Video Game Violence Effects On Children

Improved Essays
Video Game Violence and its Affect on a Child’s Behaviour Battlefield: Hardline, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Plain, and Mortal Kombat X, what do these game titles have in common? They were all listed as some of the most violent video games on the market for 2015 (Hayes). Though there are age restrictions set by Entertainment Software Rating Board children still have access to these “restricted” games from their parents or peers. There has been controversy over violent video games and if they should be available for children. Playing violent video games may promote a child to be aggressive and violent among others. When creating a research design, field research is the best approach to study behaviour among children, probability sampling …show more content…
It is important to think about the participant, as they are the main purpose of the study. When studying the relationship between a child’s behaviour and violence it is important to think about how this study will affect them. A child who has not played a violent video game may not feel comfortable with the situation or become frightened from its graphic content. Presenting these violent images in front of them could also trigger thoughts in their head to be violent and aggressive. According to Babbie and Benaquisto, “subjects can be harmed psychologically in the course of a study…” (Babbie and Benaquisto 70). Exposure to “restricted” content may cause psychological issues that can harm the victim. It is important to think about what can or will happen to the participant following the …show more content…
Conducting a research design will help a researcher in understanding the relationship between the two. Field researcher is the best methodological approach as it allows the researcher to analyze the participant’s behaviour without interfering with the study. 20 male and female children between the ages of 7 to 14 will be chosen using the probability sampling method. Those chosen for the study will be asked to participate in two different observational settings: video gameplay with another participant and outside during recess. A researcher can hypothesize that violence in video games triggers a aggressive emotion in children while playing the game and when they are with others. It is important to take into account the ethical concerns that may a rise such as, unintentionally damaging a child psychological due to being exposed to graphic content. Designing the study using a different approach has advantages and disadvantages. For example, a questionnaire could allow the research to gain more insight following the game play but participants may not understand or provide superficial answers. Herbert Blumer’s symbolic interaction perspective can be connected to how a child interacts with their peers. A child may think that the only way to solve problem is by using violence. Video game companies will always push their content to the extreme in order to keep sales high, even if it is unethical.

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Over the years there have been several incidents that have stirred up the emotions of people, parents and especially investigators. These incidents include the Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting, the Columbine Massacre, and the incident in Colorado where a man went on a shooting spree in an Aurora movie theater. There was one key thing that aroused people’s emotions connected by investigators to all three incidents: video games. This led to the belief that if the parents’ children play violent video games that the child will become violent. Even though people have been led to believe that video games cause people to become cruel and commit violent actions, video games do not cause people to commit acts of violence because they don 't have time to and they do not gain violent behaviors even with the long term effects of video games, there is insufficient research linking video games with violence only aggressive behaviors, and the fact that video games are only a contributing factor of violence.…

    • 1737 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The adverse effects from violent media on youth have long vexed the American public. For decades, scholars studied the impact that TV and film violence had on children, and concluded that high exposure to televised violence may lead to an increase in aggressive behaviors and desensitization (Eron, Huesmann, Lefkowitz, & Walder, 1972; Josephson, 1987; Huesmann, Moise-Titus, Podolski, & Eron, 2003). However, technological advancements in the video game industry changed the media landscape, and it was expected that video game violence would have similar, possibly greater, effects on youth as TV and film; thus, video games that stimulated aggressive attitudes, feelings, and behaviors in children were of specific concern.…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This paper will examine the question if violence in video games leads to violence in people. Over the years gaming has advanced in graphics, storytelling and most of all violent content. Each year new horror and action games get released with more gore and more bloodier effects. People say that there is a link between the violence in video games to the violence in people who play them. There have been countless research and debates over how the violence in video games affects the human mind and whether or not they lead to violent behavior and whether or not you need the gore in violent or horror games to make them appealing in the first place.…

    • 1302 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Parents must be aware of the video games’ rating and keep all dangerous games away from children. Outcomes from experiments have made a significant predictive relationship between violent video games and aggression, but nothing has proved to support a long-term relationship between violent video games and aggression. A video game debate must be made, and it should be positive. A debate on violent video games could be made, but unfortunately video games have become more widespread over past decades. Violent video games are an improbable reason why youth violence has decreased. However, this leads to divergence between public fears of violent video games and trends in youth…

    • 1246 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Since the adaptation of games has increased to an advanced level, it has created more realistic violent interactions, social interactions, and violence has been a commonly connected to the use of video games. In Michael R. Ward’s article,Video Games and Adolescent Fighting, he expands on the ideas of gaming and its connection to gaming violence and human attitudes. Overall, this article goes in depth on the concept of violent video games as a prompt for negative actions and violent behavior. Ward does this by providing data and explanations done by previous testings which show levels of violence in games, and helps formulate an argument of whether or not his perception is true.…

    • 1292 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Now there have been studies on the effects of violent video games and what they can do to young boys and girls. These studies include the such studies like the one that took place at Brock University. When looking at these studies you have to be careful on what you read because some studies are exaggerated and/or biased. After looking through these reports I have seen some correlation between minors reacting differently to circumstances, depending whether they played violent video games or not. The kids exposed to the violent video games tend to act with more aggression to people and their possessions. There are certain theories on why this is. One theory is that because kids are growing up, they see the people in video games as role models; someone to look up to. This theory was proposed by one study. This is what Marije Bijvank, Brad Bushman, and Elly Konijn said about in their study, “Children today are looking for heroes or role models to look up to, in the real world and increasingly in the mediated worlds. Adolescents are especially likely to look for role models to identify with because they are in the process of developing their own identities. Adolescence is a time to experiment with different roles. Media figures…

    • 1298 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As the child is growing up many influences can affect how the child behaves in the future. In the article, “How Playing Violent Video Games May Change the Bain”, Alice Park touches on the idea how playing violent video games will have a negative impact on your brain. In a study conducted by Dr. Vincent Matthews at Indiana University explored the idea of if 28 students were randomly put in 2 group either in a violent games that involve shooting or a nonviolent game. These students were supposed to play this game everyday for a week, which is a change because these 28 student had little to none experience with playing games. Dr. Vincent Matthews founded out that those who played violent games have less activity in their emotion part of their…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One of the most mentioned issues regarding the debate around video games is that they heighten aggression. While some studies suggest an argument that violent video games cause increased violent behaviours, individuals, as well as some media outlets often, fail to see that this "heightened aggression" is often merely frustration at the game itself. One can easily picture the scene of an angered teenager screaming at the TV in their room due to a failed level, quest or mission or even the death of their character as if they were cut off whilst driving by a speeding heap of metal that narrowly misses their own. While many teens experience frustration in daily life and video games can serve as an outlet for that frustration or inadvertently amplify it, there is not a direct correlation between violent crime and playing violent video games - merely heightened aggression, such as moving less politely to get on a crowded train, or cutting someone off in traffic; were such a connection to exist the rate of violent crime should logically have skyrocketed since the advent of video games as popular media.…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Society has many views about violent video games. Some people believe that there is nothing wrong with violent video games and that they are just a form of entertainment. While others believe that the games are dangerous and cause aggressive behavior and violence. An example of this would be ninety eight percent of pediatricians in the U.S. state that too much violent media exposure causes childhood aggression (“Do”).…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, otherwise known as the AAP, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, AACAP, state that exposure to violent video games or media could possibly play a part in real life violent behavior and can possibly harm children in other ways, there have actually been more researchers that actually argue this claim that the AAP and the AACAP are stating. These new researchers think that most youths actually are not affected by violent video games, but one thing that these researchers agree on, is that parents should try to limit the possible effects of these violent video games on children.…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Much of the research done to investigate the matter has been a failure. First, in 2008, 97% of youth ages twelve to seventeen played video games while two thirds of them played an action game with violent content. On the other hand, more than half the parents wonder about the effect that video games have on their child. Also, the exposure to violent media an sometimes contribute to real life violent behavior. Much of the research done that associates games and violence do not correlate. Finally, crime in youths have decreased greatly since 1996 (Olson).…

    • 1351 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the debate that violent video games increase violent behavior, there are many articles that suggest aggressive behavior is due to the violence in the video games that are being played by gamers. In research articles such as: Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, researchers have found results such as: When the frequencies of play is in violent video games and the frequencies of how much a youth likes to play the game with violence is high, the results could associate with delinquency; which shows there is not just a correlation with aggressive behavior but there could be a potential risk factor that could merge with crime as well (DeLisi, 2013). Also, in the study: A Longitudinal Study of the Association Between Violent Video Game Play and Aggression Among Adolescents based on high school students (grades 9-12), it suggests that the participants who played violent video games throughout high school had a larger increase in aggressive behavior than the participants that did not participant in playing violent games for an extended amount of time (Willoughby, 2012).…

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is very common today, for children to be stuck in the house playing video games. With all the new technology we have these days they can play video games on the go. Many children spend as much as 9 hours a week playing video games and about 80 percent of high school boys play video games. However video games itself are not the problem; violent video games are the problem, which are what children play mostly. Violent video games can effect children’s behavior by increasing aggression, increasing violence, and decreasing self control Some people may believe that violent video games do not effect children in a negative way and that children know the difference between game and reality. However, violent video games can surely mess with a child mentally. Especially since games these days have become much…

    • 1667 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Video games provide a variety of experiences for people of all ages. Games can be played on various platforms including the computer, hand held games, and gaming consoles. Children and adolescence can be exposed to violent content through video games and it may affect the way they behave. Playing violent video games regularly can increase aggressive behavior in adolescents. Within this hypothesis, the independent variable is playing violent video games regularly, the effect is an increase, and the dependent variable is aggressive behavior in adolescents.…

    • 2144 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the present day games such as Grand Theft Auto, Black Ops, and Call of Duty are played regularly and seemed as normal. These examples of Violent games are played throughout the world between people from the ages of 7 up to 40 years old. The topic of these variety of games touches on many controversial suggestions throughout the community. Experts, reporters, journalists, and more all specify the quality of their argument into if violent video games can truly affect how a person can either be negatively or positively impacted by the effects of their game. Therefore violent video games hold both strong opinions in favor of the issue and opposing judgements counter to the issue.…

    • 1428 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays