Discussion on the relationship between video games and violence

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Video Games: Cause of Violence among Teenagers
According to ProCon Organization, the video game industry reported $11.7 billion sales
in 2008. During the same year, Ninety-seven percent of teenagers aged between 12 and 17
played video games in United States. An astonishing figure, 50%, of best-selling video games
contained violent scenes and stages. Keith Stuart, a writer for The Guardian, reported revealed
that the influence of violent video games had no long-term relation with real-life violence.
However, Stuart’s article exposed short-term aggressive behavior; thus, suggesting a causal link
between violent acts of video games and the real life violence. Ratliff (2015) argues that video
games can lead to violent acts, or at least, increase aggression, yet not in a manner that many
would assume. This paper tries to find an existing link between video game and violence. The
paper concludes by presenting a conclusive and general picture of the current relationship
between video games and player's aggression.
Cardwell and Flanagan (2003) noted that the literature on video games and aggression are
much shorter. One early study, correlating video games with aggression was conducted in 1984.
The research concluded that there existed a definite relation between video game playing and
violence among 15-16-years-old teenagers. A 1998 study in the same field revealed that
exposure to video game violence augments aggressive behavior and other violent related

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phenomenon. While debating on the contribution of violent video games to youth violence,
ProCon Organization pointed out that violent video games have lead to school shootings,
increase in bullying, and violent acts towards women. Critics believe that violent video games
desensitize video game players to hostility, reward the players for replicating violent acts and
teach the youths that aggression is an acceptable vice to solving conflicts. As a result, video
game activists argue that most of the research on this topic is extremely flawed, and the there
exists no causal link between video game and social violence. Advocates assert that violent video
games serve as substitutes for rough and tumble play; hence, presenting a safer outlet for hostile
and angry feelings.
Violent Video Gaming: Insight on Studies various Studies
In their 2010 book, Impulse Control Disorder, Elias Aboujaoude and Lorrin Koran
argued that exposure to violent video games heightened the level of aggression. The mechanism
through which the argument as mentioned above is invoked is known to as desensitization of
violence. Carnagey, Anderson and Bushman (2007) developed a detailed definition of
desensitization to violence as "a reduction in emotion-related physiological reactivity to real
violence" (p. 490). To support their argument, the same scholars revealed that individuals who
beforehand played violent video games developed a lower heart rate and reduced galvanic skin
response. The two traits were observed when individuals watched real violence in a movie.
Therefore, the qualities demonstrated a physiological desensitization to real violence
(Aboujaoude and Koran 185). The above finding was further interpreted through the general
aggression model. Applying this version, desensitization was expressed as a physiologically
based extermination of fear reactions to violence. Desensitization is made possible by showing
fearful and violence associated stimuli in a positive emotional perspective.

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In some cases, video games can lead to acts of aggression after playing a violent game. This
aspect can be viewed in different ways, and not just that violent behavior increases after playing
a video game. Due to the immersion that can happen while playing a video game, video gaming
can impact various parts of the brain (Ratliff 101). In a study conducted by Ortiz de Gortari,
Aronsson and Griffiths (2011), they concluded that intense video game playing can be related to
elicitation of automatic thinking, altered insight of real-life scenes, variation of sensory
sensitivities, and dissociative experiences (p. 28). It is, therefore, evident that video games can
lead to a change in thought that rescheduled after the game has been played. Although the study
was rather small, it called for intensive research on the relation between video games and
violence.
Alternatively, the 2010 study conducted by Markey and Markey demonstrated that there is a
likelihood that violent video games affect some children; however, not all children. The
respondents in this study, children, expressed a preference towards becoming more aggressive
after either playing or viewing violent video games. The respondents also exhibited personality
makers predicting increased level of aggression. Respondents who showed increased degree of
violence after either playing or watching violent video games had: (a) high neuroticism, (b)
increased levels of disagreeing, and (c) low levels of conscientiousness. Thus, it is of great
significance for violent-related video games to only be played by the intended audience(s).
Theoretically, the problem of teenagers acquiring violent video games is solely up to the parents
or guardians. Apprehend though, that there exists evidence supporting the increased level of
aggression among children that play them.

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Children Violence and Violent Video Games: The Relationship
According to CBS News, the 2012 shooter, in Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre,
was aggravated by aggressive video games and yearned to kill several people than any other
infamous mass murdered (Bushman). Finally, the world got to the root of the problem between
video game violence and the addicted players exhibiting violent-related traits. Video games
represent a unique medium since, different from TV or movies, video game players have a
venture to accomplish, so as to earn points or move ranks. Players can win or lose. Losing
distinctly can stimulate feelings of anger or sadness; hence, no one is looking to standardize
sporting events since players are furious after a loss. If players are violent after video gaming, it
is about the whole package of gaming itself, not the content. As will be discussed shortly, video
games have become more graphically matter-of-fact and comprise more imitable violence
directed against realistic human traits.
Video games frequently reward video players for replicating violence acts and, therefore,
enhance the learning of violent behaviors. Research on learning reveals that when an individual
becomes aggressively involved in something, on learns much more than when one only watches
it. The results present the key reason why computer technology in classrooms has been
considered educationally advantageous (Gentile). Educational video games are conceived to be
effectual partially since they need active participation. In relation to violent entertainment,
players of violent video games are passive observers of the aggressive acts. In contrast,
aggressive video games by their very nature need active participation in the violent acts. Dietz
(1998) study proposes that when aggression is rewarded in video games, video game player
exhibit augmented violent behaviors compared to games of video games where any form of
violence is punishable.

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Rewards in video games tend to increase imitation of behaviors as those in violent video
games. Various movies have different stages and processes involved. First, winning extra points
and lives in video games amplifies the frequency of behavior violently in that game. Secondly,
rewarding video players in violent video games teaches positive approaches toward the
application of force, as a way of solving conflicts. A 2004 study, published in Journal of
Adolescence, revealed that frequent exposure to violent-related video games is associated to
lower empathy among video players (Funk, Baldacci and Pasold 25). Among the 150 4th and 5th
graders interviewed by Professor Jeanne Funk, associated violent video games as the kind of
media with lower empathy. Empathy, the ability to comprehend and link with one another’s
feelings, plays a significant role in the process of ethical evaluation and is alleged to inhibit
violent behaviors.
According to Jeanne Funk, playing violent video games leads to the development of
hostile behavioral scripts among video game players. A behavioral script develops from the
continuous repetition of actions and affects the unintentional mind. A perfect example of a
general behavioral script is a cycling script that tells motorbike riders to position their bodies, put
on a headgear, and switch to the ignition key. Equally, violent video games lead to scripts that
inform the video game players to respond violently in certain circumstances. Violence in video
games leads to an actual standpoint of violence when behavioral scripts are routinely triggered in
their day-to-day life, for example being nudged in a lobby. In his 2005 book, Media Violence
and Children: A Complete Guide for Parents and Professionals, Douglas A. Gentile noted that
repetition amplifies learning. When a person needs to learn a new account number by memory,
one frequently repeats it continuously to aid memory. As a result, violent video games are

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commonly played repeatedly; therefore, providing plenty of practices repeating the aggressive
game actions.
In conclusion, the superior point of this continued discussion, although, is that not all
violent video game players exhibit aggressive attitudes or are destined to commit violent crimes.
Critics argue that violent video playing desensitizes video players to actual violence and
accountable for the improved rates of bullying. Defenders argue that the studies conducted have
failed to identify a causal association between video games and actual-universal aggression.
Nonetheless, the correlation between video gaming and aggressive behavior can be explained by
children and teenagers inclined to violence being attracted to present-day violent entertainment.
The link between video games and violent nature of video players is real and is subject to
worldwide research.

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Works Cited
Aboujaoude, Elias and Lorrin M. Koran. Impulse Control Disorders. Cambridge, U.K:
Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Anderson, Craig, et al. "Longitudinal Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggression in Japan
and the United States." Pediatrics XXII.5 (2008): 1067-1072 .
Barletta, Christopher P., Richard J. Harris and Callie Bruey. "The effect of the amount of blood
in a violent video game on aggression, hostility, and arousal." Journal of Experimental
Social Psychology XLIV .3 (2008): 539–546.
Bushman, Brad J. The effects of violent video games. Do they affect our behavior? 3 August
2013. 20 October 2014 <http://ithp.org/articles/violentvideogames.html>.
Cardwell, Mike and Cara Flanagan. Psychology A2: The Complete Companion. Cheltenham:
Nelson Thornes Publishers , 2003.
Carnagey, Nicholas L., Craig A. Anderson and Brad J. Bushman. "The effect of video game
violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence." Journal of Experimental
Social Psychology 43.3 (2007): 489-496.
Dietz, Tracy L. "An Examination of Violence and Gender Role Portrayals in Video Games:
Implications for Gender Socialization and Aggressive Behavior." Sex Roles XXXVIII.5-
6 (1998): 425-442.
Funk, Jeanne B., et al. "Violence exposure in real-life, video games, television, movies, and the
internet: is there desensitization?" Journal of Adolescence XXVII.1 (2004): 23–39.
Gentile, Douglas A. Media Violence and Children: A Complete Guide for Parents and
Professionals. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003.
Markey, Patrick M. and Charlotte N. Markey. "Vulnerability to violent video games: A review
and integration of personality research." Review of General Psychology 14.2 (2010): 82-
91.

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Ortiz de Gortari, Angelica B., Karin Aronsson and Mark D Griffiths. "Game Transfer
Phenomena in Video Game Playing: A Qualitative Interview Study." International
Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning 1.3 (2011): 15-33.
Park, Alice. Little By Little, Violent Video Games Make Us More Aggressive. 4 March 2014. 22
October 2014 <http://time.com/34075/how-violent-video-games-change-kids-attitudes-
about-aggression/>.
ProCon Organization . Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence? 2013. 22
October 2014 <http://videogames.procon.org/>.
Ratliff, Jacob A. Integrating Video Game Research and Practice in Library and Information
Science. Hershey, Pennsylvania: IGI Global , 2015.
Stuart, Keith. "Video games are not making us more violent, study shows." 10 November 2014.
The Guardian . 28 April 2015
<http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/10/video-games-violent-study-
finds>.