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It is natural and understandable that the bulk of the most ardent followers of the video game are children and adolescents, and the degree of popularity of this kind of entertainment of the troops has long been a concern among parents and health professionals. For example, David Grossman (David Grossman), previously - a military psychologist, and now one of the most famous scientists, has written numerous books in which he argues that video games have a negative impact on the mentality of children and adolescents. However, until now there is no official opinion on the fact that the game, full of fights, murders and other negative cultured violent tendency in children, or vice versa - a game of this plan prefer young gamers who already are inherently prone to violence.
One can cite some statistics that indicate (albeit indirectly) to the fact that Grossman concerns have some merit.
For example, according to data released by the National Institute for media studies and Families (National Institute on Media and the Family), 92% of young Americans, who range in age from two to seventeen years old, regularly devote much of their time to video games (Cherry, J., 2001).
As the results of a study conducted by experts of the International Game Developers Association (International Game Developers Association), the largest commercial success is accompanied, as a rule, the games, which contain the largest number of scenes of violence. Meanwhile, a special report on the subject, which was published by the chief surgeon of the United States in 2001, argued that the currently available information is insufficient to make any definite conclusion on this issue.
However, as they say, the world is not without good people. Supporters of a scientific field argue that the impact of video games on children is positive. The famous psychologist James Guy (James Gee), who at one time even wrote a book, "What can we learn from the video game", I'm sure that video games allow a person to not only absorb some information, but also to test it immediately. And this statement, according to its author, is true for people of all ages.
As practice shows, this theory can boast today the largest number of supporters. In defense of this view can result in numerous instances the use of military developments creators of commercial video games, on the basis of which special technology personnel training. Currently in service with the majority of the world's armies are different video simulators, which are widely used in the training of soldiers and officers of the techniques and methods for managing the new technology, as well as tactics and strategies of behavior on the battlefield and planning military operations. And at the heart of such devices, as has been said, are technology originally developed for the creation of peace "shooters" and "flyers."
In addition, many researchers are haunted by one of the most interesting puzzles video games, namely the secret of their attraction to the person. Compile and synthesize the results of numerous studies on the subject, Geoffrey and Elizabeth Loftus (Geoffrey R. and Elizabeth F. Loftus) published the book "The Brain in the game. The psychology of video games. "On the pages of their labor experts prove their point of view on this phenomenon. So, as one of the causes of addiction, which often become fans of video games, according to the authors of the book, playing a special psychological trap. In fact, any game implies the ability to achieve victory immediately, right here and now, whereas in real life things are, unfortunately, much more difficult.
About Aggression
Video games really can provoke aggressive behavior, but this is not due to the cruelty of the game content, and irritation of players because of the difficulties in passing the levels of the game. This is the conclusion reached by scientists at Oxford Internet Institute. According to experts, any gamer who threw the controller against the wall after a loss, he knows that feeling of uncontrollable anger. When people feel that they have lost control over the game, it leads to aggression regardless of whether there is violence in the game or it does not exist. During the experiments, the researchers observed 600 students play a variety of video games. However, some games have been specifically rewritten so as to make their control unintuitive and annoying (Freedman J., 2002).
One of the most interesting, according to scientists, the experiment proved the mutual punishment. In its course, the two groups have proposed normal and complicated version of "Tetris." Bottom line is that in addition to the game participants were still immersed in the palm of ice water. The duration of such a "penalty" for each subsequent player is determined by the previous player. So, who played in the more complex "Tetris" showed greater severity in relation to its partners in the game - they appointed time of punishment in an average of 10 seconds longer.
The researchers explain that the growing hostility of man when gaming experience touches the player's ego. So even such harmless games like "Tetris", can eventually cause severe bouts of anger.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Fascination with violent video games can make some adolescents more hostile, particularly those that have negative traits Char EPA or prone to rapid irritation. For others - it can be a good opportunity on the way to acquire new skills and improve social networking. How to behave in this situation for parents to protect their child from unwanted exposure?
Researchers have produced a number of monitoring studies dealing with potential use as a way to develop and improve visual / spatial skills, as a kind of method for controlling diabetes and pain and as an aid in psychotherapy.
The results of one study in which the study was carried out the negative impact of video games on some people, showed (Ferguson, C., 2009):
Despite the widespread attitude towards video games as something negative, having potentially harmful effects of the caller and attachment, aggression and inevitably associated with low school performance, children who are fond of video games, have fewer behavior problems, are less violent and performed better on standardized tests . Furthermore, violent video games do not form a tight young generation - a fact that causes the greatest concern in modern society. However, in another study, it was found that cruelty, which is penetrated by video games, can increase aggression among some people, depending on their personal qualities. According to the authors, the individual human traits can help predict the degree of exposure to violent video games. Scientists are interested in the question of why such personal characteristics of the individual as aggression may exacerbate the negative effects of violent video games.
In the study, researchers were guided by the most popular theory of characteristics, also known as the Five Factor Model (structural model), to investigate the above-mentioned effects.
This theory identifies five types of personality traits: neuroticism, extroversion (focus on external objects), openness to the upcoming experience, complaisance and good faith.
Parameters used were: increased nervousness (i.e. human tendency to frustration, angry, depressed, emotional depression), low conformity (i.e., detached and indifferent attitude towards others and their feelings) and low conscientiousness / integrity.
Based on the above features, the researchers have developed their own model and used it to predict the potential effects of violent videogames on 118 adolescents. Statistics show that the resulting survey 1,254 students seventh and eighth grades, video games are a wide range of emotional, social and intellectual needs (Hillis, S., 2008).
Of course, today it is not possible to completely protect your child from environmental reality and developing computer technology, but it is the parents' power to control the passions son / daughter that may have a negative impact on his / her psyche.
Works Cited
Freedman J. "Media violence and its effect on aggression: assessing the scientific evidence." University of Toronto Press, Toronto 2002 ISBN 0-8020-8425-7.
Cherry, John (2001). "The effects of violent video games on aggression: a meta-analysis". Human Communication Research 27: 4309–4319. doi:10.1093/hcr/27.3.409 .
Radoff, Jon (8 December 2009). "Six wonderful things about video games" . Radoff.com. Archived from the original on 13 December 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
Cumberbatch, Guy (2004). "Video violence: villain or victim?" (paper). London: Video Standards Council{{inconsistent citations}}
"Effects of video games on aggression." Personality research organization website. Accessed 12 July 2011.
Ferguson C. and Beaver K."Natural born killers: the genetic origins of extreme violence, aggression and violent behavior." Science Direct 2009 14(5) p286–294
Gentile D. et al. "The effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behaviors: international evidence from correlational, longitudinal and experimental studies." National Institute of Health. Accessed 24 April 2013.
Gentile D. A. (ed.) and Anderson C. A. "Media violence and children. Violent video games: the newest media violence hazard." Praeger publishing, Westport, CT.
Hillis S. "Video games don't create killers, new book says." Reuters 9 May 2008. Accessed 12 July 2011.
Sherry J. "The effects of violent video games on aggression: a meta-analysis." Human Communication Research 2001 27 p409–4319.
