Do Video Games Make Kids Aggressive?

 

video-gamesThe effect of violent video games has been a hot topic in the last few years as a result of increasing incidents of violence in schools. Many studies have been done attempting to find a link that would explain these violent acts. Many people blame violent video games because there is a positive correlation between the number of violent acts in schools and the realism and popularity of violent video games. On the other side, many proponents of video games claim that video games have many positive benefits such as improved cognitive and coordination function. But does the research back up these claims? Could this virtual pastime affect the minds and bodies of young people in a significant way?

A meta-analysis done at the University of Innsbruck, Austria in 2013 analyzed data from 98 different studies, with the total number of participants accumulating at 36,965. This meta-analysis concludes that video games have negative social consequences. The studies found that violent video games increase aggressiveness and decrease prosocial outcomes. However, video games that are considered prosocial do have the intended prosocial consequences through a decrease in aggression. Meta-analysis of such a large scale like this one are very useful in drawing conclusions and eliminating the possibility of chance significantly . Of course, the file drawer problem could be present here. Studies that conclude that video games have no effect on aggression may have been thought too boring to publish, and were thus not included in this analysis.

An individual study in search of a similar answer was conducted at the University of Valle d’Aosta in Italy in 2013. This study measured 217 high school students and their behaviors after playing either a violent or non-violent video game. The students were randomly assigned to either a violent or non-violent video game for 35 minutes. The students were then tested on the grounds of self control, cheating, and aggression. The self control test set a bowl of M&M’s next to the participants and said they could eat them, but advised the students that eating too many in a short period of time is unhealthy. The amount of M&M’s the participants ate was a measurement of self control.For cheating, participants took a quiz and were asked to grade their own answers afterwards and for each correct answer, the participant earned a  raffle ticket that could win them a prize. The conductors of the experiment knew how many responses each participant got right and how many tickets each of them took, so they could figure out by what degree the participants may have cheated.

For aggression, participants took a survey asking them how much they agreed with certain statements such as “It is okay to insult a classmate because beating him/her is worse”. In another measure of aggression, pairs of participants faced off in a reaction time test. After each round, the participant who had the better reaction time could inflict his/her opponent with a loud noise in their headphones of varying volumes and durations.

Through these tests, the study found that a person who recently played a violent video game did show a correlation with less self control, more cheating, and more aggression compared to those who played a nonviolent video game. By measuring so many different variables, this test may have been victim of the Texas-sharpshooter. However, each of their findings supported their hypothesis that violent video games were having negative effects on behavior.

In today’s changing world, we must be aware of the unintended consequences that technology may take on society and individuals’ behavior. The possible link between violent video games and violent real-life acts is still a hot topic. Studies like these may be helpful in guiding the conversation and sparking more interest in this interesting topic.

 

5 thoughts on “Do Video Games Make Kids Aggressive?

  1. Claire E Going

    Hi Michael,
    This post was very interesting because the study was a meta-analysis of many studies performed on the effects that video games have on children. Personally, I believe that certain video games are way too unnecessarily violent to the point where I question why people enjoy them, and I always figured that it has to have some effect on the people who play them constantly. Video games should only reach a certain point of violence, and then be censored when it comes to killing, drugs, and sex, because of these negative effects they can have on children. As far as parenting goes, even if studies don’t show that video games affect kids violence levels and tolerance 100%, it isn’t that much of a loss to not allow children to play extremely violent video games, and have them play different video games instead. Even if educational video games don’t prove to improve children’s education level, they are still better played than the violent ones, at not much of a cost at all. Here is an article proving that educational video games help kids in the long run with certain subjects, therefore being better for kids than violent video games, which can potentially have very negative consequences depending on the child.

  2. Nicholas Andrew Goussetis

    I can definitely agree with the findings of this article. The first time I played Grand Theft Auto V, I was nervous driving home because I was afraid I would revert to when I was recklessly steering my virtual car into buildings, signs, and onto sidewalks. I do agree with you that this study was focused on too many variables. I would hypothesize that with the incredibly realistic graphics we have today in video games, it will become increasingly harder to distinguish between a game and the real world, leading to people making decisions routinely in real life because they make the same decisions in a virtual world without consequences.

  3. Cassidy Paige Heiserman

    This is a very interesting and well written post! As a criminology major, I have always been interested in whether video games incline children to be more violent. Video games that involve killing people seem to be the only ones marketed these days, what ever happened to Mario? Anyways, I thought that it was really great how you brought up a meta-analysis AND a specific study. This Time article http://time.com/4000220/violent-video-games/ discusses a meta-analysis of over 100 studies that were published between 2005 and 2013 on violent video games. “They concluded that playing video games can increase aggressive behavior and thoughts, while lessening empathy and sensitivity toward aggression.” However, there has yet to be any data on whether or not violent video games cause individuals to commit violent crimes. Video games of this nature are relatively new. While a lot of them have ratings and therefore people under a certain age are not able to buy them, this does not stop parents, friends, and older siblings from buying these games for young children. It seems as though a majority of studies are only short term, since violent video games are relatively recent. However, it will be interesting to see longitudinal studies in the future that show how violent video games impact individuals over a lifetime.

  4. Kendall Nicole Higgins

    This is quite a cool post. My brothers play video games constantly. When I come home from school I want to hang with them, but they are so glued to the screen I usually just end up watching them play. The violence shocks me every time. You mentioned at the beginning that there are “increasing incidents of violence in schools.” What does that mean? Are you referring to school shootings or less extreme incidents like bullying and fist fights? The meta-analyses from 2013 that you mentioned convinced me right from the start, but you make a good point that some studies could have been too “boring” to publish. The study you mentioned that found students who play violent video games show less self control, more cheating, and more aggression made me wonder what chemical or part of the brain do the games trigger? Does playing somehow release testosterone like the power poses do? I think I may actually look into this further, thanks for the tip, and great post!

  5. Taylor Harrington

    Nice post. It made me wonder if having a sibling who plays violent war-games makes you more likely to be aggressive too. Have you ever heard of Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment? I learned about it in psychology. It’s an experiment where a child is shown how to act towards the Bobo Doll. The person he is watching acts violently (hitting and punching the doll) so he does the same when he is put in a room with the doll. It makes me wonder if watching a sibling play violent games can make you violent as well. Actually, this experiment could also show how watching characters in a video game could influence your behavior. It’s a really cool, well-known experiment. I highly recommend you check it out!

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