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Violent media causes violent behavior
Negative effects of violence in the media
Effects of violent media on children
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In the book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael becomes a child soldier. To compensate for these traumatic situations he is unknowingly desensitized. This is a numbing of emotions toward grotesque displays of violence. Today desensitization can come from video games, this can cause violent behavior in people who participate in these games. Although, there is a therapy called systematic desensitization, this type of therapy was used to rehabilitate Ishmael in the book A Long Way Gone.
More and more desensitization today is coming from video games. According to Dr. Bruce Perry, “ We have become more efficient and practiced at killing behaviors.” (Perry). This statement refers to video games, and other activities such as paintball, an act of shooting. This could desensitize someone and make them immune to basic human morals and ethics. Thus, making acts of murder and such much easier to commit, because games such as Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto make it seem as though we’ve been through the situation. There is really no way to predict how the person who has been removed of their sensitivity will react to the situation, after the act has been committed whether it be lethal or not, it may seem surreal. "It was pretty strange. I just raised up the rifle and shot. Just like I had a million times when I was a kid. It was just a little pop. And he just looked at me. And then slumped down. I was just trying to warn him. I didn't think it would kill him." (Perry). This is a direct quote from a thirteen-year-old boy who killed another youth. The most important line in that quote is the last sentence, “ I didn’t think it would kill him.” (Perry). This shows how someone who has been immune to the consequences of violence can think.
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...d vigorous task. Today desensitization can come from video games, this can cause violent behavior in people who participate in these games. Although, there is a therapy called systematic desensitization, this type of therapy was used to rehabilitate Ishmael in the book A Long Way Gone.
Works Cited
Perry, Bruce. “Columbine, Killing, and You.” Columbine, Killing and You. Web. 15 May 2014.
Grossman, Dave. “Desensitizing the Mind to Violence.” Desensitizing the Mind to Violence. Academic Press, 1999. Web. 15 May 2014.
Richmond, Raymond. “Systematic Desensitization.” A Guide to Psychology and its Practice. Web. 15 May 2014.
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone. New York: Sarah Crichton Books, 2007.
At this day in age we bask in the luxury of having easy access to advanced technology at our disposal. From the World Wide Web, to cell phones, music, movies and video games the human race has thought of any and everything to keep us entertained. Over the years studies have shown reasonable concerns regarding the long-term effects of video games. These games can desensitize gamers to real life violence, which is usually seen in the younger crowd. The studies especially hit on the games containing player-on-player violence. Though these games are extremely entertaining and can get kids to settle down for a while, if not properly supervised, they can produce adverse effects. Other studies have shown that video games can be used as way to yield positive outcomes such as, good problem solving skills, cooperation in a group and the ability to flow. Although there has been psychological research on children learning through the actions of others some believe that children are automatically able to distinguish between what is just a game and what is reality. The longer they are allowed on their game system the more they become convinced that their games are real. Some researchers believe violent video games can channel the aggression of the child but the parents are to blame for what happens to the child after playing an excessive amount over a period of time. Children can become preoccupied with these violent video games which have been proven to be the cause of poor social skills, uncontrollable aggression and a false reality.
In conclusion, we as people can be desensitized to anything, even something as awful as murder. Philadelphia Journalist John Smallwood put it best when he said: Our desensitization to murder has become frightening. (Smallwood, 1) Shirley Jackson repeatedly shows this desensitization people have with murder through the villagers in ?The Lottery.?
Another effect is desensitizing children to violence, fighting, and hostility. This connects with empathy because desensitizing more or less decreases the empathy and emotion a person has. Desensitizing is a powerful tool and is used in therapy to” reduce or eliminate certain emotional responses through graded and supervised exposure to anxiety…” (Funk 23-39). For movies, desensitization is incidental because no one is decisively changing someone’s emotions, or at least the movie does not to make the audience become psychologically damaged that they end up hurting others and becoming aggressive.
Representations of violence in the media (defined as through news, film, and television) throughout history have contributed to desensitization to violent actions.
“You ruin your life by desensitizing yourself” (Sparacino, n.d.). This quote by Bianca Sparacino (n.d.) points out the gravity of the impact desensitization can have on someone. When the word “desensitization” comes up, people tend to think of an emotionally insensitive or callous human. Although this is true, desensitization involves much more than most realize. Whatever leads someone to the point of desensitization takes hold of their emotions, actions, and mind. The term “desensitization” can be defined as overstimulation to the point of indifference, a lack of empathy, and a conditioned response.
Valenti, Jack. "Violent Movies Do Not Make Children Violent." Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. 4 May. 1999. Rpt. in Violence in the Media. Ed. James D. Torr. San Diego: Greenhaven. 2001. 72-74.
Valadez, J., & Ferguson, C. (2012, March). Just a game after all: Violent video game exposure and time spent playing effects on hostile feelings, depression, and visuospatial cognition. Computers in Human Behavior, 608-619.
"Watching Violent TV Or Video Games Desensitises Teenagers And May Promote More Aggressive Behaviour."M2presswire (2010): Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.
In today’s society, highly addicting video games involving strong violence and language, explicit sexuality and crime often lead to inappropriate behaviors. Role playing games or RPGs allow us to step into a virtual world, cutting ourselves off from worldly distractions. Nowadays, the age range for people who play these extremely graphic games are anywhere from six to eighteen and are surprisingly hazardous to young children’s health. A study gave a group of players playing a violent video game the chance to blast a painful sound into their opponent's ear in order to get the upper advantage. They also gave another group playing non violent games, the same opportunity. The study showed that overall the gamers playing violent video games were more prone to inflict more pain on their enemies, unlike the other group who inflicted considerably less pain. Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D who did this study agrees, “violent video games desensitize players to violence, and makes them more violent in real life" (McGonigal). Young adults are exposed to these terrifying images, harming their mental health. In recent events, a young eight year old boy shot his grandmother after playing Grand Theft Auto. This game is the epitome of why young people should not be playing these games. It is comprised of murder, drug and alcohol abuse, criminal behavior, violence and general disrespect for women, and foul language. In summary, young people should not be playing these games in order to save their mental health. Furthermore, television contributes to desensitizing society with it’s ...
video games often warp their sense of reality. The kids think that if they shoot a person in a game and nothing really happens then nothing will really happen if they shoot a person in real life. When video games first became popular, people may not have seen this as much of a problem because games were not very realistic. With the advancement of technology, however, video games are becoming more and more realistic. If video games become more realistic, children will forget what is real and what is simulated; a child seeing somebody violently murder another human being in a video game will have the same effects as seeing somebody murder another human being in real life. Witnessing these brutal acts of violence either will traumatize or desensitize them to violence. However, this is contradictory to the “Play is labile” theory (Schroeder 4), which will be discussed, in further detail.
Ferguson, 2014 -. There are those who believe that playing video games that are violent causes a reduction in brain response to real life violence. This is because the violent game affects a part of the brain hypothesized to cause desensitization. It is then thought that this “desensitization” to violence predicts that those who play these games will become violent themselves later. (Bartholow, Bushman, Sestir, 2006)
In the article “Violent video game have lower effects on highly exposed teens” by Lippincott Williams and Wilkins it states an experiment of low and high experience group of teens, that played violent and non-violent video games. The results were that the group of low experience had lower sleep after playing the violent video games and the group of high experience there was no difference in sleep after playing the two games (par 6). Children have a lack of sleep after being exposed to strong violence. Traumatization occurs in children, leading to poor sleep after witnessing horrifying murders, the amount of blood, and the pain that characters go through. Also, violent video game makes an effect in children heart rate. In the book of “Impulse Control Disorder” edited by Elias Aboujaoude and Lorrin M. Koran stated, “individuals who previously played violent video games and saw real violence it resulted that the individuals had lower heart rates and decreased of galvanic skin response” (185). Children feel anxiety when seeing these types of violent actions that is in the video games. The situations that occur in the video games can happen in reality, that is where anxiety is created to children. Children are more easily to be scared of things that can take away their lives, therefore violent video games show them homicides leading them to have an effect on their health. Minors
Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT) is also often paired with systematic desensitization. CBT is focused on regaining control of reactions to stress and stimuli, ultimately reducing the feeling of helplessness (Palazzolo, 2014). One specific case of Psychotherapeutic Treatment for Aquaphobia takes a closer look at the break down of how systematic desensitization would be applied. Initially, the patient would be given information on their phobia, making it seem as unthreatening as possible and by showing them that they are not alone, as this disorder is common and that there is a cognitive approach to treat their condition. You first explain to the patient step by step the therapy that is going to take place. You ask them to carefully watch themselves throughout each situation and take notice at what parts they find challenging or lead them to avoidance. It is also suggested that the patients rates her anxiety during those situations on a scale from 1-10. The duration of this therapy would be approximately 13 sessions, meeting once a week for 30-45 minutes. The first three sessions are centered around their life and story of their disability, the diagnosis and the analysis of the disorder while working out a review of each sessions and what their ultimate goal
Exposing someone to violent video games will train the person for doing violent actions that are shown in violent games. Grossman is a writer of two books on video game violence and thinks that video game is a major cause for violent teen behavior. On 1997 in a Paducah, Kentucky high school shoot out a 14 year boy shot eight people and five where headshots. This was believed to be a effect of the teen playing first person shooter games. The FBI say that trained law enforcement officers only land one out of five shots and this boy had no past experience shooting except for in the game. “Exposing children and adolescents (or "youth") to violent visual media increases the likelihood that they will engage in physical aggression against another person,” said expert Craig A. Anderson. Exposure to violent video games can cause a child to learn the...
Television violence causes children and teenagers to be less caring, to lose their inhibitions, and to be less sensitive. In a study on the connection between violence and television done with 1,565 teenage boys over a six-year period in London, William Belson, a British psychologist, found that every time a child saw someone being shot or killed on television they became less caring towards other people (Kinnear 26). William Belson also discovered that every time a child viewed this violence on television, they lost a fragment of their inhibitions towards others (Kinnear 26). In addition to William Belson’s study, studies done by many scientists and doctors show that seeing violence on television causes viewers to become less sensitive to the pain of others (Mudore 1).