Effects of Violent Video Games on Children
Effects of Violent Video Games on Children
The use of video games has become tremendously popular among children and adolescents in the past decade. In fact, “Sixty-eight percent of U.S. households play computer or video games.” (David Jenkins, 2009) This statistic reveals how important it is to understand the effects that these games can have on individuals and more specifically, children. Over the years, numerous studies have been conducted investigating whether video games have positive or negative impacts. An increase in popularity has raised concern with the negative effects that may or may not be occurring. Video games exploit three fundamental learning strategies and therefore are easily able to influence children and adolescence. The substantial impact that a game can have on a young person is dependant on various factors. Predominantly violent video games have been known to have the most negative impacts. After years of research, movies and video games have been proven to increase aggressive and violent behaviors. (Anderson & Dill, 2000, p. 774) This paper will primarily focus on the effects that violent video games have a child’s aggressive thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Examining research on violent video games will establish why and how video games are influencing children, the negative impacts, and possible ways to reduce these effects.
Violent Video Games as an Educator Interactive electronic gaming is becoming increasingly popular in today’s society. Youth are very vulnerable to what there are exposed to as they are still in the learning and development stage of their life and easily influenced. Children are very susceptible to their environment and their behaviour easily impacted, therefore it is important for youth to be exposed to positive influences. “I recently learned something quite interesting about video games. Many young people have developed incredible hand, eye, and brain coordination in playing these games. The air
The use of video games has become tremendously popular among children and adolescents in the past decade. In fact, “Sixty-eight percent of U.S. households play computer or video games.” (David Jenkins, 2009) This statistic reveals how important it is to understand the effects that these games can have on individuals and more specifically, children. Over the years, numerous studies have been conducted investigating whether video games have positive or negative impacts. An increase in popularity has raised concern with the negative effects that may or may not be occurring. Video games exploit three fundamental learning strategies and therefore are easily able to influence children and adolescence. The substantial impact that a game can have on a young person is dependant on various factors. Predominantly violent video games have been known to have the most negative impacts. After years of research, movies and video games have been proven to increase aggressive and violent behaviors. (Anderson & Dill, 2000, p. 774) This paper will primarily focus on the effects that violent video games have a child’s aggressive thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Examining research on violent video games will establish why and how video games are influencing children, the negative impacts, and possible ways to reduce these effects.
Violent Video Games as an Educator Interactive electronic gaming is becoming increasingly popular in today’s society. Youth are very vulnerable to what there are exposed to as they are still in the learning and development stage of their life and easily influenced. Children are very susceptible to their environment and their behaviour easily impacted, therefore it is important for youth to be exposed to positive influences. “I recently learned something quite interesting about video games. Many young people have developed incredible hand, eye, and brain coordination in playing these games. The air
References: Anderson, C., & Dill, K. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 772–790. Gentile, D. A., & Anderson, C. A. (2003). Violent video games: The newest media violence hazard. In D. A. Gentile (Ed.), Media violence and children (pp. 131–152). Westport, CT: Praeger. Irwin, A. R., & Gross, A. M. (1995). Cognitive tempo, violent video games, and aggressive behavior in young boys. Journal of Family Violence, 10, 337-350. James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology (Vol. 1). New York: Dover. Jenkins, D. (2009, March 06). 68 per cent of us households play games. Retrieved from Passer, Smith, Atkinson, Mitchell, Muir. (2008) Psychology Frontiers and Applications. (3"ded.). McGraw-Hill Ryerson.