Put Down that Video Game Controller! : The Effect of Violent Media on the Brain

Every now and then, everybody loves to pick up a video game and immerse yourself into a new world. From Grand Theft Auto to violent television shows, people are constantly trying to get their hands on the latest video games or watch the latest episode. However, new evidence shows that there are negative effects from watching too much violent media. Laura Stockdale, a member of Loyola University Chicago’s department of psychology, believes that violent media leads to increased aggression. Dr. Vincent Matthews and his colleagues at Indiana University have also been researching the effect of media violence.

Vincent Matthews randomly assigned 28 students to play a violent, first-person shooter game or a non-violent game. The students played this game everyday for a week. Functional MRI scans were taken before and after the study as well as lab-based tasks involving emotional or non-emotional subjects. After analyzing the results, they would that the students who played the violent video games had less activity in areas of the brain that dealt with emotions, attention, and inhibition of our impulses. The decreased activity reflects in the behavior because the students who played the video games also showed an increase of aggressive behavior. The changes to the brain do not seem to be permanent, but the fact that the brain does change after being exposed to violent video games helps understand how video game players are being affect by these games. The changes that Matthews’ saw in the brain were similar to those seen in teenagers with destructive sociopathic disorder.

In The Effects of Media Violence on Society, Laura Stockdale played a role in Craig A. Anderson and Brad J. Bushman’s experiment. After conducting longitudinal studies, cross-sectional studies, field experiments, and laboratory experiments, there is a positive link between media violent and aggression regardless of how the research was conducted.  Since 60% of TV programs contain violence, there is a high correlation between the number of time television is watched and the number of hours violent television is watched. The longitudinal study conducted by Johnson and colleagues was significant piece of research. There was a large sample size (707 families), a large time span of 17 years, and they had the ability to control for childhood factors that affect aggression, such as neglect, income, and more. The result still showed a correlation between video games and aggression.

Different study types still show correlation between media violence and aggression [Credit: Bushman and Anderson]

Overall, there is a significant amount of research conducted that shows a correlation between media violence and aggression. The question now becomes how do we protect children from being affected by media violence. Anderson and Bushman believe there are two ways: reducing exposure to media violence and changing children’s attitudes towards media violence. Hopefully, more and more parents will take this association seriously and be proactive in helping their children. 

References:
Anderson, C. A. "PSYCHOLOGY: The Effects of Media Violence on Society." Science295.5564 (2002): 2377-379. Web.
Park, Alice. "How Playing Violent Video Games May Change the Brain." Time. Time, 2 Dec. 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.