The
average American adolescent spends at least eleven hours of the day interacting
with digital media. Our generation, specifically 18 to 25 year-olds, is
bombarded with music, television, the internet, and video games on a daily
basis. Each of these media is ingrained into our daily routines and,
consequently, is integral to the way we perceive and interact with our
surroundings. Violence can be seen in all kinds of media, but its commanding presence
in video games has stirred the most controversy in behavioral neuroscientists
and worried parents alike. With the advent of more complex CGI technology,
hardware upgrades, and advanced motion tracking methods comes more realistic
and interactive video games. Gamers are able to engage in first person shooting
games, street fighting games, and war games where they are encouraged to harm
others in order to advance further in the game platform. Examples of these game
franchises include Call of Duty, Mortal Kombat, Grand Theft Auto, and God of
War. Games such as these are a far cry from the humble origins of arcade
games such as Pong or Pac Man, and reflect the recent changes
in the amount of aggression present in all types of media. Do violent video
games affect the way we socialize with others? An article of the New York Times
called “Shooting in the Dark,” published by Benedict Carey, looks at the correlation
between video game violence and behavioral aggression.
Carey
explains that active engagement in playing violent video games results in in
“hostile urges” and “mildly aggressive behavior.” This research was based
solely off of male studies; females are less likely to be attracted to or play
violent video games.* Therefore, there is a lower percentage of females
affected by (potentially) aggression-inducing effects of violent video games. Exposure
to such games can increase short-term physical and relational aggression. This
relationship was observed in a correlation study in which male adolescents were
told to play Mortal Kombat: Deadly
Alliance for fifteen minutes. Afterward, they were given the option to
distribute hot sauce to another individual who verbally expressed their dislike
of spicy foods. The results of the study
support the argument that engaging in violent games affects the relational
aggression of the gamer. 
Some
scholars blame violent video games for creating violent people, but there is no
solid evidence that connects violent video game-playing and increased physical aggression.
There is also no support for any long-term effects of violent video games and
aggressive behavior. The mildly hostile behavior observed in gamers is transient,
and can more accurately be described as rudeness rather than aggression. In
other words, if extreme aggression is observed in a criminal, it is not
indicative that they must have played violent video games as a child. The
article states that many child psychologists argue that children will imitate
behavior they see in the media, a phenomenon called “socialization.” Since
approximately eighty percent of high-school males report regularly playing
video games (and the most popular games are violent) should this socialization
be a cause for concern?
Laura
Stockdale, a graduate student at Loyola University, states that media
violence increases relational aggression, which is the attempt to harm others
through focusing on relationships and the intent to significantly damage
another child's friendships or feelings to ruin their standing in the group.
She pointed out the interesting notion that adolescents who play violent games
and show aggressive behavior may have already been initially attracted to those
games because of their
already-present aggressive behavior. This concept is also described in Carey’s
article as an argument against video game violence effecting behavior. Socialization
and its relation to video games, therefore, may just be a false perception. Little
research exists that supports any type of mimicking behavior of adolescent gamers. Stockdale
mentioned the unfortunate prospect that, even if socialization does affect
gamers, they generally will not gravitate toward video games that project
pro-social behavior (i.e. Super Mario
Sunshine, Klonoa, etc.), or voluntary,
intentional behavior that results in benefits for others. In other words, behavior that is largely absent from today's more popular games.
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| Mortal Kombat: One of the most successful fighting video game franchises |
What
can we take away from studies of behavioral aggression in video games? According
to Carey’s article: nothing. Although exposure to violent video games can make
an individual slightly more hostile for a short period of time, there is no
reliable link between game-playing and physical aggression and behavior. There is
a negative correlation between declining video game sales and increasing crime
rates, but correlation does not imply causation. No behavioral psychologist or experienced
gamer can be sure of what these experimental results mean. In any case, crime
rates have generally decreased over time as video games have become more violent. For all
we know, the trends may be totally unrelated. In any case, Carey suggests that
parents be aware of what their children play and encourage pro-social behavior
in additional outlets other than video games.
*For
more information about the cognitive and environmental influences on toy
choices of young males versus females, please read “Toy Corporations:
Exploiting the Ever-Widening Gap between Boys and Girls at Play” at http://morebrainpoints.blogspot.com/2014/02/toy-corporations-exploiting-ever.html.
References:
Carey, Benedict.
“Shooting in the Dark.” The New York
Times. The New York Times, 11 Feb. 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2014
Images:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/science/studying-the-effects-of-playing-violent-video-games.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/smallbasic/archive/2013/06/10/small-basic-for-little-kids-series-pong.aspx
http://www.appszoom.com/android_applications/entertainment/mortal-kombat-9-fatalities_fhuiv.html
http://www.capsulecomputers.com.au/2011/04/mortal-kombat-all-rapped-up/
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