Final
Violence in today’s society has greatly increased to the youth via video games and televisions. About ninety percent of U.S. kids ages eight to sixteen play video games, and they spend about thirteen hours a week doing so (Harding). Does this consistent image of violence have an effect on their behaviors and the way these kids grow up (Harding)? My task is to argue that kids who play lots of violent video games have more aggressive behavior than kids who do not play violent video games. What is aggression? Aggression is the physical or verbal behavior intended to cause harm. This definition excluded unintentional harm such as auto accidents or sidewalk collisions; it also excludes actions that may involve pain as an unavoidable side effect of helping someone, such as dental treatments or in the extreme assisted suicide (Myers). It includes kicks and slaps; threats and insults; even gossip or snide “digs”; and decisions during experiments about how much to hurt someone, such as how much electric shock to impose (Myers). It also includes destroying property, lying, and other behavior whose goal is to hurt (Myers). Aversive Incidents, Aggression, Media Influence: Pornography and Sexual Violence, Media Influence: Television, Media Influences: Video Games, and Group Influences are all influences of aggression. The scientific debate over media violence effect “is basically over”. Researches are now shifting their attention to video games, which have exploded in popularity and are exploding with increasing brutality (Myers). Educational research shows that “video games are excellent teaching tools” (Myers). In 2007 the video-game industry celebrated its 35th birthday. Since the first video game in 1972, we have moved from Ping-Pong to splatter games. By the turn of the twenty-first century, Americans were purchasing some two hundred million games a year, and the average girl was playing six hours a week and the average boy twelve hours (Anderson). In the popular Grand
Cited: Anderson, Craig. Brad J. Bushman. “Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Review of Scientific Literature.” American Psychological Society Vol. 12, No. 5, Sept. 2001 Harding, Anne. “Violent Video Games Linked to Child Aggression.” CNN. 3 Nov. 2008. Turner Broadcasting Systems, Inc. 10 Nov. 2010. <http://articles.cnn.com/2008- 11-03/health/healthmag.violent.video.kids_1_violent-video-video-games-games- genres?_s=PM:HEALTH Myers, David. Social Psychology. New York: McGraw Hill, 2008.