TECHNOLOGY: VIOLENT TELEVISION, VIDEO GAMES & INCREASED AGGRESSION

By: Patricia Bush

Did you know that youths between ages 8-18 spend more that 40 hours per week using some type of media?

Did you know that 8-13 year old boys spend on average 7.5 hours a week playing video games?

Did you know that 90% of teens reported that their parents did not supervise the amount of time they spend playing video games and the ratings of the games they were playing?

We have entered a new era in which technology is becoming more and more integrated into our every day lives. We cohabit in a highly digital world in which everywhere you go you are surrounded by technology. Just stop and think of how much technology you are bombarded with in one day. We are constantly plugged into our cell phones, laptops, television, Kendals, video games, etc. We are developing a symbiotic relationship with our lifeless and emotionless technologies that are dictating how we live. Are we doing ourselves a disservice by conforming to this highly digitized world? We are by no doubt changing the ways in which we think and live due to our cornucopia of technologies.

From the creation of the printing press in the mid nineteenth century, there has been a continual progression in technology, specifically technology that influences mass media and technomedia. With the invention of the printing press, literacy rates skyrocketed. Reading became a leisure activity available to all social classes. Following the printing press, radio broadcasting (1920) and television (1939) entered the scene. There was an increase in the spread of knowledge and news. Not following far behind, the first video game joined the big dogs of the technological society. These new inventions drastically changed the development and socialization of society. Specifically, television and video games have been extremely influential in solidifying the norms, behaviors, and beliefs of the American culture.

Have you ever stopped to think about how television and video games really impact our behavior?


Or does exposure to violent television and video games really cause an increase in aggressive behavior? With the 40 plus hours teens use viewing television and playing video games weekly, there is no doubt that they have some ability to alter our behavior, but just how much? Through empirical studies such as experimental research, cross-sectional correlation research, and longitudinal research, psychologists have uncovered that there is in fact a direct link between violent television and videogames and aggressive behavior. The consistency of the findings based off of the three research methods provides one of the strongest research platforms in all of psychology. As the Psychological Science article, Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Psychological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior, states, “It is now known that even brief exposure to violent TV or movie scenes causes significant increases in aggression, that repeated exposure of children to media violence increases their aggressiveness as young adults, and that media violence is a significant risk factor in youth violence (Bushman and Husemann, 2001; Huesmann et. al., 2001). Evidently, there is a direct relationship between the two. According to Private-practice psychologist Elizabeth Carll, PhD, violent video games have a greater ability to cause aggressive behavior. As Carll states, “If you are actively involved in learning, you remember things better. So in a game you do things over and over again, whereas in the movies or on television you watch it once. And in the game there is reinforcement for it. So if it is killing people that you’re doing, you get a reward for that” (Do Video Games Really Spark Bad Behavior?).

The content of television and video games is socializing our youth and young adults to possess aggressive behaviors. In the Psychological Science article, the Columbine High School shootings was referenced to highlight the impact of video games on youths and young adults. It was noted that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two individuals responsible for the murder of thirteen people, the wounding of twenty three, and their own deaths at the Columbine shootings, spent much of their time playing violent video games such as Doom.

It is evident through the research that there is a link between violence on television and video games and aggressive behavior, but why does exposure to violence through these sources cause subsequent violent/aggressive behaviors? According to Craig A. Anderson and Brad J. Bushman from the Psychological Science article, “the enactment of aggression is largely based on the learning, activation, and application of aggression related knowledge structures stored in memory (e.g. scripts, schemas).” They explain how exposure acts as a learning process and impacts short term and long-term processes. “From infancy, humans learn how to perceive, interpret, judge, and respond to events in the physical and social environment” (Anderson and Bushman). So from infancy, our brains are malleable and highly influenced by our every day interactions and experiences. If the majority of our time is spent watching violent television or actively engaging in hostile themed video games, our behavior will begin to reflect that content. Anderson and Bushman created GAM, General Aggression Model, to visually explain the link between exposure and aggression. The following two figures demonstrate this correlation.

As Anderson and Bushman wonderfully summarize, “Research on exposure to television and movie violence suggests that playing violent video games will increase aggressive behavior. A meta- analytic review of the video-game research literature reveals that violent video games increase aggressive behavior in children and young adults. Experimental and nonexperimental studies with males and females in laboratory and field settings support this conclusion. Analyses also reveal that exposure to violent video games increases physiological arousal and aggression-related thoughts and feelings. Playing violent video games also decreases prosocial behavior.”

So what does this mean for us? What is our call to action with this revelation of knowledge? The violence standards portrayed in today’s media are here to stay; we have opened Pandora’s box, and there is no closing it. Educating the general public on the direct relationship between violent TV and video games to aggressive behavior would be the first step. Utilizing our new technologies that are entering the digital age for productive and effective uses would also drastically impact the socialization of our society. We are products of society and history, but we are also history makers. We have the capability to direct our future for the better. It has been argued that this new technological generation is the dumbest generation due to our dependence on technology. I would beg to differ. We have the ability and are using our new technologies for the advancements of society. Although there are negative ramifications for technologies such as the impact of violent television and video games on behavior, we do not have to let this define us. What generations in the past did not change for our generation, we can change for ourselves and for the generations to come. By no means are we dumb. We are the ones creating the new technologies. We are the ones recognizing the impacts of technology on society and seeking to change the direction of the future for the better. We are the future. We are the change that we wish to see in this world.

Works Cited

Anderson, Craig A., and Brad J. Bushman. "EFFECTS OF VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES ON AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, AGGRESSIVE COGNITION, AGGRESSIVE AFFECT, PHYSIOLOGICAL AROUSAL, AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Scientific Literature." Editorial. Web.

Bauerlein, Mark. The Digital Divide: Arguments for and against Facebook, Google, Texting, and the Age of Social Networking. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2011. Print.

DeNoon, Daniel J. "Do Video Games Really Spark Bad Behavior? | Fox News." Fox News - Breaking News Updates | Latest News Headlines | Photos & News Videos. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. .

"Video Games: Timeline — Infoplease.com." Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free Online Reference, Research & Homework Help. — Infoplease.com. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. .