Video Game Desensitization Essay

517 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Violent video game playing causes negative effects in adolescents

The article that I chose to read and summarize pertained to a study that was conducted to find out whether or not violent video games leads to psychological desensitization to real life violence. According to this article, desensitization is defined as showing less physiological arousal to violence in the real world after exposure to video game violence in the virtual world.
In this experiment, participants completed a questionnaire about their video game preferences and their trait aggressiveness. They were then provided with a choice. The students could choose to play a violent video game or a non violent video game. They played the game for twenty minutes. Afterwards they were shown a ten minute video of violence in the real world. While …show more content…

The experiment demonstrated that violent video game exposure can cause desensitization to real-life violence. Participants who chose to play violent video games were less physiologically aroused by real life violence than nonviolent game players were. They concluded that players who play violent video games essentially become “used to the violence.” Even playing a violent video game for just twenty minutes can cause a person to become less psychologically aroused when viewing actual footage of people being beaten, stabbed, and shot. Desensitization can have some very negative impacts on society. Desensitization could possibly reduce the amount of attention that a certain individual pays to a violent incident involving another person. If they don’t pay attention to the incident then they can’t help the person who very well may need help. Second, the person must recognize the event as an emergency. Desensitization might reduce how seriously another person takes the injury, this decreases the likelihood that the desensitized person may view this incident as an emergency. If they do not view it as an injury then the individual might not feel like they need to help. There is a good chance that the person is in need of help but because the desensitized person doesn’t view the situation as an emergency, then they won’t receive any. According to this study, desensitization could reduce sympathy for the victim, increase beliefs that violence is normative, and decrease negative attitudes towards violence, thereby decreasing feelings of personal responsibility to aid another person in need of

Show More
Related

  • Downside of Technology Exposed in Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

    652 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 ...

    Read More

  • History of School Shootings in US

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today’s society thrives on violence. Young children made pretend guns and shot at siblings, teenagers enjoyed video games which praised the player for kills, and adults flocked to see the latest horror movie, few people asked what effect this has on people and society. Some psychologists have started researching this effect. A study by Dr. Ferguson;...

    Read More

  • Violent Video Games and The Human Psyche

    1356 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Valadez and Fergusion (2012), “The effects of violent video game exposure, both positive and negative, on various behaviors are still highly contested within academia and the general public” (p. 608). Violence in video games is often wrongfully perused as a topic of extreme criticism pertaining to an individual’s act of violence in today society. Examples of such would include the shooting that occurred in April 2007 at Virginia Technical College; where Jack Thompson and Philip McGraw asserted that violent video games were the ultimate cause of the tragic incident, but further investigation suggested that Seung-Hui Cho had never played any such games (Valadez & Fergusion, 2012). Since the early days of mankind, society has often enlisted the service of a scapegoat in the attempt to correct the unethical or immoral conduct of a few individuals; violence in video games is no exception to this type of social misconduct. Possibly, one may want to consider human nature and its unyielding desire to be competitively better than the next person; compared to an individuals need to be excessively violent regardless of visual representation of violence in the first place. Although many will argue the effect that violent video games have on the human psyche; the research is far too inconclusive for one to make an educated assessment of the provided information.

    Read More

  • Media Violence and the Captive Audience

    5192 Words  | 11 Pages

    Many psychologists have studied the effect of the media on an individual’s behavior and beliefs about the world. There have been over 1000 studies which confirm the link that violence portrayed through the media can influence the level of aggression in the behavioral patterns of children and adults (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2001). The observed effects include, increased aggressiveness and anti-social behavior towards others, an increased fear of becoming a victim or target of aggressive behavior, becoming less sensitive to violence and victims of violent acts, and concurrently desiring to watch more violence on television and in real-life (A.A.P. 2001). According to John Murray of Kansas State University, there are three main avenues of effects: direct effects, desensitization, and the Mean World Syndrome (Murray, 1995, p. 10). The direct effects of observing violence on television include an increase in an individual’s level of aggressive behavior, and a tendency to develop favorable attitudes and values about using violence to solve conflicts and to get one’s way. As a result of exposure to violence in the media, the audience may become desensitized to violence, pain, and suffering both on television and in the world. The individual may also come to tolerate higher levels of aggression in society, in personal behavior, or in interpersonal interactions. The third effect is known as the Mean World Syndrome, which theorizes that as a result of the amount of violence seen on television and also the context and social perspective portrayed through the media, certain individuals develop a belief that the world is a bad and dangerous place, and begin to fear violence and victimization in real life (A.A.P. 2001).

    Read More

  • Video Game Industry and Violence

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    The problem in determining a cause(s) is further compounded by mixed experimental findings.  Scott (1995) did not find a positive relationship between video game violence and aggressive feelings among youth.  In fact, there seemed to be a decrease in aggressive attitudes after playing violent games.  These result seems to run counter to related studies concerned with the re...

    Read More

  • The Bible Does Not Allow the Death Penalty

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    Iowa State University (July 27, 2006). Psychologists Produce First Study on Violence Desensitization from Video Games. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 13, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060727162108.htm#

    Read More

  • The Problem of Video Game Violence is Exaggerated

    1090 Words  | 3 Pages

    Scott, Derek. “The Effect of Video Games on Feelings of Aggression.” The Journal of Psychology 129.2

    Read More

  • Violent Video Games Do Not Cause Violence

    3044 Words  | 7 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Violent Video Games Do NOT Contribute to Youth Violence

    2419 Words  | 5 Pages

    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)

    Read More

  • Video Games Informative Essay

    1222 Words  | 3 Pages

    Whether they be first-person shooters like Call of Duty, sports games like Madden or Fifa, racing games like Forza or Mariokart, or even games and apps on your phones, there are quite a bit of gamers in here. According to the Entertainment Software Association, about 59% of American play some sort of video game, so gaming isn’t all that uncommon (Entertainment Software Association, 2014). As such, there must be some sort of effect on the audience of this growing form of entertainment.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Violent Video Games

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    Children and adolescents that play violent video games undergo through aggressive behavior. The violent activity in the video games influence

    Read More

  • Effects of Television Violence on Children and Teenagers

    661 Words  | 2 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Positive or Negative Effects on Violent Entertainment on Youth

    1413 Words  | 3 Pages

    Schwartz, Kelly D. "Chronic Violent Video Game Exposure And Desensitization To Violence Behavioral And Event-Related Brain Potential Data." Journal Of Youth Ministry 5.2 (2007): 95-98. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

    Read More

  • Effect of Violent Video Games on Teenagers

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    The experiments show that after playing violent games, teenagers become to the aggressive way. These experiments were proven by researches of different universities of USA.

    Read More

  • Disadvantages of Video Games

    1321 Words  | 3 Pages

    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,...

    Read More

More about Video Game Desensitization Essay

Open Document