A lot of studies and findings tend to revolve around video games nowadays, most of which suggest various cognitive benefits and others of which suggest behavioral problems that might persist through time.
Some of these studies are relatively small and would require more investigations. Some journalists tend to confuse correlation with causation, as well. However, Ohio State University researchers have discovered that video games can actually result in aggression in students.
For their study, 70 university students were made to play violent and non-violent video games for 20 minutes every day for 3 days. As a result, it was seen that the students who played the violent games were noticeably more aggressive and hostile compared to the students who played the non-violent games.
The researchers said that being exposed to this kind of violence on a regular basis can cumulatively affect students. However, although they say that violent video games and aggression are clearly related, there is no cause-and-effect relationship present.
The fact of the matter is that a lot of young people play video games on a regular basis nowadays. Because of this, it would be vital to learn more about the causal effects that violent games might have on them in the long run.
Just think about how cigarettes work, for example. Although one cigarette in itself might not bring about lung cancer; smoking for weeks, months or years could significantly increase a person's risk of suffering from lung cancer in the future. On that same note, regularly playing violent games for years might cumulatively effect on aggression.
To learn more about the actual possibility of this cumulative effect, 70 university students in France were told that they were about to participate in a study about the brightness of video games on visual perception that would last for 3 days. After that, the students were randomly told to play one video game a day for twenty minutes, some of which played violent games and others of which played non-violent ones. The violent video games included Condemned 2, The Club, and Call of Duty 4; while the non-violent video games included Dirt2, Pure, and S3K Superbike.
After having the students play a random game every day, the researchers would then measure the hostile expectations of each student by assigning a story to them that only included its beginning. The students would then be asked to list twenty different things that the main character would eventually do or say throughout the story, while the researchers listed the amount of times that a student anticipated aggressive or violent actions from their main character.
The results showed that the students that had to play violent games were much more likely to think up violent or aggressive behaviors for their main characters with every day that passed by. As for the students that played non-violent games, though, there were no increases in their overall expectations of aggression and hostility.
Aside from that, aggression was also measured by asking the students to compete in various reaction time tasks. During these tasks, each student had to compete against another opponent in a video game to find out who could respond faster to the visual cues that would appear onscreen. Every time a player lost, they would hear a loud blasted noise through their headphones. The students would also determine the duration and volume of the blasted noise for their opponent after every win. Most of the time, the noises that were used for these tasks included sirens, fingernails on chalk boards and dentist drills.
Naturally, there weren't any actual opponents during these tasks, and they were actually rigged, so that the students would think that they were winning most of the time. Throughout these tasks, it was discovered that the students who played non-violent games just kept blasting their opponents with about the same duration and volume of noises everyday. However, the students who played violent games always made it a point to increase the duration and the volume of the noises everyday.
Because of these studies, a lot of researchers firmly believe that violent games can be blamed for the increase in hostile expectations and aggression seen in students today. In fact, testing students the way that they did above is currently seen as unethical and impractical when done in the long term.
Because of these tests, researchers also believe that the thoughts of aggression in each students will accumulate even more if they play violent games for days on end. Although there is a chance of this aggression to level off eventually, there aren't any theoretical reasons to think this way.
Since the amount of students used in each aforementioned study is quite small and since a lot of students tend to play violent games for longer than 20 minutes a day and for more than three consecutive days, though, the cumulative effects of these video games in the long term are still unknown. Still, as mentioned earlier, there are no theoretical reasons to believe that this aggression may level off in time if the students continue to play games riddled with violence on a regular basis.
Some of these studies are relatively small and would require more investigations. Some journalists tend to confuse correlation with causation, as well. However, Ohio State University researchers have discovered that video games can actually result in aggression in students.
For their study, 70 university students were made to play violent and non-violent video games for 20 minutes every day for 3 days. As a result, it was seen that the students who played the violent games were noticeably more aggressive and hostile compared to the students who played the non-violent games.
The researchers said that being exposed to this kind of violence on a regular basis can cumulatively affect students. However, although they say that violent video games and aggression are clearly related, there is no cause-and-effect relationship present.
The fact of the matter is that a lot of young people play video games on a regular basis nowadays. Because of this, it would be vital to learn more about the causal effects that violent games might have on them in the long run.
Just think about how cigarettes work, for example. Although one cigarette in itself might not bring about lung cancer; smoking for weeks, months or years could significantly increase a person's risk of suffering from lung cancer in the future. On that same note, regularly playing violent games for years might cumulatively effect on aggression.
To learn more about the actual possibility of this cumulative effect, 70 university students in France were told that they were about to participate in a study about the brightness of video games on visual perception that would last for 3 days. After that, the students were randomly told to play one video game a day for twenty minutes, some of which played violent games and others of which played non-violent ones. The violent video games included Condemned 2, The Club, and Call of Duty 4; while the non-violent video games included Dirt2, Pure, and S3K Superbike.
After having the students play a random game every day, the researchers would then measure the hostile expectations of each student by assigning a story to them that only included its beginning. The students would then be asked to list twenty different things that the main character would eventually do or say throughout the story, while the researchers listed the amount of times that a student anticipated aggressive or violent actions from their main character.
The results showed that the students that had to play violent games were much more likely to think up violent or aggressive behaviors for their main characters with every day that passed by. As for the students that played non-violent games, though, there were no increases in their overall expectations of aggression and hostility.
Aside from that, aggression was also measured by asking the students to compete in various reaction time tasks. During these tasks, each student had to compete against another opponent in a video game to find out who could respond faster to the visual cues that would appear onscreen. Every time a player lost, they would hear a loud blasted noise through their headphones. The students would also determine the duration and volume of the blasted noise for their opponent after every win. Most of the time, the noises that were used for these tasks included sirens, fingernails on chalk boards and dentist drills.
Naturally, there weren't any actual opponents during these tasks, and they were actually rigged, so that the students would think that they were winning most of the time. Throughout these tasks, it was discovered that the students who played non-violent games just kept blasting their opponents with about the same duration and volume of noises everyday. However, the students who played violent games always made it a point to increase the duration and the volume of the noises everyday.
Because of these studies, a lot of researchers firmly believe that violent games can be blamed for the increase in hostile expectations and aggression seen in students today. In fact, testing students the way that they did above is currently seen as unethical and impractical when done in the long term.
Because of these tests, researchers also believe that the thoughts of aggression in each students will accumulate even more if they play violent games for days on end. Although there is a chance of this aggression to level off eventually, there aren't any theoretical reasons to think this way.
Since the amount of students used in each aforementioned study is quite small and since a lot of students tend to play violent games for longer than 20 minutes a day and for more than three consecutive days, though, the cumulative effects of these video games in the long term are still unknown. Still, as mentioned earlier, there are no theoretical reasons to believe that this aggression may level off in time if the students continue to play games riddled with violence on a regular basis.
