Negative Interaction on the Psyche of the American Teenagers Caused by the Violence in Video Games - Research Paper Example

?Negative Interaction on the Psyche of the American Teenagers Caused by the Violence in Video Games Introduction Video games have undoubtedly become one of the favorite activities of children in the United States. The gaming industry seems not to be influenced by recession and remains strong, with sales that amount to $16.6 billion in 2011 (Fig.1). Teenagers seem to be the primary target group of these entertainment media, with a nationally representative sample in a survey showing that “99% of boys and 94 of girls play video games”(Lenhart et al.). The remarkable fact in researches on videogames and teenagers is that 70% of 9-18 year old kids have been reported playing games with a M-rated violent rating (for Mature players 17 and older) (Walsh). However, even with the rating systems can’t prevent exposure to violence as a staggering 89% of video games contain a degree of violent content and specifically it can also be found in more than half of E-rated (for Everyone) games (Gentile). Figure 1. Computer and video game sales from 2000 to 2011 (NPD) Violence in video games is not a relatively novel subject. Since the emergence of the video gaming industry in the 1970’s the notion that video games promoted violence became a major controversy with the release of “Death Race” in 1976 (Kent). The game involved the player as an automobile driver running over screaming “gremlins” that resembled human figures due to the primitive graphics of that era. Believing that the game appeared to condone killing of innocent civilians with a car, protestors started pulling machines out of the arcades and burning them, eventually leading to the termination of the game. Newer controversies included the popular “Wolfesnstein 3D” and the franchises of “Street Fighter” and “Mortal Kombat”, which featured one-on-one fights and gory graphic sequences (Carnagey and Anderson). Over the past 25 years, numerous studies have researched the effects on video games on adolescents. The most prominent interest of researches has been games with violent content and the association between video game use and aggressive behavior, as well on school performance. The aggressive elements portrayed have been linked to aggression on children and adolescents, but the empirical evidence was not present to validate these assumptions (Schutte et al.; Irwin and Gross). Recent meta-analytic reviews have employed both short-term experimental and correlation studies to study the harmful effects of exposure to violent games and associated them with higher levels of aggressive behavior, physiological arousal and decreased prosocial behavior (C. A. Anderson 113-22; Anderson et al.). Most of the research has associated videogame violence with school shooting incidents while some assessed their influence from a developmental perspective (Kirsh). This review will assess the effects of video games to the adolescents as reported from various studies, discuss the underlying psychological processes and theories employed to understand them. 2. Effects of Violent Video Games The research on the effects of violent video games, however small, mirrors the larger body of research on the effects of violent films and television programs (Whaley). While many of the effects in those genres are similar, at least three reasons to believe that the former have stronger effect than violent television formats (C. Anderson, Backwell) . These include the active process of playing videogames instead of the “passive” television viewing while higher probability of players to identify with a violent character occurs in first person shooters (Anderson and Dill). Additionally, most violent games reward violent behavior often with verbal praise such as “Nice shot” after killing enemies with a gun – as studies show, rewarding behavior increases its frequency (Bozza). 2.1 Aggressive behaviors, cognitions and feelings The primary concern over violent video games is the behavior that players will assume as a result to their exposure. Experimental research has shown that playing videogames directly causes an increase in aggressive behaviors which could be associated with teenage crime and involvement in physical fights (Gentile et al.). Typically it’s measured with exposure to violent games before measuring shouting through headphones and it has been validated that people who play violent games give louder noise blasts than others that play non-violent video games (Bartholow and Anderson). Correlational data has also shown that violent games increase aggressive cognitions. After playing a violent game, people report to have more aggressive thoughts (Calvert and Tan) and exude a more violent approach to story line progression (Bushman and Anderson). Other studies show that players develop a higher hostile attribution bias (Lynch et al.), in which interpret a situation in a more hostile context – people with this characteristic have been shown to be socially maladjusted (Crick and Dodge). Empirical studies (Anderson and Bushman) have also proved that playing violent games leads to developing a more hostile personality, due to the increase of aggressive feelings. In some studies, people report feeling more anxious and hostile (Ballard and Wiest). 2.2 Physiological arousal In addition to psychological changes, violent video games have shown to affect numerous physiological factors, such as increased heart rate and increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure compared to others gamers (Murphy, Alpert and Walker). An experiment in playing the violent game Mortal Kombat either with the blood graphics on or off, showed increased systolic blood pressure in the former mode than the latter (Ballard and Wiest). Additionally, the effects in already aggressive adolescents are even greater in the context in increasing heart rate, blood pressure, adrenaline, testosterone and cortisol levels in the blood (Koepp et al.; Gentile et al.). This suggests that violent-prone individuals could be affected greatly by exposure to violent behavior. 2.3 Prosocial behavior As it has been shown that exposure to violent games causes physiological desensitization to real-life violence, the voluntary intention to help or benefit another individual, known called “prosocial behavior”, is diminished (Sheese and Graziano). The negative relationship between violence and helping another person can be seen in a study where violent game players were much slower to help a victim of violence than nonviolent game players (Bartholow, Bushman and Sestir). 3. Psychological processes A variety of psychological processes, both short- and long-term, underlie the effects of violent video games on adolescent behavior. 3.1 Explanations for short-term effects The short-term changes that occur in teenagers’ behaviors, thoughts and arousal levels after playing violent video games account for three psychological processes: priming of existing aggressive behavior, cognition and reactions, mimicking the aggressive actions present in the game and stimulating physiological arousal by directly observing violence (Bushman and Huesmann). Priming. Studies have shown that human memory is based on a large associative network containing numerous “nodes” and “links” A concept is represented by each node while links create an association between various nodes. An association between the concept of color yellow and the concept of happiness could lead to the association of yellow with being happy, and is the primary theory of how memories are connected in the brain (Moskowitz). Exposure to external stimuli activates the “nodes” in memory which is the process known as priming. While it’s activated without the awareness of the individual (Bargh and Pietromonaco), the downward process results in the experience of thoughts, emotions and behaviors related to the concepts. In violent video games, various stimuli are present which include weapons and violent concepts which prompt the player to think and behave more aggressively afterwards (Moskowitz). This gradually advances to a “script”, which in psychology refers to the behavior an individual resumes to when exposed to a particular situation. By observing the scenarios in video games, an individual can adopt the same pattern of behavior and recognize it as a “script”. Mimicry. The tendency of people to mimic or copy the actions of others is an innate function of primates due to the presence of “mimicry neurons” in the brain. Scientists also revealed that the brain responds in a similar fashion in when a person does something himself or watching others doing it (Hurley and Chater). Early adolescents are more likely to mimic actions as they tend to identify more with characters as perceiving them similar to themselves. Stimulating physiological arousal. The action-packed pace of violent video games can increase heart rate and blood pressure and such elevated arousal increases the probability of the dominant response tendency – the innate inclination to the manner of acting – being carried out. This is particularly important for individuals with already aggressive tendencies, as violence in videogames can significantly maximize them (Geen and O'Neal). However, even people without inclination to violence can equally misinterpret the increased arousal to provocation via the process of excitation transfer, thus behaving in a more hostile manner (Zillmann et al.). 3.2 Explanations for long-term effects The effects that take place in the long-term are attributed to three psychological processes: the classical and operant conditioning of aggressive responses, desensitization of violent-induced emotional responses and observational learning. Classical and operant conditioning. In these processes the response is different according to the stimulus. In classical conditioning, a natural response is related with a neutral stimulus, as in the example of the Pavlov experiment with the dog that salivates with the presence of food and by pairing it with the sound of the bell, the mere sound elicits the same response (Pavlov). In videogames, violence can elicit the feeling of fear or anger and the stimuli can be generalized. In that case, the association of a situation experienced in the game with feelings of fear or anger can elicit the same response in a future setting (Bushman and Huesmann). In operant conditioning, a behavior that is not normally relevant with a subject can become associated, if a reward is presented (Anderson and Bushman). Videogames that encourage violent behavior do so by rewarding players with an increased score or reputation if they perform specific acts such as killing other characters (Shanks). In this manner a developing adolescent can become accustomed to acting aggressively in the future with the expectation of receiving a reward in the real life. Desensitization. This process involves the habituation of natural emotional and physiological reactions, resulting in the individual becoming less affected by the portrayed violence due to repeated exposure (Funk). Behaviors which may seem concerning at first (like killing someone in the videogame) may translate into normal responses after continuous experiences. Similarly, in the presence of real-life violent situations, the adolescent may not process any negative feelings towards it. By evaluating these behaviors, scientists have observed that the physiological responses are also reduced when repeatedly exposed to the violence stimulus. This is associated with an increased aggressive behavior in the future due to possible neurological fundamental changes for the desensitization that occurs (Bartholow, Bushman and Sestir). Observational learning. This differs from “mimicry” in the concept of the repeated exposure needed to be facilitated instead of a single exposure. The long-lasting changes in the teenager’s actions, feelings and behavior can be influenced by the presence of violence in videogames, thus developing a hostile personality over time and normalizing aggressive actions (Kendall). The extent of affection from observational learning is largely depended on the level of identification with the character in the game as well as how that character is portrayed. The main character in the video game Bully has the task of beating up peers to earn cash, a “script” that can be adopted by teenage users and re-enacted in the real world (Huesmann and Guerra). 4. Conclusion and suggestions The majority of research that has been completed so far denotes a significant correlation between violence in video games and aggressive behavior in teenagers. Both short-term and long-term effects are analyzed, which are crucial during the stages of adolescent development as they can influence the person’s identity and personality in a wrong way. This has been repeatedly proven, with a noteworthy percentage of crimes performed by teenagers having extensive experience with violent videogames. Although recent studies reveal that the impact of video game violence differs from person to person (Markey and Markey), special attention should be given to the subject nonetheless. Eliminating video game from use by adolescents should not be the obvious solution to the problem. However the importance of ESRP rating should be taken seriously and only allow games with appropriate ratings for each age range. Other studies suggest implementing games containing violence with educational information, such as Re –Mission which involves a microscopic female robot that fights cancer cells in patients’ bodies – leading to improved self-efficacy, cancer knowledge and treatment adherence in teen cancer patients (Kato et al.). Finally, adolescents should be encouraged to socialize with their peers, participate in sports and social settings and uptaking hobbies, to minimize general exposure to video games. Works Cited Anderson, C. A., and B. J. Bushman. "Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Scientific Literature." Psychological science 12 5 (2001): 353-9. Print. Anderson, C. A., and K. E. Dill. "Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and in Life." Journal of personality and social psychology 78 4 (2000): 772-90. Print. 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