Possible+Correlation+between+Video+Games+and+Aggression

=**Introduction **=

toc Ever since the video game industry began to gain traction and popularity, there has been one main concern that has been the focus of countless studies. This is the attempt to determine if there is a relationship between violent video game exposure and increased levels of aggression. According to many researchers, exposure to violence in media, including video games, does cause increased aggression.

=**Background **=

With over 70% of college students saying that they are avid video game players, [3] determining whether or not video games truly caused increased aggression should be an important topic. Video game sales also continue to steadily grow, making the video game industry 2.9 billion dollars in 2004 [3]. It is thought that video games appeal to many players due to the fact that it allows for risk-taking without the negative effects that can come from real risk-taking [5]. This allows for many users to have a release for aggression throughout the day and can help with natural increased aggression that comes with adolescence. The popularity of violent video games among all ages had led to an increase in the amount of video games that have contained violent acts in some form. Children are very impressionable and can carry over these violent acts to real life situations including “slapping, boxing, and kicking [5].”

While many studies show that there is a link between video games and aggression, some studies have shown that this increase in aggression may be actually caused by other factors and video games are simply a place for the player to release the aggression [4]. There are many factors that lead to aggression and video game exposure may be one of them.

=**General Aggression Model **=

Most studies that are done on this topic utilize the General Aggression Model created by Anderson and Busman to show that a violent stimuli can increase aggression. This depiction of the General Aggression Model, shown below, shows how a stimuli like video games can alter the way that an individual perceives events [6]. This, in turn, changes how that person reacts to the situation at hand. Studies use this model to show how violent video games cause a person to think in more aggressive ways and, therefore, act more aggressively in real life situations [8]. This model works for both long term and short term aggression, but it more commonly used to measure short term aggression within study labs [8]. In other words, the General aggression model takes the aggression traits of an individual as well as situational factors to then show how these factors interact to influence an individuals’ internal state [3]. This creates a feedback loop that takes their new aggression traits into account.

=**Environmental Factors of Aggression **=

There are many factors that influence aggression. An environmental factor that can cause aggression is the type of interaction between multiple players. One study conducted by Anderson and Morrow compared the effects of cooperative and competitive play by having participants play //Super Mario Brothers// in a competitive or cooperative scenario [3]. It was found that when participants were playing the game in a competitive scenario, they all killed significantly more enemy creatures than they did in the cooperative scenario [3]. This suggests that interaction with another player can influence aggression. =**Social Interaction within Video Games **=

Social structure within games have been correlated to different responses to video games’ violence. One study used two different types of violent video games to identify a relationship between social aspects of games and aggression. In one of the video games, players were told to protect another character and help them in accomplishing their goals [6]. In the other game, players were instructed to kill as many zombies as possible. After fifteen minutes of playing, participants had to rate the game on difficulty, how much they enjoyed the game, frustration levels, excitement, violence, and goriness. Moderators counted the number of violent acts in the game play of participants from both games and found that the number of violent acts were nearly the same [6]. Both games were just as violent as each other, but it was found that, although, the ratings that participants rated the game by were different, the number of violent acts were nearly the same for both games [6]. The game that was focused more on social interactions was rated lower in terms of aggression and difficulty by participants. This shows that the social part of a game changes how the violence is perceived. If a player is social in a violent video game, it leads to significantly lower aggression levels [6].

=**Prior Aggression Levels **=

Aggression levels prior to video game exposure has been shown to not have an effect on aggression levels after exposure to violence in video games. One study was conducted on self-reported values. Participants had to take annual surveys that addressed how often they played videos games every week and for how long. Participants also had to take a survey where they had to decide if a given behavior was aggressive or not. This was used to gauge how aggressive the participant was. Whether an individual was initially not aggressive or was highly aggressive, they became more aggressive after exposure to video games [2]. Understanding why this phenomena happens can allow for the creation of techniques to mitigate the effects of video game exposure [2]. There have been criticisms of studies performed in this way as they rely on self-reported values. The best way to measure a person’s aggression level is for them to say what theirs is though. Having another individual try and assess how angry someone is would not work well as everybody expresses anger in different ways. Two individuals could be equally angry, but appear to be at very different levels based on how they show it. Some people may be very active in showing it while others may hide it. This is why self-reported aggression is the most accurate way to report it.

=**Impact of Gender **=

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Many other variables were tested to see if they had a role in the increased levels of aggression. The first large one was gender. It was reported that the effects of violent video games on aggression were the same for both males and females [7]. Differences in physiology do not present a difference on how video games affect individuals. Choice in game is what will show a difference as some are more violent than others.

=**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Impact of Age **=

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Another important variable was age. It was found that the differences were small, but older participants were affected less than younger participants [7]. Younger individuals tend to be more impressionable and are normally more aggressive due to hormonal changes. This allows for violent video games to make them more aggressive in larger margins than older participants.

=**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Impact of Parental Involvement **=

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">A third variable that was explored was parental involvement. It was found that “parent involvement was not a significant moderator [2].” Whether or not a parent was involved in trying to mitigate the effects of video games on the psyche or moderate how often the participants played video game did not matter. The participants all became more aggressive and had a higher tolerance for what was aggressive by the end of the study.

=**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Possible Crime As A Result of Video Game Obsession **=

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">It is also thought that certain crimes have come from an obsession with video games. There are numerous examples of criminals from states all across the United States that have had obsessions with different violent video games prior to committing crimes. One of the most popular examples of this was the shooting that took place in Colorado by James Holmes. Reportedly, James Holmes was very obsessed with the violent video game known as //World of Warcraft// [1]. Another example of this would be a crime committed by Anders Behring Breivik. Breivik was also addicted to //World of Warcraft// [1].

=**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Discussion **=

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">There may be many indications that exposure to violent video games causes an increase in aggression, but there many factors that have not been explored well. In order to identify if there is truly a relationship between violent video game exposure and aggression then we would need to understand the mechanisms that are related to aggression better [9]. These tests also do not necessarily determine whether or not video games as a whole cause increased aggression or not.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Many studies work to determine whether or not video games cause aggression and do not show whether or not the violence within the video games is the problem or not. As proposed by Joseph Hilgard, “Our analysis suggests that it is time to try something new: purchase one video game and then modify its code and graphics to make it more or less violent [10].” This would allow for a more complete picture on the connection between aggression and video games. This could allow you to determine if it is the video games that cause aggression or the exposure to violence. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">References **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[1] T. Rajasakran, A. K. C. Wong, S. Sinnappan, V. Kumarasuriar, G. Pangiras, and S. Koran, “Aggressor Games: Of Violent Video Games and Aggression among Higher-income Group Schoolchildren in Malaysia,” Science, Technology and Society, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 383–398, Oct. 2014.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[2] D. A. Gentile, D. Li, and A. Khoo, “Mediators and Moderators of Long-term Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior,” Mar. 2014.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[3] C. P. Barlett, R. J. Harris, and R. Baldassaro, “Longer you play, the more hostile you feel: examination of first person shooter video games and aggression during video game play,” Aggressive Behavior, vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 486–497, 2007.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[4] <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">C. J. Ferguson, S. M. Rueda, A. M. Cruz, D. E. Ferguson, S. Fritz, and S. M. Smith, “Violent Video Games and Aggression,” Criminal Justice and Behavior, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 311–332, Mar. 2008.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[5] I. Möller and B. Krahé, “Exposure to violent video games and aggression in German adolescents: a longitudinal analysis,” Aggressive Behavior, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 75–89, Nov. 2009.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[6] S. A. Gitter, P. J. Ewell, R. E. Guadagno, T. F. Stillman, and R. F. Baumeister, “Virtually justifiable homicide: The effects of prosocial contexts on the link between violent video games, aggression, and prosocial and hostile cognition,” Aggressive Behavior, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 346–354, Jun. 2013.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[7] C. A. Anderson, A. Shibuya, N. Ihori, E. L. Swing, and B. J. Bushman, “Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in Eastern and Western countries: A meta-analytic review,” Psychological Bulletin, pp. 151–173, Mar. 2010.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[8] P. J. Adachi and T. Willoughby, “The effect of violent video games on aggression: Is it more than just the violence?,” Aggression and Violent Behavior, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 55–62, 2011.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[9] J. L. Sherry, “The Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggression A Meta-Analysis,” Human Communication Research, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 409–431, Jul. 2001.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[10] J. Hilgard, “Video game violence and aggression: A proven connection?,” Significance, vol. 13, no. 5, pp. 6–7, Oct. 2016.