Ulises Gonzalez. Texas Tech University

Transcription

1 Running Head: DO VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES MAKE PEOPLE VIOELNT? 1 Do violent video games make people violent in real life? Ulises Gonzalez Texas Tech University

2 DO VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES MAKE PEOPLE VIOLENT IN REAL LFE? 2 Violence in video games can lead to outbreaks in young teens. In today s generation, many people play video games 24 hours a day. As video games are for entertainment purposes, many players seem to catch on quickly to the aggressive violence in each game. Each month new video games are released, attracting people to purchase these games. As the evolution of video games and the Internet continue to grow, video games can be played with any other player across the world, for example, Xbox live. Millions of people are connected to these games consoles, spending hours playing games on a screen. As more video games with extensive violence are released, people will continue playing countless hours and cause harm to themselves. In the article Violence Video Games and Young People Two psychologists, Dr. Patrick Markey of Villanova University and Dr. Charlotte Markey of Rutgers University, concluded after a research combination of three personality traits might be most likely to make an individual act and think aggressively after playing a violent video game (Coburn, 2010, p.2). Studies have shown that young kids exposed to violence are prone to get angered very easily, depressed and highly emotional. They re also prone to act without thinking clearly, to break rules or disobey their parents (Coburn, 2010, p.3). As the players are exposed to these games daily, their personality begins to change. A result of watching and playing violent video games, kids become aggressive. There are certain things parents can do to protect their children from potential harm of video games. Placing video game consoles in common areas of their home rather than a bedroom is a good way to monitor a child s game. Also setting restrictions to what games they can play. Another way is to have them join any extracurricular activity to have them get video games off their minds (Coburn, 2010, p.3).

3 DO VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES MAKE PEOPLE VIOLENT? 3 Other researchers have linked violent video games to school shootings. Most shooters had the same traits such as aggression, anger and depression. The U.S. Secret Service and Department of Education concluded that more than half of the attracters demonstrated interest in violence media. (Coburn, 2010, p.2) The Sandy Hook shooting where Adam Lanza shot 20 children and 6 staff members is linked to a collection of violent video games in Lanza basement, where he spent hours alone, playing these games like "Bulletstorm," "Grand Theft Auto," "Mortal Kombat" and "Splatterhouse (Jaslow, 2013). Dr. Christopher Ferguson, psychology professor at Texas A&M International University, did not come across any link between violent video games on this issue and the violent behavior of someone (Jaslow, 2013). Many people have different opinions on this issue, some believe video games had an affect on his violent shooting; others believe video games didn t have a role in the shooting, but Lanza s mind made him himself do his actions. Roletaking and role-playing have played a major role in the way people see things. People begin in visioning themselves inside the video game, and they begin to emphasize with the character. They begin thinking alike as the character in the game and having the same thoughts as well and having similar thoughts as the character. In addition, a number of empirical studies have demonstrated that, by identifying with the characters, viewers will value the characters behaviors and even adopt their behaviors (Singhal, Cody Rogers, & Sabido, 2004). When a player plays a game the will not only be influenced by the violence, but they will also be influenced by the certain roles played in the game. Violent games can lead to much stress that will influence anger and aggressiveness in a person. The intensity of a game can cause the player to stress out because of a certain

4 DO VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES MAKE PEOPLE VIOLENT IN REAL LFE? 4 game mission they are trying to accomplish. As the player could be influenced to stress out with the level of violence going on and as they try and shoot the objective to beat their enemy, the intensity and stress begin to build up and their blood pressure could begin to rise, causing their anger to intensify. Playing more video games fequently makes the player become more aggressive. However, if one asks avid computer players whether violent video games make them aggressive, you will most likely get a definite no (Bushman, 2012). Everyday more people will become addicted to the video game life. Millions of people connect, with people of similar interest worldwide. Having an addiction to violent games can lead to many negative outcomes. Young kids that are exposed to all the violence, can develop a strong anger or make them believe that violence is a normal thing in life. Parents should be aware of what there child is playing and whom they are playing with, especially on online video gaming. Blaming a video game for the actions learned is obscured. The player is responsible for the acts of violence, be able to know what is right and wrong, and play the game for entertainment. Violence isn t only in video games, but we are surrounded by it all around.

5 DO VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES MAKE PEOPLE VIOLENT? 5 References Hasan, Y., Bègue, L., & Bushman, B. J. (2013). Violent Video Games Stress People Out and Make Them More Aggressive. Aggressive Behavior, 39(1) Jaslow, Ryan (2013). Violent video games and mass violence, CBS News, video- games- and- mass- violence- a- complex- link/ Lee, K. M., Peng, W., & Klein, J. (2010). Will the experience of playing a violent role in a video game influence people s judgments of violent crimes?. Computers In Human Behavior, 26(5) Violent video games and young people. (2010). Harvard Mental Health Letter, 27(4), 1-3.