ARTICLE 1
Violent Video Games May Cause Increasing
Violence Over Time
December 10, 2012
Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your
Universe Online
There’s been another study released
which further supports a theory that
mothers have known for decades: Violent
video games can bring out the aggressive
side of the kids who play them.
This new Ohio State University study is the
first to provide evidence that the negative side effects from playing video games can
actually build and grow over time.
After studying a group of gamers for 3 consecutive days, Brad Bushman, a
professor of Ohio State University’s School of Communication, found that their
aggressive tendencies grew with each additional day when they played violent games.
By contrast, there was no “meaningful” change in aggression for those gamers who
played non-violent games.
While this is hardly the first study to link violent video games with aggression, it is the
first of its kind to provide experimental evidence that this aggression accumulates with
time, thereby leading to potential long-term effects.
“It’s important to know the long-term causal effects of violent video games,
because so many young people regularly play these games,” explained Bushman in
a statement.
Bushman, who worked with colleagues from France and Germany, also likened
playing games like the wildly popular first-person shooter Call of Duty to smoking.
“Playing video games could be compared to smoking cigarettes. A single cigarette
won’t cause lung cancer, but smoking over weeks or months or years greatly increases
the risk. In the same way, repeated exposure to violent video games may have a
cumulative effect on aggression,” said Bushman.
To conduct this study, Bushman and his team asked 70 French students to play a
handful of video games for 20 minutes a day. In an attempt to get the purest results,
these students were told they would be participating in a study of the effects of
brightness of video games on visual perception.
Some of these students played violent video games, such as Call of Duty 4, The
Club and Condemned 2, in random order for 20 minutes at a time on consecutive days.
Other students were asked to play non-violent video games, such as S3K Superbike,
Dirt 2 and Pure, for the same amount of time on consecutive days.
To measure their aggressive tendencies, Bushman and his team asked these
students to complete a story given to them by the surveyors. For instance, these
students could finish the story with the main character avoiding a harmful or violent
experience or have some terrible harm befall them.
These students also participated in context to measure reaction times. They were
told that they would be racing against an unseen competitor. The loser of these
contests were to be subjected to a long, irritating noise blast. The winner of these
contests was able to choose how long the loser had to endure these blasts.
In the end, the researchers found that those students who played the violent
video games were much more likely to choose longer noise blasts and violent endings
to the stories than those who played non-violent games.
“People who have a steady diet of playing these violent games may come to see
the world as a hostile and violent place,” said Bushman.
“After playing a violent video game, we found that people expect others to
behave aggressively. That expectation may make them more defensive and more likely
to respond with aggression themselves, as we saw in this study and in other studies we
have conducted.”
The results of Bushman’s study will now be published online in the Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology, as well as a future print edition.
Article 2
Yes, Video Games Can Be Good for Kids
TECHLICIOUS BLOG posted by Suzanne Kantra on December 07, 2012
If you're buying gifts for children, chances are very good there are games on someone's wish
list. But should you buy them those games? Are they just mind candy, capable of rotting kids' brains?
Over the last few years, there's been a lot of research done on the social, emotional, mental and
physical benefits of gaming, and the results may surprise you: video games actually have considerable
real-world benefits.
More and more, games are designed to be
social. In fact 62% of gamers play games with
others, either in-person or online, according to
the Entertainment Software Association. These
social games teach kids leadership skills,
including delegating responsibility, and
working effectively as a team. Research from
Ohio State finds that players who engage in
cooperative play in games show increased cooperative behavior. Even for violent games, players learn
how to control their aggression and work cooperatively, according to research from the University of
Gothenburg in Sweden. Those players who work well with others and keep a cool head are rewarded.
And there's evidence from a researcher working with Athabasca University in Canada that suggests
video games can be used to help kids actively combat their nightmares. What they found is that
people who play games were more likely to have lucid dreams, in which they see themselves outside
their own bodies, and the ability to take control of their dreams to change the outcome.
It's probably not a big surprise that games have mental benefits. According to research at
the University of Rochester, people who played action-based games made decisions 25% faster than
others, without sacrificing accuracy, and can pay attention to more things at once. The Office of
NavalResearch has found that games improve the fundamental ability to reason and problem solve in
new contexts.
What may be surprising is that kids who play video games scored 23% higher in creative tests
involving tasks such as drawing pictures and writing stories, according to MichiganState University.
And then there are the physical benefits. Gamers score faster reaction times, even in situations not
involving video games, and have better hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity. Even in
preschoolers who play interactive video games, studies out of Deakin University showed better object
control motor skills,such as kicking, catching and throwing a ball.
All of this research doesn't mean that all video games are created equal. It can be hard to judge which
ones are good—even educational.
The first stop is to check the age rating provided by the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board).
The ratings are:

E for everyone

E10+ for everyone over the age of 10

T for teen

M for mature audiences over the age of 17

A for adult audiences over 18 years old only
You'll get a few details on the back of the box as to why a game received a particular rating, but there's
detailed information on the ESRB website and through mobile apps for iPhone (free) or Android
(free).
If you're looking for reviews, head over to Common Sense Media, for younger kids titles,
orPluggedIn.com, for titles for tweens and teens. CommonSense Media lets you drill down by age,
content, educational benefit and more. PluggedIn .com lets you sort by rating, platform and genre.
Both sites paint a clear picture of what your child will experience. I'd also recommend heading over to
the big gaming sites, like IGN.com and Gamespot.com, to check out the reviews, comments, trailers
and screen shots.
In the end, you know the child you're gifting the best, but arming yourself with the facts can help you
make the right choices.
NAME:______________________________
Read the two articles and then complete the chart below. Use complete
sentences when you see the word EXPLAIN!
Conflicting Texts Comparison Chart
Topic of both articles:
______________
Article 1
Central
Idea
Main
Supporting
Details
Article 2
1. What is the major CONFLICTING
idea of both articles? (see central
idea for a clue).
2. Find one major evidence/detail that is
mentioned in both texts, but the authors
disagree on. Use a text quote from each
article to prove their differing opinions.
Fill in the chart below.
Shared evidence/detail:
Article 1 Text Quote
Article 2 Text Quote
3. Explain how these authors interpreted this
fact differently.
4. Explain WHY you think Article 2 would
interpret this detail differently.
5. What is YOUR opinion on the issue? Support
your answer.