Effects of Computer Games

Question 1

How do computer games have a negative effect?

Answer 1

• exposure to violence in the games may have a desensitisation effect (become used to it) and they may receive positive reinforcement which reinforces violent behaviours in everyday life
• exposure to violence affects the moral judgement of those playing the game and they may not see it as inappropriate to use violence

Question 2

How do computer games have a positive effect?

Answer 2

A video game may provide an outlet for anger and relieve stress and this is termed catharsis

Question 3

Who conducted the first piece of research into the negative effects of computer games?

Answer 3

Anderson and Dill

Question 4

What did Anderson and Dill do and find?

Answer 4

One group played ‘wolfenstein 3d’ a violent game and the other group play d the non violent game ‘myst’. Both groups the had the opportunity to punish an opponent with a blast of white noise and they found that the wolfenstein group used longer periods of noise than the myst group. This suggests that aggressive behaviour is due to the violent video games

Question 5

Who conducted the second study onto the negative effects of computer games?

Answer 5

Matthews et al

Question 6

What did Matthews et al do and find?

Answer 6

Used brain scanning technology an found that adolescents who were playing violent computer games had decreased activity in the frontal lobe which is associated with control. They also had increased activation in the emotion centred areas. Therefore this suggests that computer games increase emotion and decrease control

Question 7

Who conducted the third study onto the negative effects of computer games?

Answer 7

Anderson and Bushman

Question 8

What did Anderson and Bushman do and find?

Answer 8

Conducted a meta analysis of studies measuring the relationship between violent computer games and aggressive behaviour and found that short term exposure was associated with temporary increases in aggression but the long term effects were not tested

Question 9

Who conducted the first piece of research into the positive effects of computer games?

Answer 9

Kestenbaum and Weinstein

Question 10

What did Kestenbaum and Weinstein find?

Answer 10

In a sample of adolescent males, they found that computer games actually helped them to release aggression and feel calmer

Question 11

What are five limitations of the effects of computer games?

Answer 11

• correlational research
• only short term effects investigated
• research can be biased as Harris found that research confused by the gaming industry found no relationship between games and aggression
• individual differences
• difficult to measure as self report measures must be used due to the ethical constraints of measuring aggression