Catharsis In Video Games

Along with all the benefits video games can make, there are many theories concerning what video games could possibly do. Switching to a theoretical view for a moment, I’d like to talk about a theory. Catharsis is a theory that is the “notion that we can dampen our negative emotions by acting them out or witnessing them in our arts and entertainment—and that this is a healthy thing to do” (Herbert 1). This theory is based upon taking out our negative energy on arts and entertainment. Its basically venting your anger out on an inanimate object of some sort. You could punch a punching bag, hit a pillow, or even release your anger by killing people in a video game. This theory could potentially be bad because all that built up energy isn’t healthy …show more content…
A teenager could grow up never playing a video game in his life and go on to create violence. Another teenager could grow up playing video games 24/7 and live a normal and healthy life. Many studies have tried to figure out why this is so but not enough research addresses weather violent video games cause teens to react violently. Another theory people believe is the social learning theory. The social learning theory hypothesizes that playing aggressive video games leads to the urge of violent behavior and would imitate what these children see on screen while the catharsis theory hypothesizes that playing these aggressive video games has a relaxing effect by taking out the violence through the video game and therefore having a positive effect on the child. If the learning theory is true, would teens imitate what they see on television and such? Video games aren’t the only thing that illustrate violence. There is violence all over television and social media. Yes the learning theory might be plausible with supporting evidence but there isn’t any evidence that says it promotes aggressiveness. “the question of whether video games promote aggressiveness cannot be answered at present because the available literature is relatively sparse and conflicting, and there are many different types of video games which probably have different effect.” (Griffiths …show more content…
I have been an avid video game player ever since I was a little kid. I didn’t really start playing violent video games until I got about to the teenage years. Up until then, I was playing video games like Mario and Spiderman. No these games didn’t have blood and gore but they had strategies of taking out enemies and such. Once I got to my teenage years, I was playing a bunch of video games with violence such as Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto. Growing up over the years, I never really had any aggression and anger built up. In the third grade, I got in a fight with another kid over a ball because he wouldn’t give it. I wouldn’t say that was based over me playing video games. I think it happened just because kids are kids and they’re demanding and if they don’t get what they want, they get upset. In the sixth grade, I was about entering my teen years. I was probably playing violent video games but they weren’t effecting me. For example, I wouldn’t have said “wow, these violent games make me view the world so differently. I want to release my anger on the real world.” I would have never said or thought something like that. I would just play video games for the enjoyment and to pass time. During the sixth grade, one of my friends was getting picked on. I stepped up to the bully and said “why don’t you pick on someone your own size.” We then got into a fight. I also don’t believe this was caused because of