Is Violence Influenced by Violent Video Games and Films?

459 Words2 Pages
Whether or not violent video games and films influence someone’s levels of violence is a much debated topic, some people believe that it does where as others believe that it doesn’t. There has been much research into the topic by psychologists such as Craig Anderson, who wanted to find out what effects violent video games and films have on children. From results of studies like his and many others we have been able to get a clearer view and opinion on whether or not it does affect these things. Craig Anderson, stated that “young men who are habitually aggressive may be especially vulnerable to the aggression-enhancing effects of repeated exposure to violent games," and also said “that even a brief exposure to violent video games can temporarily increase aggressive behaviour in all types of participants.” He completed a study which involved 227 college students who reported their aggressive behaviour in the past. They also gave information on their game playing habits in their past. From this they found out that students who played more violent video games while they were in Junior and High school engaged and took part in behaviour which was more aggressive than other students who did not play violent video games during this time. From this study they also found out that the amount of time that they played these video games did not only just affect their levels of violence but it also affected their grades while they were in school – The more time they spent playing these video games the lower their academic grades were during these years. He later on then completed another study where 210 students who were in college either played a violent or nonviolent video game. After a while, the students who played the violent video game chose to punish an opponent of theirs (received a noise blast with varying intensity) for a longer period of time then what the students
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