English essay

1

Do video games and violent TV shows promote aggressive behavior?

Researchers have been constantly debating and establishing evidences to link aggressive attitudes to video games and watching violent television programs. According to the report of the American Psychological Association dated August 2015, scholars have already established that playing violent games induces the risk of acquiring aggressive behavior (APA.org, “APA Review Confirms Link”). Meanwhile, in the same month and date, BBC also published a report which tackled the public’s attention as to whether playing violent video games such as Mortal Kombat have a direct influence on a person’s attitude. BBC’s report cited APA’s statements stating that playing them makes a person violent (Kleinman, “Do video games make people violent?”). Similarly, APA also released a report in April 2000 which also examined the violent game called Mortal Kombat which according to them makes a person aggressive because these games, just like watching films interact with the viewers and oftentimes, the events happening within the game or film triggers an emotional response from the viewers, making them ‘hooked,’ and therefore aggressive (“APA, Violent Video Games Can Increase Aggression”). Despite the fact that APA received numerous criticisms based from their conclusions, there is nothing wrong in studying their findings because these might help the people in determining which form of media entertainment is good or bad for them. In this essay, I argue that although video games can be seen as the cause of aggressive behaviors; video games and watching violent films acts like an outlet for people to release their inner frustrations. In 1996, the researchers Ballard and Wiest also studied the effects of playing Mortal Kombat on the male population. In their report, they cited various scholastic works arguing that a person is most likely to become violent if they are constantly exposed to long periods playing their game; they also used the other researchers’ findings which explained the relationship between over-exposure to violent video games and the cardio-vascular activity of a person. Ballard and Wiest’s research consisted of students from the Appalachian State University wherein 29 Caucasian males and one African-American ranging from 18-23 years’ old were exposed to different kinds of video games (4). Based from their findings, Ballard and Wiest concluded that violent causes aggression and increased in blood pressure activity (717, 725). Those who played mind stimulating games such as the Corner Pocket billiards and Sega Genesis exhibited less frustrations as well as lesser blood pressure activity compared to the subjects who played Mortal Kombat 1-2. In their research, Ballard and Wiest argued that the games which are more violent and difficult have the tendency to influence the player’s behavior simply due to the interactive feature of the game. Games allows the people playing it to play the role of their character; thereby incorporating their own feelings onto the game. The whole article summarizes the implications of playing violent media as a causative factor in inducing aggressive behaviors amongst the gamers. Ballard and Wiest concluded that their research was aimed to educate the parents and instructors to critically analyze every form of entertainment played by the students and their children in order to ensure that these types of entertainment do not cause any negative behaviors or threaten the gamers’ well-being (725). Moreover, Albert Bandura, a celebrated psychologist famous for his Bobo Doll experiment led an interesting proposition that video games indeed trigger the hidden aggressive behavior in children especially after they were exposed in watching violent programs on the television. In his study, children imitated all the violent moves they saw from the television and inflicted them to the Bobo doll set in the experiment. Similar to Ballard and Wiest’s conclusion, Bandura’s experiment concluded that it was the visual imagery that triggered the children to do violent acts to the doll; therefore, watching violent television programs without supervision from the adults can be dangerous to the young minds of the children as this may influence their behavior as well (Groves and Anderson 2). Based from the above researches, it might seem plausible to conclude as well that both activities (e.g. watching violent films and playing video games) has a direct influence over an individual’s behavior. Both video games and films allow the user-interaction in their modules through the graphical representations. Video games are so popular and highly addicting because they allow the users to play the roles of their characters; therefore, by playing the game, users are able to create a duplicate of themselves which often involves emotions. Playing video games especially the violent ones gives them power, confidence, and control; three things which are sometimes absent in real-life situations. Especially in Mortal Kombat, a game of extreme violence and gruesome portrayals of broken limbs, ripping of chests, and other stuff, users tend to experience a sense of achievement whenever they defeat every enemy within the game. In addition, shouting expletives and increased aggressiveness are frequent since gamers use this game as an outlet of releasing their frustrations in life. Similarly, what Bandura proved in his experiment is crucial for parents and educators to learn why their children and students behave in a certain way. The conclusions which can be derived from Bandura, as well as from the research of Ballard and Wiest demands the society’s attention to re-examine every media content that are being released to a mass audience whether these forms of entertainment are good or have a negative side-effect on the consumer’s behavior. The topic concerning media and video game violence has been controversial in the United States (Ferguson 68) since many of the research who cited Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment were not thoroughly convinced that aggressive behaviors as a result of playing and watching violent media causes a person to become criminals in the future. This was also noted by the American Psychological Association in their press report that no direct evidence found which will cement the link between video game and television violence to criminal behaviors. According to the previous research made by Zillman and Anderson et al., playing violent games excites the audience through visuals; for instance, a gamer or a first time gamer might experience an accelerated heart rate compared to those people who do not play at all (cited from Groves and Anderson 11). Moreover, Groves and Anderson reiterated that based from the research made by different scholars and psychologists, prolonged exposure to violent media (e.g. video games, films) “produce brain activity normally linked with the processing of emotional information and preparation for aggressive behavior” (12). Despite the fact that violent video games and violent television films are often demonized in research literature, Ferguson argued that insufficient evidence concerning media violence were distributed and published across different psychological journals. His journal article contrasts the previous research because he stated that playing violent video games have also had good effects on the gamers. He enumerated that the word ‘violence’ was sometimes switched with the word ‘action’ in games. Ferguson noted that action games promotes “visuospatial cognition,” a skill which is highly essential when taking intelligence tests (76). Additionally, based from the studies of Smith and Trenholme in 2009, another violent game called Half-Life 2 had an effect on improving the performance of the people involved especially during fire drills because this game typically is a military-style action game where characters incorporate military tactics such as good shooting skills, running, and fast body movement in order to avoid the enemy bullets (cited from Ferguson 76). It was also a prevalent belief that constant playing of video games prevents the players from having a solid interpersonal communication. In Ferguson’s article, he opposed this notion and claimed that most of the games nowadays have a chat feature installed with them which allows players to chat whilst playing the game to communicate with their team mates especially during raiding sessions. Murphy also contradicted with the previous assumptions of researchers and stated that the friendships formed within the bounds of the games between people or groups of people who share the same interests can be worthwhile and more deep (cited from Ferguson 77). Playing and watching violent video games do not necessarily make a person aggressive; there are people who play video games quietly whilst some only mutter few expletives especially during critical moments in the game. However, it is not convincing enough that constant exposure to these games might lead to severe negative attitudes to a person. If a person has a proper brain functioning, like correct judgment and rational thinking; violent video games and films have a lesser effect because these people are still able to differentiate what is reality from fiction. However, if a person is a bit ‘edgy’ or have abnormalities in their behavior, even if they only played for a short time or even if they do not play violent videogames and watch violent films, they still have a tendency to commit atrocities to other people. As a conclusion, the research made by Bandura, Ballard and Wiest all had an importance in the field of parenting and education. This meant that strong parental connections and constant adult supervision of children is therefore advised to lessen the aggressive behavior of the youth. Of course, with good parental supervision, children and the youth will be able discern the right from wrong as well as the reality from fiction. Parents will also be able to guide their children in dealing with violent scenarios in the game. Thus, employing thorough parental supervision is the main key in preventing video game violence and aggression.

References

American Psychological Association, APA Review Confirms Link Between Playing Violent Video Games and Aggression. 2015. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

American Psychological Association, Violent Video Games Can Increase Aggression. 2000. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

Ballard, Mary E., and J. Rose Wiest. 'Mortal Kombat (Tm): The Effects of Violent Videogame Play On Males’ Hostility and Cardiovascular Responding'. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 26.8 (1996): 717-730. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

Ferguson, Christopher J. 'Blazing Angels or Resident Evil? Can Violent Video Games Be a Force for Good?'. Review of General Psychology 14.2 (2010): 68-81. Web.

Groves, Christopher L., and Craig A. Anderson. 'Video Game Violence And Offline Aggression'.Mental Health In The Digital Age: Grave Dangers, Great Promise. E. Aboujaoude and V. Starcevic. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. 86-105. Web. 29 Oct. 2015. Available from public.psych.iastate.edu (PDF File).

Kleinman, Zoe. Do Video Games Make People Violent? BBC, 2015. Web. 29 Oct. 2015. BBC News Technology.