It is often said that ‘sex sells.’ This statement can be extended to drugs and violence as well. These statements resonate within the film industry. Yet there is a fairly recent industry that has marketed drugs, sex and violence—video games. Unlike the transparency of movies, video games are mostly played by children and adolescents. Childhood and adolescence is a period of emotional angst and self-identification. Often, children idealize a particular person, and then try to mirror his or her behavior. Sometimes, the behavior mirrored is aggressive. Given the impressionability of a youthful mind, the following argues that children who play violent video games are more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior than children who do not play violent video games.
Most parents do not want to expose their children to R-rated movies on two grounds. First, R-rated movies tend to contain drugs, sex and violence. Second, Hollywood tends to glamorize drugs, sex and violence. Parents do not want to leave the impression in their children’s minds that drugs, sex and violence are desirable activities. Although much consideration has been given by parents with respect to violent movies, less consideration has been given with respect to violent video games. To make matters worse, there are sufficient reasons to believe that video games are more likely to increase the risk for aggressive behavior in children than movies.
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"Violence and Video Games".
There are a variety of reasons that children are more susceptible to mirror aggressive behavior in video games than in movies. First, video games require the player to actively take part in the violence portrayed in the video game. Often, the player is rewarded points for completing a violent objective. This reinforces and encourages the behavior that is being exhibited in the video game. Also, first-person shooter games allows the child to better identify with the main character than a movie viewed from a third-person perspective (Konijn, 2007). In addition, video games do not require group participation. Consistently playing violent video games increases isolation and decreases the ability to empathize (Bushman, 2012). Video games make robbery and murder a form of entertainment rather than an embodiment of impermissible violence. Of course, it would be hyperbolic to claim that violent video games directly cause acts of theft and murder; nevertheless, violent video games do light heated emotions associated with these activities.
There are a variety of studies that suggest aggressive behavior portrayed inside a violent video game can transpire to aggressive behavior outside a video game. One empirical study published in Aggressive Behavior found that children who played violent video games behaved more aggressively to their peers during recess sessions than children who did not play violent video games (Polman, 2008). The research consisted of approximately 57 children anywhere from 10 to 13 years of age. In this study, children who played violent video games tended to scream, kick and yell at their fellow classmates during recess sessions.
Further research shows that adolescents who play violent video games are equally likely to exhibit aggressive behavior. This was noted by a research study conducted at the University of Ohio, which found that college students behaved more aggressively to a series of exercises after playing a violent video game than students who played a non-violent video game (Larsen, 2013). The study was conducted during a three day weekend with approximately 70 college participants. Half of the students were assigned to play a non-violent video game twenty-minutes a day; the other half were assigned to play a violent video game twenty minutes a day. Students in the latter group behaved more aggressively while responding to exercises that rated their aggression than the former. More importantly, the level of aggression increased each day, suggesting that aggressive behavior increases the longer a violent video game is played.
In conclusion, there are sufficient reasons and empirical evidence to believe that violent video games increase the risk for aggressive behavior in children and adolescents. Violent video games require players to actively participate and reward violent acts of crime portrayed in the game. The aggressive emotions that video games spark can transpire to activities outside of the video game. This being the case, parents should oversee and regulate what video games their children are allowed to play in the same way that they oversee what movies their children are allowed to watch.
