Negative effects of computers and video games on behaviour Flashcards
possible effects
video games may cause aggressive behaviour
and they may damage social relationships
eric harris and dylan klebold
made a video tape simialr to the first person shooter game ‘Doom’ (where you kill opponents with lots of gore) where they carried guns and killed high school athletes. they went on a killing spree at columbine high school less than a year later.
research into the effect on aggressive behaviour- anderson & dill (1st study)
Anderson & Dill’s lab experiment compared the effects of Wolfenstein (kill nazi guards and Hitler) and Myst (a fast pace thinking game - non violent)
210 psychology undergraduates played the myst or wolfenstein twice in the first session and once a week later.
then they played a game that they could blast an opponent with white noise (1st DV)
people who played wolfenstein gave longer blasts of white noise than those who played myst.
they also scored higher on the ‘aggression accessibility index’ a measure of how quickly they responded to aggressive words compared to control words (2nd DV)
suggesting that playing violent video games increases aggressive behaviour in the short term by encouraging violent thoughts (lacks realism)
control for extraneous variables:
matched on enjoyable and physiologcal arousal ensuring the effect was a result of the IV not the extraneous variable
anderson & dill 2nd study
using questionnaires to measure trait agression (e.g if someone hits me, i hit back), delinquency (damage to school property minor, or aggressive such as threatening other students).
questionnaires about their favourite video games- how often they play and how aggressive content
multiple the two scores to create an ‘exposure to video violence score’
EVVS scores positively correlated with scores for trait aggression and delinquency both aggressive and non -agressive.
it was suggested that longer lasting effects come about because the video games teach aggressive attitudes and ways of behaving leading to personality changes.
Weber et al
Males in fMRI scanner playing violent video games
anterior cingulate cortex used to generate empathy was less active during the game
previosu research has also suggested that individuals who report high exposure to violent media have reduced ACC activity—— so playing violent video games leads to desensitisation.
research into the effects of video games overall evaluation
strong evidence 2 different types of study demonstrating the same conclusion triangulation a correlation and a lab experiment 3 measures of aggression short term and long term
description of research into the damaging effect on social relationships
Padilla walker et al found in a survey of 813 university studies that as the amount of time playing video games went up, the quality of relationships with peers and parents went down.
evalution of research into the damaging effect on social relationships
(padilla walker et al) only an association
unclear direction of effect
video games could cause worse relationships because young people remove themselves from social settings to play the games
or they don’t enjoy relationships and so escape to the video games
bit outdated? now the majority of adolescents are online, and there’s importance of using computers to communicate- social networking etc
valkenburg and peter propose that internet-enhances self-disclosure hypothesis: shy and self-conscious adolescents find it easier to disclose things about themselves online because they’re not concerned about their social status.
dill et al 2008
violent games which are sexually explicit can lead to the objectification of women and acceptance of interpersonal violence
