing video games that has been considered.
There are of course ratings for video games, the same as there are ratings for TV and movies. These ratings include adults only, mature, teen, everyone ten +, everyone and Early childhood. If these ratings are taken notice of and used when choosing games for children, then they should not be subjected to games too violent for them. That way as their mental stability develops they should be able to play more violent games without them affecting their aggression to an overlarge degree.
Despite whatever negative impact that video games may have on children, it is thought by Jeanne Funk that it is not in the child’s best interest to ban video games. She does however believe that limitations by parents should be enforced saying, “Limiting playing time and monitoring game selection according to developmental level and game content may be as important as similar parental management of television privileges.” (Funk, J, 1993) Researcher Jeanne Funk believes that it is the type of games that children play that is important.
One man who is against the belief that violence in video games has a negative effect on children is Royal Van Horn. “They’re blowing up pixels. They’re killing bitmaps. There shooting at software subroutines. They’re not a threat to public order” (Van Horn, R, 1999). There is no evidence that there is a direct link between video game violence and prolonged aggression.
In this area of research, video games are closely related to television. Drawing on my own experience, I can recall back in my youth watching a cartoon program called Dragonball Z (DBZ). This cartoon was about warriors from other planets along with fighters from Earth engaging with villains over the fate of the universe. Derived and exaggerated from Asian beliefs concerning martial arts, there was action, destruction and violence. Still I can remember after an episode finished my brothers were riled up for a bit of a wrestle, which always ended in someone getting hurt. Now I can look back and reflect on these occasions and recognise what happened for what is was. Increased aggression.
Bibliography
Academic Material
· Sandra L. Cavert, Amy B. Jordan, Rodney R. Cocking, 2002, Children in the Digital Age: Influences of Electronic Media on Development, Praeger publishers, United States of America
· Joel Cooper, Diane Mackie (1986) Video Games and Aggression in Children1
Journal of Applied Social Psychology 16 (8) , 726–744 doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.1986.tb01755.x
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1986.tb01755.x
· Douglas A. Gentile, Paul J. Lynch, Jennifer Ruh Linder, David A. Walsh, 2004, The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance, volume 27, issue 1, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WH0-4BF0D7T-1&_user=79777&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000006418&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=79777&md5=9a5688f5bdeba4174bdef4f7c16c32fb#toc5
· Bruce D. Bartholow and Craig A. Anderson, 2002, Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior: Potential Sex Differences, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, volume 38, issue 3, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WJB-45PMFD3-7&_user=79777&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000006418&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=79777&md5=c26680c70fbddd7203c23fcb1795f64b
· Michele J. Fleming, Debra J. Rickwood, 2001, Effects of Violent Versus Nonviolent Video Games on Children’s Arousal, Aggressive Mood, and Positive Mood, University of Canberra, Australia, http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2001.tb00163.x
