<Student’s name>
<Professor’s name>
Summary
Last year, the American Psychological Association released a major review of papers devoted to video games, showing that play (including bloody shooters), "improve the ability of children to education, their health, and social skills."
But all this stuff, compared with the findings obtained by the University of Ohio. They show that video games, among other things, can make a gamer racist. According to the study, white, who created the character in the game Black, behaved more brutally.
It is assumed that after the game they perpetuate stereotypes that blacks are more aggressive. During the experiment, 126 white students (60% of whom were men) for 20 minutes played Saints Row 2. Pre-generated characters were randomly assigned, and their clothing was similar, but the white characters were a regular haircut, and wore black pigtails and talking on the street slang.
The basic idea of the study is that if you have a negative racial stereotype you aim to fix it in the game. Once you press ESC, you'll be even more convinced of their stereotype than before.
Discussion
I agree with the author’s point of view. It is known that there are so many studies that prove that computer games can make you unpleasant person. In several scientific studies, published last year, argued that excessive addiction to games makes a person aggressive, insensitive and promotes uncontrolled eating fatty foods.
We know that almost every child between the ages of 10 to 16 years at least once tried to play a computer game. Boys engaged in computer games are much more intense than girls.
The most common are: skill games and computer versions of sports games, puzzle games, are the least common. Wake-up call, is becoming more common aggressive game content, as well as advocating violence, racism. In my opinion, probably, here a computer game means overcoming the conflicts caused by the underlying causes of which lie in the field of family relationships and / or peer relationships. Relationship with an aggressive computer games can be interpreted in two ways: either aggressive behavior caused by aggressive content player computer game, or, conversely, aggressive children and adolescents prefer computer games with violent content. A similar logic can be applied to the data about the negative effects of computer games on school performance, according to which a computer gamblers forget about homework and as a result, reduce performance.
I think that teens are very susceptible to outside influence. As it was written in article, “Generally accepted view a minority - it's good, it's the way to empathy, - says study co-author Brad Bushman, a professor of psychology at Ohio State University. - But if white people absorb only those media products, in which blacks constitutes cruel, they have no real knowledge about blacks. In this case, is not good to represent him a murderer, as we have to do in many games.“
Dissemination of various computer games is closely related to their preference for teenagers. Highest rating are games that require dexterity, and sports; followed by "fighting " game, and games are violent.
Found distinct gender differences in preference games. So, most boys appreciate the game related to the struggle or competition, then - skill games, adventure games, games like " strategy ", are the least favorite puzzle games. For girls the most popular are skill games, then logic, adventure games, games related to the fight or competition.
I also think that there is a significant risk of physical and mental disorders. Analysis of the literature shows that in a group of teenagers dealing with the computer, it is not revealed serious violations of mental activity or symptoms of the "computer" addiction. There are only data on fatigue, pain in the legs ( computer players with guns ), pain in hands ( from convulsive squeeze joystick), pains in the eyes, the general agitation, difficulty falling asleep.
The problem of juvenile aggression and related offenses in a society wide response, and apparently, so acts as one of the central themes of psychological research. Published many papers on the impact of computer games on the formation of aggression in children and adolescents, whose analysis allows to establish a strong difference of opinion : some authors argue that computer games increase aggression aggressive content users, others deny this relationship. If analyzed in relation to the age of subjects, the data will be as follows: indeed, the game with aggressive content can stimulate aggression in children, but only primary school age (6-9 years).
Some data suggest that the choice of a teenager computer as a hobby to a large extent due to your parents. So, it appears that the parents of teenagers who are busy with the computer, have a higher level of education than parents of teenagers who are addicted to other kinds of hobbies. Apparently, highly educated parents are more aware of the role of the computer in the intellectual development of their child and create a favorable atmosphere for practicing this kind of hobby.
Thus, the study provided in article seems to be well-grounded. In general, scientists believe that it is better to play violent games, choosing the character of his skin color. However, it is unclear what is to be done to those who used to play for the orcs.
Works Cited
Study: Video Games May Reinforce Racist Stereotypes. Alan Neuhauser. U.S. News & World Report, Web. 31 March 2014. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/03/20/video-games-may-reinforce-racist-stereotypes-study-finds.
