The effects of video games and computers on young people
What effects might video games have?
Observational learning effects
The modelling of violent actions and scenarios found in some video games, plus the reinforcement they provide for violent behaviour, has been blamed for incidents like the 1999 Columbine High School shootings.
Arousal effects
Greater interactivity/stimulation means excitation transfer effects are likely to be greater in the short term.
Disinhibition/ Desensitisation effects
The active and frequent participation in, rather than mere observation of virtual violent acts in some types of video game is thought to bring the user one step closer to committing and/or accepting real world aggression.
Cline et al (1973)
Looked at physiological responses to violence, for example increased heart rate and raised blood pressure. They found that children who watched a lot of television with a violent content showed less physiological response when shown a violent film, suggesting that they were less sensitive than controls to what they were seeing.
However, this was a correlational study.
Mediating factors
Individual differences are likely to be even more significant for video games given the more active role in choosing to buy and play specific games.
No effects
Already violent children may choose to play more violent games. Children may distinguish between games and reality, and so not generalise their behaviour.
Catharsis effects
Greater interactivity and expenditure of violent energy in video games may increase cathartic effects, producing less violence in the long term.
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Cognitive skills
Challenging and stimulating games could increase hand-eye co-ordination and visuo-spatial or problem-solving skills. Brain-training games are designed to boost mental skills.
Research on the effects of video games
Gentile and Stone (2005)
They reviewed research on the effects of violent video games on children.
They found that the evidence supports hypotheses that violent video game play is related to aggressive affect, physiological arousal, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive behaviours.
Arousal tends to be measured by blood pressure and heart rate and hostile feeling by self report measures such as the State Hostility scale.
State Hostility scale (Anderson et al 1995)
Current Mood
Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with each of the following mood statements.
Use the following 5 point rating scale. Write the number corresponding to your rating on the blank line in front of each statement.
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neither Agree
Nor Disagree
Agree Strongly
Agree
1 2 3 4 5
____ I feel furious.
____ I feel willful.
____ I feel aggravated.
____ I feel tender.
____ I feel stormy.
____ I feel polite.
____ I feel discontented.
____ I feel like banging on a table.
____ I feel irritated.
____ I feel frustrated.
____ I feel kindly.
____ I feel unsociable.
____ I feel outraged.
____ I feel agreeable.
____ I feel angry.
____ I feel offended.
____ I feel disgusted.
____ I feel tame.
____ I feel like I’m about to explode.
____ I feel friendly.
____ I feel understanding.
____ I feel amiable.
____ I feel mad.
____ I feel mean.
____ I feel bitter.
____ I feel burned up.
____ I feel like yelling at somebody.
____ I feel cooperative.
____ I feel like swearing.
____ I feel cruel.
____ I feel good-natured.
____ I feel disagreeable.
____ I feel enraged.
____ I feel sympathetic.
____ I feel vexed.
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Ethics aggressive behaviour cannot be studied on ethical grounds, instead participants blast high levels of while noise.
Anderson and Dill (2000)
Students played either Wolfenstein 3D ( a violent ‘first person shooter game’) or Myst ( a slow-paced puzzle game) they then blasted their opponents with white noise.
They found that those who had played Wolfenstein blasted their opponents longer and rated themselves higher on the State Hostility Scale than those who played Myst.
Gentile and Anderson (2003) conducted a correlation study on 600 adolescents, they found that time spent playing violent computer games was associated with aggressive feeling, arguments with teachers and a greater incidence of physical fights.
Ihori et al (2003) conducted a longitudinal study on 800 Japanese 9 – 10year-olds. They surveyed the children twice during a year.
The experiments found that the amount of video game played at Time 1 was significantly related to later physical aggression. But aggression at time 1 was not related to later video game play.
Anderson et al (2007) 430 7-9-year-old children who had high exposure to violent video games became more verbally and physically aggressive and less prosocial (as rated by themselves, their peers and their teachers).
This study suggests that repeated exposure to violent video games not only increases aggressive behaviour, but also decreases prosocial helpful behaviours.
Sims and Mayer (2002 ) found tetris players showed enhanced performance in mental rotation tasks involving shapes similar to the ones used in the game, but performed no differently from controls on tasks involving other kinds of shapes.
Gentile et al (2004) found increased levels of video game playing and antisocial effects in children, even for non-aggressive children, which cold be reduced by parental control and limits.
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Explanations of the Video games and Aggression Link
The Bi-directional Model
The effects of computers
Addiction
Giles (2003) cites Griffiths (1999) suggestion that heavy internet users show components of addiction, including, salience, mood modification, and tolerance (ie. the Internet becomes highly important and provides a ‘buzz’ that the user becomes habituated to and requires greater use to re-experience).
However, although some may be ‘Internet dependent’ with more than 38 hours online a week (Young 1998) this does not apply to all and does not focus on what this time is spent on.
Subrahmanyam et al (2001) report research on a number of other effects:
Displacement of other activities – research shows computer use lowers television use, but has not properly studied its effect on other activities.
Cognitive skills – computer use may develop computer literacy skills and some studies show correlations with improved visual attention skills
(Greenfield et al 1996) and academic performance (Cole 1996). However, these findings have not always been replicated and cause and effect relationships are difficult to identify (e.g. greater wealth may explain greater computer use and academic performance).
Social relationships – the effect of computers on relationships is complex.
McKenna and Bargh (1998) found socially anxious and lonely people find better relationships through the Internet, while Kraut et al (1998) longitudinal study found an association between time online and declines in social and psychological well-being, mainly in the first two years of use.
Increases social contact online
Maintains social relationships
Provides IT skills computer literacy
More individual centred learning
More active learning exploring
Lower quality relationships
Addiction, isolation loneliness
Worse spelling, writing, plagiarism
Less time to read long, quality books
Biased and inaccurate information
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Greater access to educational information
Greater access to antisocial information
Some proposed positive and negative effects of computers and the internet
Summary
• There is some evidence that playing violent video games can increase aggression and reduce pro-social behaviour.
• There are gender and other individual differences in the effects of video games on children.
• Factors other than violent video games may be more important in promoting aggression.
• Video games can also have a pro-social effect.
• Research in this area raises ethical and methodological issues.
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M. Bird