OPINION
PAGE 4
THE DAILY TITAN
SEPTEMBER 24, 2013
TUESDAY
Video games not liable for aggression Conflicting studies show no result about the debate regarding video games ERICA MAHONEY Daily Titan
The release of the fifth installment of Grand Theft Auto has inspired the latest debate over the inf luence of violent video games, but it is not just the graphic game that has everyone talking. The tragedy in Newtown, Conn. has added to the everlasting controversy about the effects of violent video games, after a search warrant found Adam Lanza’s blacked out gaming room filled with warfare-style games.
“It described the United States’ culture as “highly individualistic ... with high societal levels of physical aggression and violence.” Do these aggressive natured games have a causal effect on aggressive behavior? The truth is, there is a multitude of factors that must be taken into account including the culture, mental health and amount of time spent playing such games by a person. A 2008 study conducted by the Iowa State University Department of Psychology compared a sample of youth
and adolescents habitually exposed to violent video games and their frequency of reported aggressive behavior to peer groups without such exposure. The study covered samples of youth both in Japan and the United States. The most surprising fact was that the aggressive behavior emerged 3-6 months after the player’s exposure. Unsurprisingly, males had a higher frequency playing violent games and a higher frequency of violent behavior. The study also looked at the respective cultures, specifically Japan compared to the U.S. It described the United States’ culture as “highly individualistic ... with high societal levels of physical aggression and violence.” However, a recent study released in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence argues exactly the opposite. “The completed study had found that playing the video games actually had a very slight calming effect on youths—and helped to reduce aggressive and bullying behavior,” according to the report of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. The study was targeted at “high-risk” teens with depression in addition to attention deficit disorder. The report rejects the popular idea that violent video games cause aggressive behavior for players like the Iowa State University study claimed to prove. An article in The Journal investigated the impact violent video games have on the mental health of individuals. The ability to distinguish fantasy from reality is re-
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quired in order to keep the game in a perspective. Violent video games do not turn innocent gamers into killers—but if an individual who cannot distinguish between reality and virtual reality becomes obsessed with violence, the active role they assume as the game player can pose a more real threat. Even in that case, the chances that the video games were the sole inf luence of aggressive behavior is slim. Adam Lanza, for instance, had already harbored an ob-
session for weaponry and had saved newspaper clippings from a shooting in Illinois. Gaming was not the direct cause for the rampage that took the lives of innocent children and school teachers last year in Connecticut. Violent video games cannot be called responsible for Lanza’s actions. Christopher Ferguson, an associate professor at Texas A&M specializing in violent behavior and psychology, pointed out that it would have been more surprising if it
had been reported that Lanza didn’t play video games, given that a majority of youth do play such games. The Entertainment Software Association reported that 58 percent of Americans play video games and today’s media in general is violent and aggressive in nature. The Kaiser Family Foundation reported in 2010 that youth from ages 8-18 spend an average of seven and a half hours per day using or watching entertainment media; an increase of more than one
hour from five years ago. There’s still the argument that watching TV only requires a passive role, whereas video games require the participant to become active and make decisions. But making decisions in reality and making decisions in an alternate, virtual reality are two different decisions that the player should be able to distinguish. If that decision is hard to make, then the problem lies not within the video game itself, but within the player.
Photo Illustration by DEANNA TROMBLEY / Daily Titan Police found a darkened game room with violent games in Adam Lanza’s house, known for the Newtown, Conn. shooting.
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