Many young children and teenagers have heard their mother’s incessant plead to get away from the screen and to go outside or pick up a book for once instead. The urge to play “just one more level” before starting that homework or doing those chores can be quite distracting. But are video games really as awful as Mom exclaims or as brutal as those TV ads depict? It turns out that video games can have a strong impact on participants’ lives in both positive as well as negative ways.
When imagining the typical video gamer, one might envision the stereotypical overweight, slightly nerdy looking man who traps himself within his basement till two every morning leveling his character. This behavior, of course, has poor physical health consequences. Rani Desai noted in her survey of high school gamers that both males and females tended to consume more caffeine (almost three times more), which, in the case of our stereotype, would cause him to sacrifice sleep, a vital mental resource, in order to play games. Desai also found that female gamers tended to have a slightly higher than average body mass index (BMI), however, male gamers and their BMI seemed to be unrelated. Overall, male gamers tended to display a neutral correlation between video games and heath whereas “among the girls, gaming was associated with modestly lower risk of depression and moderate increases in serious fights and carrying a weapon” (Desai et al.). This implies that video games may have a positive effect on mood and a negative effect on aggression.
Numerous studies have been conducted claiming a link between video game violence and increased aggression in players. For example, Gentile notes in his study on the effects of violent video games that “adol...
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...olar. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.
Gentile, Douglas A., Paul K. Lynch, Jennifer R. Linder, and David A. Walsh. “The Effects of Violent Video Game Habits on Adolescent Hostility, Aggressive Behaviors, and School Performance.” Journal of Adolescence 27 (2004): 5-22. Google Scholar. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.
Kirriemuir, John. “The Relevance of Video Games and Gaming Consoles to the Higher and Further Education Learning Experience.” Ceangal 2.1 (2002): 1-14. Google Scholar. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.
Schmierbach, Mike. ““Killing Spree”: Exploring the Connection Between Competitive Game Play and Aggressive Cognition.” Communication Research 37.2 (2010): 256-74.Google Scholar. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.
Thierer, Adam. “Again, Most Video Games Are Not Violent.” Technology Liberation Front — Keeping Politicians’ Hands off the Net & Everything Else Related to Technology. 21 Mar. 2011. Web. 13 Nov. 2011.
Web. The Web. The Web. 13 Nov. 2013. Bartlett, Bruce.
Montesquieu, for example, through “The Spirit of the Laws” emphasized the need for separation of powers within governments, including the need for branches of government to institute checks and balances within that government. The influence of Montesquieu’s piece was an integral influence
Montesquieu’s view on government, was that power should be separated amongst the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. His view was based upon population, size, and wealth, to determine the type of government suited for the situation. This influenced
“Study: Violent Video Game Play Makes More Aggressive Kids.” 2011. SIRS Researcher. Web. 23 Mar 2011.
In conclusion, our study has demonstrated that a rise in social aggression may not be caused by violent video games, as there is no correlation proven to be significant from these results. Although the concerns are still great, future research should look into more of the short-term effects on teens and young adults from playing video games and then approach the idea of the habituation of violence from these games. A rise in aggression is something that should be taken seriously and future research should reflect that.
Scott, D. The Effect of Video Games on Feelings of Aggression. The Journal of Psychology. March 1995 v129 n2 p121-132.
The purpose of this paper is to present a literature review on existing articles relating to the possibility of violent video games promoting aggressive behavior. The hypothesis set forth was that people who played non-violent video games displayed more Prosocial behavior versus those who played violent video games displayed more antisocial and aggressive behavior. A search was conducted on regular search engines on the internet, and on EBSCOhost using the title “can violent video games promote aggressive behavior.” The research articles presented are obtained from five case studies each focusing on different measures that were obtained, methods used, the participants involved, the designs of the study, and the results of the studies.
The Web. The Web. 14 Feb, 2014. Phillips, Suzanne.
Web. The Web. The Web. 30 Oct. 2013. Henson, Steven. A.
Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior: a Meta-Analytic Review of the Scientific Literature." Psychological Science (2001). EBSCO. DePaul Library. 7 Mar. 2008.
middle of paper ... ... The Effects of Violent Video Game Habits on Adolescent Hostility, Aggressive Behaviors, and School Performance. Journal of Adolescence, 27. http://www.sciencedirect.com
Video games are not considered as a serious addiction amongst teenagers and adults, often being compared to severe cases of addiction, such as drug abuse or alcohol abuse that may result in the appearance of a decrease in the severity of the addiction. However, video game addiction is a serious matter and has unhealthy consequences for an individual 's life and their health; spending too much time playing video games can take a great toll on one 's physical and mental well-being. Continuing unhealthy patterns of video game activity for prolonged periods of time can result in mental health issues, physical health problems, and a decline in a social life.
Willoughby, T., Adachi, P. C., & Good, M. (2012). A longitudinal study of the association between violent video game play and aggression among adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 48(4), 1044-1057. doi:10.1037/a0026046