There are many factors that trigger violence in humans. With the advancement of technology in our current World, these have increased and become effective. We can say that video games are one of the most influential among them. Video games have become thoroughly common lately. Video games are generally violent. The General Aggression Model (GAM) says violence is learned from the outside environment. The character does not need to exist in real life for this learning to take place. Even fictional characters can play an important role in learning violence. As violence is learned, there is a decrease in responses to violence and the perception of injuries as significant. This is called desensitization. Children find themselves with heroes to feel stronger/charismatic, especially in adolescence. This is called wishful identification.
There has been a lot of research and experimentation about the impact of video games on violence. All of these experiments have taken violence as their focus. However, they also examined aggressive thinking, behavior, victim-helping behavior in persons, and the duration of the impact of violent video games. Judging from the information obtained in the experiments, it is revealed that in the majority of video games, exposure to violence tends to increase violent behavior. The results of the experiments may not be generalized precisely because the participants were not selected at random. They did not reach a large majority in the number of participants. The experiments were conducted with only adolescent boys, only college students, or only psychology students. Data deficiencies in experiments prevent us from drawing clear conclusions. Despite shortcomings, experiments conclude that playing violent video games has a negative effect. Not only the violent content of the games, but also the role of winning and competition were tried to examine. Even 20 minutes of exposure to violent video games had an effect on the participants.
Curiosity about video games often begins in childhood and adolescence. Violent content often attracts men’s attention. The experiment with adolescent boys showed that violent video games increased the tendency for violence. It has not been studied whether this increase is caused entirely by video game content or whether it is linked to the high testosterone hormone in adolescence. But the result is that the violent video game play of adolescent male individuals leads to an increase in aggressive behavior. We can say that violent games have a negative impact. In adolescence, they can identify themselves with characters in order to feel better about themselves. Evolving technology makes it more realistic. Identifying themselves with characters makes them feel more passionate about competition and winning. The more you win, the more you want to play the game. Violence is learned from the outside environment, as mentioned in the GAM. Violent video games can make violence easier to learn and more innocent. Although the impact of competition and the desire to win is not fully known, it can make people more able to reconcile themselves with the character. Winning might seem like a good reason to hurt another person. Even if you are exposed to video game violence for a short period of time, it is observed that the effect is lost within 5-10 minutes, but it is observed that thinking about the game and continuous exposure increases the effect. This effect was also found to cause less physical arousal to violence and less helpful behavior towards victims of violence. Although violent video games may seem innocent and amusing at first, they can have serious consequences if exposed for a long time.
Children’sgame content should be carefully selected, and violent content should be avoided. Adults should also be very careful about this, and especially individuals who identify themselves as aggressive should avoid violent video games. Unconscious exposure can lead to an increase in aggressive behavior.
References
- Adachi, P. J. C., & Willoughby, T. (2011). The effect of violent video games on aggression: Is it more than just the violence? Aggression and Violent Behavior, 16, 55-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2010.12.002
- Bushman, B. J., & Gibson, B. (2010). Violent video games cause an increase in aggression long after the game has been turned off. Social Psychological and Personality Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550610379506
- Carnagey, N. L., Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2005). The effect of video game violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 489-496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2006.05.003
- Giumetti, G. W., & Markey, P. M. (2007). Violent video games and anger as predictors of aggression. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 1234-1243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2007.02.005
- Konijn, E. A., Bijvank, M. N., & Bushman, B. J. (2007). I wish I were a warrior: The role of wishful identification in the effects of violent video games on aggression in adolescent boys. Developmental Psychology, 43(4), 1038-1044. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.43.4.1038