The effects of video games and computers on young people



Media

Pro- and antisocial behaviour

Charlton et al (1999)

Aim: to assess the impact of TV introduction on a remote community.

Sample: School-age children on St.Helena, a small island in the Atlantic.

Design: natural experiment with repeated measures.

Method: Children’s behaviour was assessed before and after the introduction of TV for the first time (IV=before/after TV). Aggression was measured thru’ peer and teacher ratings.

Results: There was no increase in aggression following the introduction of TV.

Conclusion: TV violence did not affect children’s behaviour.

Anti social behaviour

Social learning theory (SLT)

We learn both aggressiveness (antisocial behaviour) and how to express aggression through direct reinforcement (conditioning theory) and indirect reinforcement (social learning).

Bandura (1977) suggested that there are four steps in the modeling process.

• Attention. If a person (model) is prestigious or similar you will pay more attention.

• Retention. Actions must be remembered (i.e. cognitive processes involved).

• Reproduction. Vicarious reinforcement is not enough, imitation requires skills.

• Motivation. Imitation depends on direct and indirect reinforcements and punishments

Bandura suggested that there are three sources of models: the family, subculture and the media. . He believed that there are several factors that make it more likely that a person will imitate the behaviour he or she has observed, such as:

• The model being similar to the person, for example being the same gender or age.

• The individual having low self-esteem

• Observation being direct, for example, when the model is seen in action rather than on film.

• The model being seen as having desirable characteristics, for example being warm and friendly, or an admired celebrity.

Research evidence

Bandura (1963)

Bandura et al. (1963) divided 66 nursery school children into three groups. All three groups watched a film where an adult model kicked and punched a Bobo doll.

• Condition 1: children saw the adult model being rewarded by a second adult.

• Condition 2: children saw a second adult telling off the adult model for the aggressive behaviour.

• Condition 3: The adult model was neither rewarded nor punished.

The children were then allowed to play in the room with the Bobo doll whilst experimenters watched through a one-way mirror.

Results showed that children in Condition 1 behaved the most aggressively, and those in condition2 behaved the least aggressively. However, an important distinction must be made between learning and performance. All the children learnt how to behave aggressively, but those in condition 2 did not perform as many aggressive acts until later, when they were offered rewards to do so. When this happened, they quickly showed that they had learned as many aggressive techniques as the children in condition 1.

Other findings and later variations found that imitation was even more likely if:

• The model was rewarded

• The model had high status, for example, a favourite hero or heroine on TV

• The child identified with the model, for example same sex

• Live models were more effective than a film or a cartoon

• The person had low self-esteem

Evaluation

• Research findings may be due to demand characteristics in an unfamiliar social situation (the children had to look for cues of what to do with Bobo)

• Can explain media influences

• Can explain influence of coercive home environments. Parents solve disputes aggressively, children model their behaviour on this (Patterson et al 1989)

• Can account for cultural and individual differences between people

• It explains the fact that people imitate specific acts of violence

• Oversimplified. People are not consistently rewarded for aggression, often they are punished.

• Environmental determinism. Suggests that aggression is externally caused.

Cognitive priming

Aggressive cues in films or television programmes lead to aggressive thoughts and feelings, which may then be expressed in aggressive behaviour.

Josephson (1987)

Aim: To assess the effect of cognitive priming on aggressive behaviour.

Procedure: Boys watched a television programme of a gun battle, in which the snipers communicated using walkie-talkies. A control group watched a non-violent programme about a motocross team. Both groups then played a game of floor hockey and were given instructions beforehand either by walkie-talkie or a tape recorder.

Results: the boys who had watched the violent television programme and had received instructions by walkie-talkie were more aggressive than the control group and than those who had watched the same programme but received instructions by tape recorder.

Conclusion: The walkie-talkie acted as a cognitive prime to aggression.

Desensitization

• Anxiety about violence inhibits its use.

• Those who are not used to violence would be shocked by its use.

• Frequent viewing of television violence makes it appear commonplace and so viewers may be less shocked and less sensitive about the violence.

• So someone who is desensitized to violence perceived violence as ‘normal’.

Belson (1978)

Belson (1978)

Aim: to identify a link between viewing habits and aggressive behaviour.

Sample: teenage boys.

Design: correlational study based on retrospective interview data.

Method: boys were interviewed about their viewing habits (self reporting) over the previous ten years (V1=level of TV violence watched) and about their aggressive behaviour (V2=self-ratings of aggression).

Result: a significant positive correlation was found between the two measures. The more violent programmes watched, the higher the level of aggression.

Conclusion: Viewing habits over time had affected aggressive behaviour.

Pro social

Spafkin et al. (1975)

Aim: To investigate whether watching a film showing prosocial behaviour can make behaving in a similar way more likely.

Procedure: Children aged 5 and 6 watched one of three films:

• Group A saw a film of Lassie, in which a boy risked his life to save a puppy.

• Group B watched an episode of Lassie that carried a positive message about dogs but with no incident of a human helping a dog.

• Group C watched an episode of the Brady Bunch, a family based situation comedy.

All the children then took part in a button-pressing game in which they could win prizes. At the same time, they wore headphones through which they could (supposedly) hear a kennel and were asked to press a button if they heard the barking of a puppy in distress. This would mean breaking off from the prize game, so they needed to make a choice between the prize game and helping the puppy.

Results: Children in Group A chose to help the puppy more quickly and for longer periods than children in the other two groups.

Conclusion: Programmes showing children behaving in a pro-social way can encourage children to behave in a similar way.

Exemplification theory

Zillmann (1999)

We extract information from our experiences (exemplars) and selectively store it, chunking similar events together. The media can provide additional information beyond our own experience, which we can use to help us decide how to behave in similar circumstances.

Aust and Zillman (1996) found that the effects of the media are stronger when information is presented in an emotional manner. The theory also proposes that the effects are influenced by personal factors, for example, the age, gender and personality of the individual.

Mares (1996)

Mares carried out 39 different studies.

Findings:

• Positive interaction: Children who viewed positive interactions tended to act more positively in their own interactions with others, compared with those who viewed neutral or antisocial content. The effect however was moderate.

• Altruism: Children who viewed explicitly modelled altruistic behaviours tended to behave more altruistically. The effect was moderate to large. Where it was not specifically modelled but required generalisation from one context to another, the effect was smaller.

• Self-control: Children who viewed models exercising self-control tended to show more self-control in their own behaviour. The effect size was moderate.

• Anti-stereotyping: Children who viewed counter-stereotypical themes showed less evidence of stereotyping and prejudice in their own attitudes and beliefs. The effect size was moderate.

• Justifying aggression:

Lovelace and Huston (1983) observed that negative effects might occur if the prosocial behaviours were not shown in clear contrast to the asntisocial behaviours.

Liss and Reinhardt (1979) They found an increase in aggressive behaviour in children who had watched a cartoon series Superfriends. Both pro and antisocial behaviours were modelled in this series, characters usually showed some justification for the aggressive behaviour.

The effects of video games and computers on young people

What effects might video games have?

Observational learning effects

The modelling of violent actions and scenarios found in some video games, plus the reinforcement they provide for violent behaviour, has been blamed for incidents like the 1999 Columbine High School shootings.

Arousal effects

Greater interactivity/stimulation means excitation transfer effects are likely to be greater in the short term.

Disinhibition/ Desensitisation effects

The active and frequent participation in, rather than mere observation of virtual violent acts in some types of video game is thought to bring the user one step closer to committing and/or accepting real world aggression.

Cline et al (1973)

Looked at physiological responses to violence, for example increased heart rate and raised blood pressure. They found that children who watched a lot of television with a violent content showed less physiological response when shown a violent film, suggesting that they were less sensitive than controls to what they were seeing.

However, this was a correlational study.

Mediating factors

Individual differences are likely to be even more significant for video games given the more active role in choosing to buy and play specific games.

No effects

Already violent children may choose to play more violent games. Children may distinguish between games and reality, and so not generalise their behaviour.

Catharsis effects

Greater interactivity and expenditure of violent energy in video games may increase cathartic effects, producing less violence in the long term.

Cognitive skills

Challenging and stimulating games could increase hand-eye co-ordination and visuo-spatial or problem-solving skills. Brain-training games are designed to boost mental skills.

Research on the effects of video games

Giles (2003) reports that the research on the effects of video game play:

• Is even more inconclusive than is the literature on media violence in general (Griffiths (1997)

• Has found evidence that trait aggression in adults may enhance the negative effects of game play (Anderson and Dill 2000), although this finding was not replicated with adolescents (Warm 2000)

• Found general increases in short-term hostility for video game play in general, regardless of violent content (Anderson and Dill 2000)

• Suggests any cognitive skill resulting from repeated video game play is likely to be very localised. Sims and Mayer (2002) found tetris players showed enhanced performance in mental rotation tasks involving shapes similar to the ones used in the game, but performed no differently from controls on tasks involving other kinds of shapes.

• Pakes and Winstone (2007) cite Bensley and Van Eenwynk’s (2001) analysis of 28 research studies which found play with an aggressive video game was often followed by brief aggressive play straight afterward in 4 to 8-year-olds, but was not consistently found for other age groups (due to the design of the studies), leading the authors to conclude that, although video game realism may change in the future, the ‘current research evidence is not supportive of a major concern that violent video games lead to real life violence’

• Gentile et al (2004) found increased levels of video game playing and anti-social effects in children, even for non-aggressive children, which cold be reduced by parental control and limits.

The effects of computers

Addiction

Giles (2003) cites Griffiths (1999) suggestion that heavy internet users show components of addiction, including, salience, mood modification, and tolerance (ie. the Internet becomes highly important and provides a ‘buzz’ that the user becomes habituated to and requires greater use to re-experience). However, although some may be ‘Internet dependent’ with more than 38 hours online a week (Young 1998) this does not apply to all and does not focus on what this time is spent on.

Subrahmanyam et al (2001) report research on a number of other effects:

Displacement of other activities – research shows computer use lowers television use, but has not properly studied its effect on other activities.

Cognitive skills – computer use may develop computer literacy skills and some studies show correlations with improved visual attention skills (Greenfield et al 1996) and academic performance (Cole 1996). However, these findings have not always been replicated and cause and effect relationships are difficult to identify (e.g. greater wealth may explain greater computer use and academic performance).

Social relationships – the effect of computers on relationships is complex. McKenna and Bargh (1998) found socially anxious and lonely people find better relationships through the Internet, while Kraut et al (1998) longitudinal study found an association between time online and declines in social and psychological well-being, mainly in the first two years of use.

|Increases social contact online | |Lower quality relationships |

|Maintains social relationships | |Addiction, isolation loneliness |

|Provides IT skills | |Worse spelling, writing, plagiarism |

|computer literacy | | |

|More individual centred learning | |Less time to read long, quality books |

|More active learning exploring | |Biased and inaccurate information |

|Greater access to educational information | |Greater access to anti-social information |

Some proposed positive and negative effects of computers and the internet

Summary

• There is some evidence that playing violent video games can increase aggression and reduce pro-social behaviour.

• There are gender and other individual differences in the effects of video games on children.

• Factors other than violent video games may be more important in promoting aggression.

• Video games can also have a pro-social effect.

• Research in this area raises ethical and methodological issues.

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