Video Games and Adolescent Aggression: Research Review

Introduction

The timing of video game product launches by major companies follows a broadly similar pattern. For instance, Sony launched its PlayStation in March 2000 in Japan, later that year in October in North America, and a month after that in November in Europe. Other companies have used comparable timelines, staggering the release of their products by a margin of months. Companies release these products to generate profit and to establish their brand names among young consumers. Critics argue, however, that these companies are putting youth at serious risk by exposing them to violent material. As Nicholas (2005) writes, "Rewarded violence in video games increases hostility and aggressive thinking and behavior. Violent behavior punished in the context of a video game increases hostility to the same degree, but affects aggressive thoughts and behavior less."

Critics further argue that exposure to video game violence leads to antisocial behavior, and that many children — particularly in the United States and United Kingdom — are exposed to unhealthy and aggressive material (Elmer-Dewitt, 1993). The connection between video games and incidents of high school violence has also been thoroughly researched (Flatin, 2000; Gegax, Adler, & Pedersen, 1998).

Prevalence of Video Game Use Among Adolescents

The disturbing factor, after reviewing the data on video game use, is that children spend a great deal of time playing them. In the United States, most children aged between 2 and 18 have access to video games. Almost three-fourths of families in one surveyed sample had at least one video game console (Kaiser Family Foundation, 1999).

Video games have only recently become a part of daily life. As a result, research data on their impact on children and adults is limited compared with the substantial literature on the adverse effects of other media such as television and film. As Nicholas and Craig (2005) write, "Because violent video games are a relatively new type of violent media, the literature examining negative effects on players is small compared with the literature on negative effects of television and film violence. However, a clear consensus has already been reached: Playing violent video games increases aggression."

Research Linking Violent Video Games to Aggression

Since children are spending a great deal of time playing video games, researchers have compiled numerous studies linking video game violence to adolescent aggression. This aggression can be either active or passive — that is, young people may either engage directly in a violent act or witness one with little to no emotional response. As Mcrae (2008) writes:

"Most young people would have cringed 20 or 30 years ago at street violence, but with how common it has become in the video games they play, most wouldn't blink an eye at it. Though that doesn't necessarily mean those people are going to go out and shoot up their school, it has some bearing on how accustomed society has become to violence. Seeing decapitation or gore in video games is no longer considered 'hardcore' or 'edgy,' but rather almost a requirement in violent video games. I see kids who get bored if the game's violence is minimal or not graphic enough. It's debatable whether this desensitization is a positive or a negative effect on society — though I personally see it as a neutral effect — but it's unsettling to think about how it could grow."

Wiegman and van Shie (1998) questioned adolescents aged 10 to 14 about the amount of time they spent playing video games and their particular gaming choices. Their study found a strong relationship between violent video games and aggressive behavior. Other empirical studies have reached the same conclusion (Dominick, 1984; Lin & Lepper, 1987). Some researchers have also identified a connection between adult aggression and violent video games (Anderson & Dill, 2000).

Anderson and Ford (1986) assigned college students to one of three conditions: (1) playing a highly aggressive video game, (2) playing a mildly aggressive video game, or (3) a no-play control condition. Subjects were then asked to select from a checklist of thoughts and emotions the words that best described their current state of mind. The results indicated that subjects exposed to the first condition reported significantly more aggressive thoughts and emotions than those in the control condition.

In line with Gentile and Anderson (2003), violent video games are defined as those in which one character harms another. They assert that in nearly all video games, harming another character is the main action, and that this more often than not leads to the death of that character. Research carried out by Children Now (2001) further established that nearly 89 percent of all video games contain some form of violence, and nearly half of them depict violence that would result in serious injury or death.

Nicoll and Kieffer (2005), reviewing a decade of research on video games, found that adolescents who play video games for even a short amount of time experience increased aggressive thoughts and emotions immediately afterward. In one study they cite, children who played a video game for just ten minutes subsequently rated themselves as more similar to highly aggressive characters. A second study, conducted with a sample of 600 eighth- and ninth-grade students, found that those who spent more time playing video games were ranked by their teachers as more aggressive and hostile than other children. These students frequently argued with authority figures at school, were more likely to engage in physical fights with peers, and performed more poorly on academic tasks (Nicoll & Kieffer, 2005).

This research also explored the impact of games featuring intense violent graphics. The authors found that adolescent gamers "tend to imitate the moves that they just 'acted out' in the game they played." This was especially true for those who played karate games extensively — these children would mimic violent characters when socializing with friends. The researchers concluded that if children continued to play violent and aggressive video games, negative and antisocial behavior was likely to become normalized for them (Nicoll & Kieffer, 2005).

Bushman and Anderson (2002) found that gamers who were highly exposed to violent content anticipated that others would behave violently to a greater extent than less-exposed gamers. Anderson et al. (2004) similarly found that players of higher-violence games associated their thoughts and feelings with aggression-oriented words and phrases. Anderson and Bushman (2001) established that video games increased recurring aggressive cognitive behavior, and that neither player age, sex, nor study design had any significant effect on this outcome. Studies by Anderson and colleagues with adult subjects (2004) and with children alone (2003a) yielded comparable results. Experimental work by the same research group also showed that subjects exposed to violent video games administered more intense bursts of white noise to peers, while those who had not been exposed to violent games did not engage in such behavior (Anderson et al., 2004; Anderson & Murphy, 2003; Bartholow & Anderson, 2002).

Conclusion

It is clear that video games have some connection with violent and aggressive acts displayed by adolescents. However, it is important to also take into consideration that video games have become a major part of today's world. Children receive entertainment in the comfort of their homes, where they are actively engaged rather than passively watching television. While aggression and violent behavior have multiple contributing factors, one cannot be certain about who will exhibit violence simply by examining their video game habits alone. Nonetheless, it is reasonable to conclude that individuals who have already been exposed to violent material — whether through television, film, video games, home environment, or neighborhood — are more likely to engage in violent and aggressive acts than those who have not been similarly exposed.

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