Debunking the Myth of Video Game Violence

Debunking the Myth of Video Game Violence

and its Supposed Detrimental Effects

on the Youth of Today

By

Sean Quinn

English 101

The controversial debate over whether or not video games have a direct link to increased childhood aggression, violent behavior, and social isolation in children and young adults is one that has been highly contested; yet there is no concrete evidence to validate these wild and irresponsible claims.

Many times the information cited as fact from proponents against video game violence and it's so called detrimental effects on the youth of America is simply misrepresented. Many politicians like Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) who stated "We know that violent video games have an impact on children. Just recently there was cutting edge research conducted at Indiana University School of Medicine, which concluded that adolescents with more exposure to violent media were less able to control and to direct their thoughts and behavior, to stay focused on a task, to plan, to screen out distractions, and to use experience to guide inhibitions." (Vitka) embellish what they are told or misrepresent the facts in such a way that the studies say exactly what they want them to. Case in point the study Senator Clinton is referring to, actually showed, according to the Indiana University News Room website story titled "Violent Video Games May Emotionally Arouse Players" (IU) was that "Adolescents who had played violent video games exhibited more brain activity in a region thought to be important for emotional arousal and less activity in a brain region associated with executive functions." (IU) All it takes is a little common sense on the part of Senator Clinton to realize that just about any adolescent who is in a state of emotional arousal is going to have some degree of difficulty concentrating. The same can be said of adults who are in a heightened or emotionally aroused state when trying to focus their attention on something.

One of the tools that many researchers use to determine the correlation between violent video games and aggressive or violent behavior in those who play them is what is called the "General Aggression Model" (GAM) (Anderson/Dill) The GAM suggests that there is a direct coloration between violent video games and violent and aggressive behavior by those who play violent video games. According to the GAM the mere act of playing video games desensitizes the player to aggressive and violent behavior. Many of the people and researchers opposed to video game violence use this model in there research as a soapbox from which to shout and back up there claims and opinions. However, the problem with using the GAM method, is that it is a flawed means to accurately measure the behavior for which it was designed to measure according to a study done by Christopher J. Ferguson, Stephanie M. Rueda, Amanda M. Cruz, and Diana E. Ferguson of Texas A&M International University, along with Staci Fritz, and Shawn M. Smith of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater "Two studies examined the relationship between exposure to violent video games and aggression or violence in the laboratory and in real life. Study 1 participants were either randomized or allowed to choose to play a violent or nonviolent game. Although males were more aggressive than females, neither randomized exposure to violent-video-game conditions nor previous real life exposure to violent video games caused any differences in aggression. Study 2 examined correlations between trait aggression, violent criminal acts, and exposure to both violent games and family violence. Results indicated that trait aggression, family violence, and male gender were predictive of violent crime, but exposure to violent games was not. Structural equation modeling suggested that family violence and innate aggression as predictors of violent crime were a better fit to the data than was exposure to video game violence. These results question the common belief that violent-video-game exposure causes violent acts." (Cruz, C.Ferguson, E.Ferguson, Fritz, Rueda, Smith)

"Findings from the two studies were mutually supportive. These results suggest that playing violent video games does not constitute a significant risk for future violent criminal acts. Because there was no evidence in either study to support a direct link between video game exposure and aggressive or violent behavior, these results call into question the GAM as a useful predictive model of aggression." (Cruz, C.Ferguson, E.Ferguson, Fritz, Rueda, Smith).

The simulated violence represented in video games is no different than violence represented in any other form of entertainment media; be that form television, film, or even violence represented in literature, it is something that is not only healthy for American youth to be exposed to, but it is also a necessary part of growing up. The descriptions of torture,