Abstract
In April 20; 1999.Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold launched an attack on Colombian High School in Littleton, Colorado, killing 13 people and wounding at least 23 others before turning the guns on themselves (Pooley, 1999).This incident ignited a lot of interest in this area with several studies being carried out to determine whether a relationship existed between the habit of playing violent video games and aggression in the youth. Craig Anderson and E. Dill carried out two studies to examine the effects of violent video games on aggression and other related variables. A correlational design was used to examine the nature of the relationship between long term exposure to violent video games and several variables such as world view, academic achievements, aggressive behaviour, and delinquency. This study found that violent games had a positive correlation to aggression and delinguency, at least in the shortrun.This relation was however, found to be stronger in individuals that were characteristically aggressive. Achievements in academics were also found to deteriorate with longer hours that students were involved in the play of violent games. Notably, the results ignored the fact that poor grades in academics could have resulted from other factors and not uniquely on playing violent video games. In the second study, it was found that lab exposure to potentially violent graphic video games resulted to increased aggression and aggressive thoughts. In Both studies men were found to have a more hostile view of the world than their female counterparts. The researchers concluded that the results of these studies were in agreement with the General Affective Aggression Model which postulates that too much exposure to violent video games would ultimately increase aggressive behaviour. It must be noted that these studies may have been relatively conclusive in the short run, but inconclusive in the long run (Furgurson&Kilbum, 2010). The literature that follows will seek to expound on this claim.
Introduction
Social psychologists have suggested two opposing theories that seek to explain the effects of violent video games on aggression related variables. The General Aggressive Model (GAM) (Bushman & Anderson 2002) suggests that too much exposure to violent media promotes the development of cognitive ‘Scripts’ that are related to aggression. This model majorly focuses on external forces like media that foster the development of these aggressive scripts. This theory however assumes that the mind is incapable of making a distinction between of fictional/ fantasy and real life and their selection of which script is most useful to that particular model. The social learning theory of aggression (Anderson & Bushman, 2002) have had a great impact on most of the discussions of video game violence. These theories hold that aggressive behaviour is likely to result from too much exposure to information that contains violent content. This theory majorly focuses on external forces like media that foster the development of these aggression related behaviours. Essentially, proponents of these theories believe that aggressive behaviour is influenced by the external environment and not innate.
This theory postulates that aggression is a biological drive which requires release (Lorenz 1963).It however appreciates the premise that aggression may be primed by external provocation although the ultimate cause is believed to be biological and evolutionary adaptation (Ellis &Walsh, 1997)
Anderson and Dill Studies
Studies carried out by these two psychologists have been a major debate for further discussions on the appropriateness of their assertions concerning the correlation between violent video games and aggression. In Study 1, a group of two hundred and twenty seven students were sampled for the study which involved the testing of several items. The researchers wanted to establish the effects of the violent video games on irritability, trait aggression, delinquency and academic achievements. The results of the first study indicated that out of the 227 participants, 207 students were currently playing video games. The most popular of all the video games was the superman’s brothers which were preferred by about 109 participants which are almost 50%, followed by Tetris which was favoured by about 43%of the participants while Mortal Kombat was preferred by approximately 27% of the participants. (Anderson & Dill ,2000).
In the second study, the Wolf stein 3D game was used. This game contains highly violent scenes, human characters and realism. The main aim of the study was to control for the differences between non violent and violent video games and other dimensions that may be relevant to aggressive behaviour such as enjoyment, frustration and arousal. The psychological states of the players were measured after the experiment which included blood pressure and level of difficulty and enjoyment. It was noted that there were no major differences in the pre and post game measurements.
The main experiment which involved a series of tasks in the lab and in real world situation confirmed the proposition that there was a relationship between the violent video games and aggression.
From these studies, it was concluded that exposure to video games was positively correlated to aggressive delinquent behaviour than the non aggressive one. Violent video games play and aggressive personality separately and jointly accounted for major portions of both aggressive and non aggressive delinquency (Elly A, Marije N.B &Bushman Js, 2010). The positive association between violent video game playing and aggressive personality is consistent with a developmental model in which extensive exposure to violent video games and other media contributed to the violent personality.
The big question is whether these studies were adequate and conclusive to support the researchers’ assertions on the relationship between violent video games and aggression related variables both in the short and long term. Critiques of these studies point out a number of mistakes made by Anderson et al. in their studies. One of the major issues of concern to other researchers is the use of unpublished materials. (Furgurson&Kilbum, 2010). According to Baumester,DeWall and Vohs (2009) one weakness of meta analysis is the use of unpublished studies. Such unpublished studies have been found to increase bias in these studies. The use of an apparently biased sample of these unpublished studies aggravates it all. Its notable that Anderson et al did not seek unpublished information form other researchers but concentrated majorly in their own research, with at least 75% of the unpublished research being from Anderson et al (Furgurson&Kiburn, 2010:136, pg 175)
Anderson is also criticized for including many studies that are not clearly related to aggression all; for instance in his studies , Anderson and Dill include studies such as effects of violent video games on the world view, academic achievement etc.They do not however, clearly show a relationship between these other studies and aggression.
The findings of his research still do not strongly support his assertions. The final estimate of 15% is still quite weak and is clearly not conclusive and adequate for their Conclusions. This estimate points at a very weak relationship between video game play and real violence but Anderson et al still stands by his claims on the contrary
The use of un standardized measures of aggression cannot be underestimated in these studies. A measure of aggression is said to be un standardized when the method of calculating the outcomes is not set clearly. This has the effect of allowing different scholars to calculate scores in differing ways, or the same researcher may calculate outcomes differently in the same study. A standardized measure on the other hand is rigid and doesn’t fluctuate across studies or researchers. The risk of un standardized measures is that it allows researchers to select from the outcomes, the scores that fit their priori hypothesis.
According to Ferguson (2008), violent crimes in the youth had drastically reduced compared to the 1960s in the US, Canada and the UK. Similar trends have been witnessed in other nations. Anderson also acknowledges this ‘None the less dramatic reduction in media violence exposure for children should over long years lead to detectible reduction in world aggression by those children’. This would further provide evidence for strong media violence link to aggression. (Balet and Anderson, 2009, p10).The opposite is however being witnessed with a dramatic increase in violent video games corresponding to a dramatic decrease in youth crime. The correlation is almost -.95. (Furgurson&Kiburn, 2010:136, pg 175)
It must also be appreciated that the studies by Anderson et al. was conducted in 2000, many researches have been conducted in recent years whose findings are even more valid. The research by Furguson et al in 2010 is likely to be more conclusive considering the many developments that have taken place in the recent past that may render older research findings unreliable.
Another shortcoming of these studies is that the second study is notably too controlled. The researchers employed only one game the Wolfe stein 3D game, and still come to a conclusion that the correlation still exists. Best research practices indicate that more games would be more reliable for the researchers to make a reliable conclusion.
Although there are short-term links to support these assertions, this does not necessarily mean that the results can be generalized in the long run. Research carried out by Dominick (1984), yielded positive correlation between violent video game playing and aggression. However, these studies did not distinguish between violent video games and the non violent ones. This means that there was no clear assertion that violent video games were uniquely associated with increased aggression.
Lastly, the last estimate of 15% according to these researches is too conservative considering that most factors had not been controlled. If variables such as poverty, family issues, depression and frustration were controlled, then this estimate would probably be effectively reduced, suggesting an even weaker link between aggression and media violence.
Conclusion
The preceding discussion casts a lot of doubts on the conclusiveness of the studies by Anderson and Dill. Although a number of researchers may agree that the short term findings are to some extend legitimate, they quickly concur that the researches were quite inconclusive to form a basis for conclusions on the long run effects of violent video games on aggression related variables. These studies contain numerous flaws that would result in the overestimation and probably oveinterpretation of their results, although their findings still indicate very weak relationships. There is also the risk that exaggerated focus on violent video games would destruct policy makers and the society from even more important causes of aggression such as depression, family violence, genetic and environmental interactions, and poverty among others.
References
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Elly A,Marije N.B &Bushman J.(2010)I wish I were a worrior.the role of wishful identificationin the effects of violent games on aggression in adolescent boys
Furguson C J&Stephanies M.R (2010) VVG Effects On Aggressive behaviour, hostile feelings and depression
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Furguson.C.J&Kilburn J.(2010) Much ado about nothing:the misestimation and overinterpretation of violent vieo games effects in eastern and western nations:Comments on Anderson Et al.
