The Violent View: Violent Video Games and Our Youth. Doran Johnson PSY Lethbridge College

Running Head: THE VIOLENT VIEW 1 The Violent View: Violent Video Games and Our Youth Doran Johnson PSY 1160 Lethbridge College

2 The Violent View: Violent Video Games and Our Youth How bad can it really be? Children play violent video games all the time, does it really lead them to do violent behavior just because they did it in their game? I wanted to look at that very question. Does participating in interactive violent video games cause young people to act out more violently in real life? That question becomes more relevant now more than ever as playing video games has become socially acceptable over the past decades. As they become more popular with the growing public do we see that it is affecting the minds of our youth thinking that violent behavior is ok? Or do we find that the games they play have little to no effect on them in the long run? The Game From the 1980 s Pac-man to the present time Modern Warfare games we have seen a lot of culture change on the view of gaming. Looking at what was only done on a Friday or Saturday night at the arcade turns into sit at home with your friend s games night. Not only has the location of gaming changed but also the tolerance of gaming by the public. Now not only is it for the so called Nerds but people of all social groups now or have played video games. As we go on to see now as people who don t play games are now out of the norm. Now just like in movies and other forms of media, programmer and distributors want to pushing the envelope by increasing the about of violence and sexual content in which they can but in gaming. Now this is where concerned parents and many of the general public seeing where kids are getting this extra aggression from. Looking at that, who wouldn t glance at that and wonder

3 if this is the cause? But with so many different a type of people and their personality s also a great collection of different types games out there, where do we begin? Gaming Reward System Looking at why they play and also why they keep playing is big part of what we should look at. Increasing the amount of timed play should be a factor for looking at the aggression levels. Looking for more information I found this academic source that goes along with this statement published by Krystyna A. Mathiak in 2011. Krystyna A. Mathiak, Hermann Ackermann, Martin Klasen, Klaus Mathiak, Sukhwinder S. Shergill and Rene Weber (2011) Reward system and temporal pole contributions to affective evaluation during a first person shooter video game, BMC Neuroscience. 12 (July 12, 2011): p66. Retrieved from: prodid=pppc&usergroupname=leth49384&tabid=t002&searchid=r14&resultlisttype=result _LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=9&contentSet=G ALE A262903543&&docId=GALE A262903543&docType=GALE&role= Krystyna A. Mathiak has affiliations with the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychometrics and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University in Aachen, Germany. Why this is relevant of this article talks about that no indication that the violence was not rewarding for the players. While a little aggression appeared after playing a game, it soon then dispread as time passed by not causing a maintained level of violent behavior. Just as a person may be frustrated after having a verbal conflict with someone, all the person needs is a little time to blow off some steam. We sometime see that this may be a case where it is the few ruin it for the many as we look deeper into the gamers mind.

4 More than just a game? As they keep playing the games we might now look at other factors that can come into effect. Could the other forms of media such as TV and movies increase the effect of violence. More times than most when they are not playing video games they are watching TV. Looking for more information I found this academic source that goes along with this statement published by Charles Cunningham in 2001. Hundert J, Boyle MH, Cunningham CE, Bennett KJ, Lipman EL, Brown S, Robinson TN, Jones MB, Offord D, Cunningham CE, Cunningham LJ, Martorelli V, Stoolmiller M, Eddy JM, Reid JB (2001) Reducing television, videotape, and video game use in children decreased peer rated aggressive behaviour. Evidence-Based Mental Health. 4.3 (Aug. 2001): p87. Retrieved from: prodid=pppc&usergroupname=leth49384&tabid=t002&searchid=r17&resultlisttype=result _LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=1&contentSet=G ALE A77626497&&docId=GALE A77626497&docType=GALE&role= Charles Cunningham has a PhD from the McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. This study showed that the kids that used the TV, video games and movies showed less aggressive behavior towards their peers. Disconnected from Society When people go too far to get something they want most people call that an addiction. As we see some kids now going into the gaming world to relax themselves from the days cares. But how much is too much? Looking for more information I found this academic source that goes along with this statement published by Cheryl K. Olson in 2007.

5 Cheryl K. Olson, ScD, Lawrence Kutner, PhD, and Eugene V. Beresin, MD (2007)Children and Video Games: How Much Do We Know? Psychiatric Times. 24.12 (Oct. 1, 2007): p41. Retrieved from: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sghitcounttype=none&sort=relevance&inps=t rue&prodid=pppc&usergroupname=leth49384&tabid=t002&searchid=r15&resultlisttype=re SULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=3&contentS et=gale A169327500&&docId=GALE A169327500&docType=GALE&role= Dr Olson teaches in the department of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and also at Harvard Medical School in Boston. The research that he found was that the more time they spent in the gaming world the less time they were learning about how to deal with real life issues such as depression and consequences of real life. Without proper guidance the teen/child may look at violence as they looked at it through their video game, clean and consequence-free. It also puts a lot on the parents to get involved in what their child is viewing and is taught how to cope with real life situations, and also to encourage critical thinking. Conclusion With looking at this research and other information that I have found I conclude that the link between long-term violent behavior and video games is little next to none. You will always see the rare few cases where it is linked to a game, but to the population mean the violent games have little effect. Can we let a few ruin it for the many? If guided and controlled we can see that video games are an enjoyable pass time between friends and family. Until we see outstanding evidence that counteracts these statements we can be sure the gaming industry isn t going anywhere. So sit back and enjoy your game.

6 References Krystyna A. Mathiak, Hermann Ackermann, Martin Klasen, Klaus Mathiak, Sukhwinder S. Shergill and Rene Weber (2011) Reward system and temporal pole contributions to affective evaluation during a first person shooter video game, BMC Neuroscience. 12 (July 12, 2011): p66. Retrieved from: prodid=pppc&usergroupname=leth49384&tabid=t002&searchid=r14&resultlisttype=result _LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=9&contentSet=G ALE A262903543&&docId=GALE A262903543&docType=GALE&role= Hundert J, Boyle MH, Cunningham CE, Bennett KJ, Lipman EL, Brown S, Robinson TN, Jones MB, Offord D, Cunningham CE, Cunningham LJ, Martorelli V, Stoolmiller M, Eddy JM, Reid JB (2001) Reducing television, videotape, and video game use in children decreased peer rated aggressive behaviour. Evidence-Based Mental Health 4.3 (Aug. 2001): p87. Retrieved from: prodid=pppc&usergroupname=leth49384&tabid=t002&searchid=r17&resultlisttype=result _LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=1&contentSet=G ALE A77626497&&docId=GALE A77626497&docType=GALE&role= Cheryl K. Olson, ScD, Lawrence Kutner, PhD, and Eugene V. Beresin, MD (2007) Children and Video Games: How Much Do We Know? Psychiatric Times 24.12 (Oct. 1, 2007): p41. Retrieved from: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sghitcounttype=none&sort=relevance&inps= true&prodid=pppc&usergroupname=leth49384&tabid=t002&searchid=r15&resultlisttype=r ESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=3&conten tset=gale A169327500&&docId=GALE A169327500&docType=GALE&role=