Violent computer games are thought to teach teens to solve problems using violent means.
A hotly debated area in the field of psychology is the effect that violent media has on teenagers and children. Violent media could either take the form of television, films or video games, and many parents are fearful of the effects these forms of media could have on their children. Learning about the research done into the level of violent behavior exhibited by children exposed to violent media can help you understand the potential risks.
Bobo Doll Experiment
The Bobo Doll experiment is a classic piece of research into the effect of exposure to violent media on children's aggression. Albert Bandura performed his original test in 1961, but the follow-up study in 1963 looked specifically at media violence. In the experiment, children were shown either a video clip, cartoon or a live adult beating up a Bobo Doll, which was a large doll that bounced back up when hit. The children were left to play with the doll themselves. Bandura found that the children who witnessed the live adult hitting the doll were most likely to replicate the behavior, followed by those who'd seen a video clip of an adult beating the doll, and finally those who saw the cartoon version of the clip. All of these groups behaved more violently than the control group, who saw nothing violent.
Video Games
A study performed by researchers from Iowa State University and Lenoir-Rhyne College investigated the effect of playing violent games versus the effects of playing non-violent games. A group of 210 students was divided; one group played a violent game -- "Wolfenstein 3-D" -- and one group playing a non-violent game called "Myst." After this, players were asked to "punish" their opponent by pressing a button; this set off an extremely loud noise to the opponent. Players were allowed to hold the button down, therefore continuing the noise as long as they wished. It was found that students who played the violent game "punished" their opponent with the noise for longer than those who played the non-violent game. This lead researchers to believe that violent games provide a training ground where teenagers learn to deal with conflict using violent means.
Combined
Researchers from Rutgers University conducted a study on teens from Michigan high schools and juvenile detention centers in order to determine whether violent TV, movies and games have an effect on teenagers' overall level of aggression. Lead researcher Paul Boxer and his team interviewed 820 teens about their favorite TV programs, films and computer games, then compiled a violence-exposure score for each. The researchers also took into account factors such as academic difficulties, exposure to real-life violence and any psychological and emotional issues. Even with these things taken into account, Boxer found that teenagers exposed to more violent media were more likely to exhibit violent behavior.
Overall
The research suggests that exposure to violent media does increase the likelihood of violent behavior in teens; however, the research can't be thought to clearly establish a causal link. One common critique of these studies is that violent teens could be drawn to violent media, rather than the media creating the violent teens. It is also worth noting that while violent media does appear to increase the likelihood of violent behavior, many teenagers have watched violent TV or played violent games and not developed violent behavior. One study done by Gallup, for instance, found that only 34 percent of boys who had been in a fight over the last year had played "Grand Theft Auto," a violent computer game, while 71 percent of the male sample had played the game.
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