Effects of violent video games on children

¶ … Video Game Violence

During the 20th century, American culture changed tremendously. Communications media began playing a larger and larger role in many human societies and helped shape major national and international events. In the last few decades of the century, the "computer revolution" changed the way we communicate professionally and store and retrieve large volumes of data, beginning in the 1960s and 1970s. By 1990, most large modern business and government functions were highly computerized; a decade later, online Internet and personal home computer use were quickly becoming the norm for personal communications and social networking for adults and teenagers alike. At the turn of the century, a so-called "dot com" online business bubble had inflated artificially and come down much the same way a real estate bubble developed (and burst) more recently.

Each major technological advance in communications media and computer processing and availability was accompanied by social concerns associated with specific related conduct, particularly among juveniles. Some were more logical than others. In the 1940s and 1950s, adults worried about "race music" in the form of jazz and rhythm and blues. Many other equally ridiculous concerns developed throughout the second half of the century. However, more reasonable concerns also developed in connection with juvenile social and interpersonal issues, especially in relation to the possible consequences of juvenile exposure to depictions of violence in mass media. Nationwide laws began restricting access to movies of certain types because their content was considered harmful to children. In addition to the movie rating system based on language, sexuality, and violence, the television programming industry also adopted comprehensive rules similar in type, for the same reasons.

For a period of time in the 1960s and 1970s, children were exposed to depictions of violence that would be restricted to late night or subscription cable today because it took a while for legislation and industry self-regulation to catch up to the situation. Even Saturday morning cartoons depict forms of conduct that would be criminally violent (even deadly) if done by a real person. Pediatricians, educators, child psychologists, and parents worried that so much visual exposure to violence contributed to violence and aggressiveness among children and adolescents. The eventual explosion of home computer use and processing power in the last decade also produced a tremendous industry for home computer video games. Primitive early arcade-type video games had been popular since the late 1970s, except now they have become affordable and conveniently available to the general public. Likewise, unrestricted access to cable television and graphic material on the Internet has become the norm in many communities today.

Like many of the earliest video games, modern computer games feature themes of purposeful violence and even callous murder and assassination. However, instead of shooting two-dimensional birds out of the sky or submarines and ships from below, today's games depict extremely realistic video graphics combined with themes such as driving vehicles over human beings, blowing the heads of police officers in uniform, as well as every imaginable way of killing through explosions, beheadings, stabbing, and shooting.

Anecdotal evidence began suggesting a connection between exposure to depictions of violence on television, computer, and especially violent video games and very serious real-life violent incidents. Numerous studies have been carried out to determine the degree to which exposing children to violent images contributes to measurable increase in violence and aggression in personal development. There is significant disagreement between some of those studies, with some suggesting specific correlation while others resulted in opposite conclusions. Some experts believe there is a direct causal relationship between violence in video games and violence among children. Others discount any connection and liken concerns about it to those of parents who worried about music and dancing in the 1950s.

Theoretical Concerns:

In principle, the specific concern about video game violence is that increased exposure of children to depictions of violence at a time when they are the most impressionable will cause a corresponding increase in violence. As that theory goes, children are so impressionable because they are still learning the difference between what is real and what happens in a make-believe world. Ever since the original 1950s Superman television series, children have been warned by generation of parents never to try to fly out the window of their bedroom just because their super heroes do that on television.

According to some estimates, children are now exposed to as many as a quarter of a million individual visual depictions of violence in entertainment media. Even though certain restrictions exist in connection with minors' purchasing video games or movies, it is not hard for most early adolescent children from getting around those restrictions. There is no debate either that children who are exposed (even just as passive witnesses) to domestic violence are much more prone to become violent themselves (Gentile & Gentile, 2005).

For those reasons, many child psychologists and other experts worry about the effects that today's graphically violent video games are having on behavior among children. If watching Superman or (more recently) Spiderman fly could potentially cause children to emulate those acts, it seems very reasonable to worry that constant exposure to violence on various screens could trigger increased actual violence.

The other meaningful thing about modern video games in particular relates to the active participation of the user. Whereas most of the exposure to depictions of violence that children saw until relatively recently involved just watching it passively, today's video games are intensely interactive and involve active participation. The specific concern in that respect is that if just watching behavior on television or movie screens could influence actual behavior in children, then interactive participation could very likely be even worse (Sherman, 2002).

Psychologists have known for a long time that individuals who become serial killers typically engaged in violence throughout what could be considered, in many cases, a period of "training" or psychological desensitization (Gentile & Gentile, 2005). Of course, that is not to suggest any correlation between serial killers and video game violence. On the other hand, some of those who become killers in real life do often practice their techniques and build up confidence and courage by killing insects, then small mammals, then household dogs and cats on the way to their first human kill the way that Jeffrey Dahmer and others like him have. It is certainly conceivable that repeatedly acting out violence on screens could perform some of the same role and allow disturbed individuals to explore their sadistic tendencies.

However, some of the research intended to identify direct relationships between violence among children and adolescents related to video games and other similar types of exposure to depictions of violence has resulted in confusing conclusions. In some cases, researchers were unable to establish such a link despite initial assumptions that they probably would (Olson, 2004). Other similar studies suggested different conclusions and many child health and welfare specialists are still very concerned.

In many respects, those contradictory results may be equally valid without necessarily conflicting in their actual findings. Studies into a direct causal connection between video games and acute instances of actual violence have not necessarily confirmed that concern at all (Olson, 2004). On the other hand, studies that measured more general variables than a narrowly definition of "violence" have provided very different results that suggest there is legitimate reason to worry about violent video game use in children and adolescents (AAP, 2001; Olson, 2004).

Concerns about Violence:

After both the killing spree at Columbine, Colorado and the Virginia Tech massacre, much more recently, there were initial reports that the killers responsible had been avid violent computer game players. However, those early reports were not supported by the more thorough forensic analyses (ExtremeTech.com, 2008). Still, the fact that some empirical studies and anecdotal events have not produced a direct causal relationship between violent video games and actual violence does not necessarily mean that there are not various more general behavioral issues that are of legitimate concern.

Concerns about Aggression:

Aggression is a legitimate problem among children even when it does not escalate to actual physical violence. Within the last few years, news reports have included schools that eliminated several games like dodge ball, in particular, that have been part of American physical education for generations of students.

Specifically, there is significant evidence to suggest that repeated exposure to visual depictions of violence and participation in active imitations of violence in general (and in video game play) do promote increased aggression (Cook, Kestenbaum, Honaker, et al., 2000).

The reasoning is very similar: certainly, there have always been physical injuries in games like dodge ball; but specific physical injuries were not the reasoning behind the change. Rather, games like dodge ball have begun to be phased out of schools because they promote aggression, abusive interactions, persecution of weaker students by stronger and more aggressive students, and because they can play a role in systematic bullying among students (ExtremeTech.com, 2008).

Desensitization to Violence:

Even some of the studies that have concluded that violence in video games and other forms in which violence is sometimes depicted to children and teenagers are not directly responsible for actual violence acknowledge that it desensitizes them to violence (Cook, Kestenbaum, Honaker, et al., 2000). Specifically, the fact that video games portray extremely violent actions without a human cost can lessen a person's natural response (including empathy) in addition to promoting reckless conduct in real life.

It is not necessarily that teenagers consciously believe they can "do" what they see in the games the way children sometimes come to believe that they can fly. But they may absorb unconscious images that inhibit their ability to anticipate real-life consequences of certain choices and behaviors (Wilson, Smith, Potter, et al., 2002). According to the Joint Statement on the Impact of Entertainment Violence on Children presented to the Congressional Public Health Summit July 26, 2000 by several very prominent pediatricians and child psychologists:

"At this time, well over 1000 studies - including reports from the Surgeon

General's office, the National Institute of Mental Health, and numerous studies conducted by leading figures within our medical and public health organizations

- our own members - point overwhelmingly to a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some children. The conclusion of the public health community, based on over 30 years of research, is that viewing entertainment violence can lead to increases in aggressive attitudes, values and behavior, particularly in children. Its effects are measurable and long-lasting.

Moreover, prolonged viewing of media violence can lead to emotional desensitization toward violence in real life." (Cook, Kestenbaum, Honaker, et al., 2000)

Concerns about Bullying:

Bullying in school has only relatively recently been recognized as significant problem throughout the modern educational environment.

Often, students identified as perpetual victims of bullying by classmates experience bullying in primary school; the same patterns are often apparent in those who become the bullies. As many as a third of all middle school and high school students say they have been the victim of bullying and for many of them, it seriously impacts their scholastic experiences (ExtremeTech.com, 2008). Studies have demonstrated a correlation between repeated exposure to depictions of violence (including participation in violent video games) and behavior related to bullying other children (AAP, 2001; Sherman, 2002).

With respect to bullying, video game violence is not only a potential issue with the bullies. Video games are popular among such large segments of the age-group population that children who are the victims of bullying also typically have video games. In the case of the bullies, repeated exposure to depictions of violence (especially with active participation) probably contributes to their behavior through various ways. However, it may also play an important role in the lives of victims, sometimes in ways that are equally harmful.

Children or teenagers who experience bullying may express some of their built up anger and hostility through their violent video games (Gentile & Gentile, 2005). Sometimes they enjoy blowing up or otherwise maiming, killing, or mutilating their opponents on screen, partly because it allows them to experience being on the other end of the abuse. Other times, they may specifically envision retaliating against their classmates, even giving their on-screen characters their names.

That is not to say that playing violent video games necessarily means that bullied children or teens will retaliate violently. But it may not be the healthiest way of dealing with their feelings nevertheless. Victims of bullying may already become less social and stay home more and more. The availability of violent video games as a means of expressing rage combined with the natural tendency to limit social contact could be much more limiting than either element strictly on its own. In fact, the concern has also been raised that social isolation, in general, is a negative aspect of our reliance on digital media and communications instead of face-to-face interactions and social relationships.

Concerns about Social Isolation:

One of the potential downsides of the widespread availability of digital media and modern forms of communications such as online social networks and mobile texting is that it may reduce our ability to learn some of essential social skills that are normally part of face-to-face interactions with others (Olson, 2004). Various social scientists have suggested that many in the current generation of students may not be developing the necessary social skills to be successful in professional life because so much of their communications take place through remote mechanisms.

Video games (both violent as well as non-violent) often involve complex characters and long-running relationships between characters, most commonly in some form of team-like competitive games. Usually, individuals whose characters are known to one another interact in a virtual world, whether those virtual worlds involve violent warfare and street gang-like violence or non-violent competitions and interactions. Internet games like "Second Life" became very popular when they first came out, and today, social networks like FaceBook and MySpace have become extremely important parts of teen social lives and personal identity. In both cases, teens (especially) have begun shifting major parts of their social lives to new media.

Regardless of whether individuals prefer violent video games or non-violent ones, many of them include some component of social "identity" with various degrees of actual connection to one's real life. There is a specific concern among many experts and educators that all of these games can promote antisocial tendencies, especially among troubled teens as well as among those who are simply very shy or self-conscious. In that respect, all video games (including those that feature violence prominently) may contribute to social isolationism among teens and young adults (Olson, 2004).

Concerns about Sensitivity and Empathy:

Several studies have examined the relationship between attitudes in children and the ways that exposure to various depictions of human relationships in media. Generally, those studies suggest that children may be affected in very specific negative ways by violence and other negative types of human (or humanlike) interactions. For example, children exposed more regularly to violent imagery on television or in video games are much more likely to choose antagonistic games that involve conflict and expressions of aggression and dominance over others than children of comparable age and background who were exposed less regularly to such imagery (Sherman, 2002).

Even before the issue of violence in video games ever came up, several studies had already established a connection between exposure to certain negative themes (including violence such as that depicted in classic Saturday morning cartoons, for example,) and preferences among schoolchildren and preschoolers for antagonistic games (Sherman, 2002). Children first exposed to negative imagery scored lower on various different measurements in the areas of mutual cooperation and the ability to empathize with others (AAP, 2001). Similarly, exposure to negative imagery corresponded to much greater preference for games that specifically emphasized imitation through play.

Even more generally, children exposed to negative imagery or violence also exhibited reduced responses to real-life situations designed to test their inclination to help others or to trust other people.

Concerns about Creating a Negative Worldview and Traumatizing Children:

Research into the effects of exposure to violent imagery on young children has documented that it affects some of their perceptions about the world in very basic negative ways. In one study, children were observed during playground and school interactions and their responses to questionnaires recorded. The results demonstrated significant differences in behavior. Children exposed to violent imagery consistently provided more negative responses to questions about their classmates and they also engaged in more aggressive and antagonistic types of play.

Even more importantly, children exposed to more violent media gave much more negative characterizations when asked questions about whether people were nice and whether the world is generally a happy place (Robinson, Wilde, Navracruz, et al., 2001). It is not clear how much the effects of these influences last and whether they play a significant role in determining a person's subsequent psychological development. On the other hand, children are extremely impressionable and the period of early childhood is referred to as the "formative years" for a very good reason. It is certainly conceivable that long-term, repeated exposure to digital depictions of violence in any form is more likely to produce children whose expectations of others and whose own behavior is more negative than less exposure to such stimuli throughout childhood.

Pediatricians also report that instances of nightmares and extreme fears increase substantially in relation to exposure to violent imagery, including in video and computer games that the child enjoys at the time of play (Shoja, Tubbs, Malekian, 2007). Just as horror movies are notorious for giving children nightmares, it is hardly surprising that equally vivid imagery in violent video games would have a very similar effect on young children.

Misogyny, Racial, and Social Stereotyping:

Rock and roll music was very much tied to sexuality even before the "Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll" era of the 1960s countercultural revolution. But beginning in the 1980's with rap music videos and later, the hip-hop genre, sexuality in music began to emphasize a much more negative view of women and of male-female relationships. Whereas prior generations of music and art portrayed women in sexually provocative (even powerful) roles, the more recent trend has been to exemplify negative stereotypes of females as "bitches" and "ho's" and relationships where males exploit females instead of appreciating them.

Studies into sexual stereotypes and beliefs about the opposite sex and relationships between men and women among high school students demonstrate significant differences based on music taste and especially the degree to which students identify with specific forms of media (Gentile & Gentile, 2005). Because it increases sales appeal, video game manufacturers have incorporated the same types of musical content and visual images of females in the roles established for them in contemporary music videos.

Typically, their themes depict women in subservient and dependant roles in which powerful males exploit women sexually and maintain multiple sexual relationships, sometimes being awarded sexual experiences for game performance. Some video games depict extreme violence in combination with backgrounds in which on-screen characters are entertained by exotic dancers in simulations of real-life strip clubs. Manufacturers rely on retailers to enforce laws prohibiting sales of "adult-oriented" material to minors, but it is not difficult at all for many of them to obtain these games nevertheless. In fact, researchers have been able to establish links between exposure to sexually suggestive videos and/or misogynistic attitudes portrayed in music videos and related entertainment media and similar attitudes and behavior among adolescent males (Gentile & Gentile, 2005).

Similarly, video games (including many violent ones) perpetuate some of the most negative social stereotypes about race and culture. Some of them even mimic street gang warfare modelled after real-life gang violence in urban communities. Some violent video games exploit negative perceptions and beliefs about authority figures, and police officers in particular. Given everything else that is known about the way impressionable adolescents form beliefs, opinions, and attitudes, it should be obvious that glorifying the murder of uniformed police officers in video games is not helpful in terms of the callousness with which "gamers" may do so in video games.