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Video games and youth violence
Do video games lead to violent behaviors
Violent media causes violent behavior
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Video games have a large foothold in present American culture. Todays children and adolescence are immersed in a world of electronics and technology that is rapidly changing and evolving. A vast majority of video games contain a violence component. One could see that the exposure to violent video games can be correlated to increased aggression in adolescence but, it’s more complex then that. We live in a culture that has an insatiable appetite for destruction. From watching a action movie to watching news broadcasts of a disaster to riding a rollercoaster there is an evident thrill seeking component as well as a general fascination with anything that pertains to death and disaster. If a child or adolescent is not exposed to
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These two terms are often used interchangeably but there is a distinct difference. Someone who perpetrates an act of violence may be acting with aggression but an aggressive person might not commit a violent act.
Aggression is any form of angry or violent emotions or behaviors. This can be expressed in varying degrees. Accidental aggression is typically unintentional and is the result of carelessness. An example of this is someone running into another person while in a hurry to catch a bus. Expressive aggression is intentional but it does not have violent intent. An example of this is a child kicking sand or throwing toys. Although the behavior can be frustrating or harmful to another person, the child did not intend to cause harm. Then there is instrumental aggression. Instrumental aggression results from conflict over objects or what is assumed to be one’s rights. For instance a student that wants to sit at a desk that has been taken might retaliate by knocking the occupants belongings off the desk. This is also be a form of passive aggression. Finally there is hostile aggression which is intended to cause physical or psychological distress. Forms of hostile aggression include bullying, malicious gossiping as well as reactive aggression or reacting to a provoking
Aggressive individuals often act in ways that will result in having personal gain, rather than focusing what impact they have on others. Aggression is pervasive. It affects the rich as well as the poor, the upper and lower classes, it defines us. This means that most sole individuals will behave in certain ways to promote their well being, instead of how they affect others. Michael Crichton uses characters in Jurassic Park to portray the negative physical, social and intellectual impact they can have on society. This is evident in everyday life because society has molded individuals into looking out for their well being with no considerations of the impact that it has on others.
Aggression is defined as any behavior intended to harm another person who is motivated to avoid the harm according to Baumeister & Bushman (2014). A study was conducted in 1967 by Leonard Berkowitz and Anthony LePage, to determine whether the presence of weapons would elicit aggressive behavior from an individual (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014). They hypothesized that participants were likely to associate weapons, particularly firearms, to aggression and violence, which would cause observing a weapon to elicit an aggressive response. The experiment determined that the presence of weapon can elicit an aggressive response from people ready to act aggressively. In the study, participants were shocked up to seven times then given the opportunity to
The allegation that videogames cause violent behavior in children has been present as long as videogames themselves. Some researchers said that the Sandy Hook shooter, Adam Lanza, was one intense gamer. “Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech Shooter was seen by his roomates as odd because he never joined them in video games.”(Beresin) This debate will continue to go on in this country as long as there are horrific crimes that occur. There is much written in the research regarding this issue, and many differing views. The research that is presented in the next few paragraphs supports the theory that it is not the graphic video games that produce aggressive behavior, but other factors in a child’s life that create violent actions.
In psychology there is much debate about the meaning of the term ‘aggression,’ as many different people have different views on how to define it, one definition comes from berkowitz 1993 and states aggression is ‘behaviour that is intended to injure someone physically or psychologically.’ Many explanations have been proposed for aggression and there is a split between the highly reductionist biological approach and the less reductionist social psychological approaches. Each of these explanations have proven extremely useful in answering certain questions surrounding aggression and helping us to gain more of an understanding of aggressive behaviour, however their limitations must also be acknowledged.
Violence is something that seems to be simple. It is the process of hurting someone else, but how? Of course you see violence when people become physical, but in reality there are so many ways to look at the word violence. The way people speak to each other or treat the people around them is a form of violence. Every day teenage children go to a place, called high school. They enter an area meant to be used for learning, but instead find an environment filled with cruelty. Girls make fun of other people because of how they look, talk or because they are just different. The boys walk around with an attitude of ownership because they feel they are
Aggression, violence, and victimization are remarkably dynamic terms. How these terms are understood and defined is shaped by formal and informal social policies and controls (Goldstein, 1986). Excluding assertiveness from the definition of aggression as it relates to violence, aggression can be considered to encompass behaviors intended to cause physical or psychological harm. Violence may be understood as an extreme form of aggression, in which the intent of the perpetrator is to cause serious harm (Berkowitz, 1993). Anthropological research on various non-western cultures demonstrates that aggression and violence are not necessarily inevitable, nor are they universal (Goldstein, 1986). Like words and manners, as Elias points out, the concepts transform over time, and vary across and within cultures (Fletcher, 1997).
Is to do violence to another. Contain the idea of aggression in different levels. Denote violence.
By definition aggression can mean a wide range of behaviors that occur for a large number of reasons under many different circumstances. Just about all wild animals are aggressive when guarding their territories, protecting their offspring and themselves.
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.
Sell, Hone, and Pound (2012) examined the importance of physical strength in shaping male psychology. Aggression and violence are fairly effective ways of winning conflict in the competition for resources between males, but can impose large costs on the loser of the conflict (Sell et al., 2012). The consequences of conflict would have put high pressure for the male brain to evolve ways of interpreting the odds of success, to determine when to avoid conflict or engage in aggressive and violent actions (Sell et al., 2012). The authors outline evolved mechanisms for aggression and their effect on the decisions of modern-day human males.
...h murders and violence, we must regard aggression as a summated response to many factors. Individually, the factors probably are harmless, but when united, they can be unleashed as aggression in which case terrible crimes take the lives of so many innocent people.
The first research that I encountered was James Gilligan’s M.D. book (1996) titled, "VIOLENCE." Gilligan separates the "epidemic" of violence into three areas; "The Pathology of Violence," "The ‘Germ Theory’ of Violence," and "The Epidemology of Violence." His research shows that people act violently as a means to attain, what to them is, justice. Gilligan found that most violent males, on an individua...
The first thing to look at is what human aggression is. It is defined as any behavior toward another individual that is carried out with the proximate (immediate) intent to cause harm (Anderson & Bushman 2002). Not to get confused with violence, all violent acts have aggression but not all aggressive acts are violent. For example kids often aggressive behavior towards each other but without the intent to hurt them. So now it’s time to look at the different types of aggression. Affective aggression (also labeled 'hostile' or 'emotional' is usually conceived as impulsive, thoughtless (that is, unplanned), driven by anger, having the ultimate motive of harming the target, and occurring in reaction to some perceived provocation. Instrumental aggression, in contrast, is usually conceived as a premeditated means of obtaining some goal other than harming the victim, being proactive rather than reactive, and resulting from cold calculation rather than hot affect. Impulsive aggression is usually conceived as thoughtless (automatic, fast, and without consider...
Are video games a negative or positive influence on children’s behavior and actions? Several studies have been pointing out that exposure to violence on television, movies, video games, cell phones and the Internet increases the risk of violent behavior in the viewer, like to grow in an environment filled with real violence increases the risk of violent behavior. Plentiful of the research on current media have focused on the violence spread by TV for experts in developmental psychology and John Murray of Kansas State University, United States, it is difficult to conclude otherwise than that violence on television has increased levels of violence and aggression in the society, and that video games have an effect even more powerful. Violent video games are more distress, than the films of the same sign and that the images of violence shown on television because they are interactive, because they use a technology environment that allows the user total immersion in the situation, while producing new objects cultural. The reason is that video games are not limited to violence to show a passive spectator, but require the person to connect with the character and act for him, while violence in film and television images whose exposure is limited only to visual perception. The video game violence has long-term real effects. Children exposed to high levels of violent entertainment can become more aggressive and develop a tremendous face the suffering of others, also increases the likelihood they interact and respond to violence in their social environment. In violent video games as success is clearly defined as killing or take, and failure as die or loses the good and evil as the wicked: they, different from us, it is just revenged, I mate,...
Aggression and violence are the direct result of learned behavior. Our society is full of examples of violence and aggression that unfortunately have become a part of our daily lives regardless of where we live, work, or play.