Homer 1

Russell Homer
Matthew Merkel
COMM 2500
5 May 2016

Social Impacts of
Virtual Violence in
Media

Homer 2

The world we live in is filled with all kinds of people. Some hard working some lazy,
some are passive and others are aggressive. Over the years we as a species have gone to war with
each other and had many violent encounters. But in the modern era we highly glorify violence
through. For example, there are popular movies and video games where the hero is a man who
can creatively butcher and kill hundreds of men. Games like Grand Theft Auto, Halo, Call of
Duty and so on have a player kill in creative and sometimes highly aggressive ways to get the
highest score. Authors, scientists, Psychologists all took a look at the effects violent video games
had on the young as well as giving warnings on how to avoid having children grow into violent
and aggressive people. We will be looking into the impact this has brought as well as the
precautions and systems put in place for guardians to know what to look for. We will also look
into whether it is video games alone that cause children to become violent and aggressive.
Back in 1961 Albert Bandura, who would later be elected as the president of the
American Psychological Association as well as the creator of the Social Learning Theory,
conducted the Bobo Doll Studies. In these studies Bandura would film adult men and women
assault a Bobo Doll in multiple different ways and do different things with it. He then filmed
them doing it again but in one film have the people rewarded with candy, soda and so on and the
other film he had them punished and scolded for the violence. Bandura then showed a group of
kids one of the films and then put them in a room with a Bobo Doll. The results were consistent
with his theory and the results were as follows:

The behavior of the children who saw the first film, without rewards or punishment,
modeled that of the adult in the film. They punched, kicked, hit with the hammer, and
shouted "sockeroo,"; precisely imitating the woman model.

Homer 3

The children behaved more aggressively when they watched the film in which the

adult models were rewarded.

The children behaved somewhat less aggressively when the adult models were
punished. Yet, when prodded enough, most children were able to copy the hostile
actions. (Bandura, Bobo Doll Experiment)

Bandura Use those results to prove the Social Learning theory, but it is also noted that
there is a self-regulation and self-efficacy factor to it as well. In the Communication Technology
Update and Fundamentals Text book, by August Grant and Jennifer Meadows, goes into Social
Learning Theory and it is said that Reinforcement and punishment is not that simple though.
This is where cognition comes in-learners think about the consequences of performing that
behavior. This is why a person may play Grand Theft Auto and steal cars in the video game, but
will not then go out and steal a car in real life. (Grant and Meadows, 32) This goes into how
there are self-regulation and self-efficacy factors. Not only do people regulate their exposure to
those elements but it is also their belief that they cant do the things in a game without some form
of consequences or even believe they are capable of doing it. This goes into mimicking violence
depicted in movies and video games.
Violence in video games has been tested and according to According to Alice Park of the
TIME Kids who play more video games tend to be more aggressive and react with more hostility
than children who dont spend hours playing games. They ran several tests to prove how those
children who play violent games are quicker to violence or are of the mentality that it would be
ok to strike someone who is insulting. They also ran brain tests and scans which showed after a
week of daily video gaming, brain scans of a small group of volunteers showed less activity in
the regions connected to emotions, attention, and inhibition of impulses compared to participants

Homer 4

who played non-violent video games. (Park) Those affects are reversible however it was
suggested that overly long periods could cause more stable changes in the brain. They do list that
this doesnt mean video games are the only cause of children growing and becoming violent or
aggressive in life but it is a possible contributing factor but mostly in how people think and feel.
In multiple articles and studies it is shown that the violence in the media doesnt cause
the violent behavior. But the blame on them does bring psychologists and experts to examine and
run tests on it and proved that it is not video games that caused this but rather the childrens
environment as a whole that leads them down the path to violent behavior. It has even proven
that in some cases with children and teens that video games and violent games actually improve
their condition. In an article by Rick Nauert, he took results by two psychologists, Ferguson and
Olson, to counter the popular arguments against violent video games.. Ferguson and Olsons
findings do not support the popular belief that violent video games increase aggression in youth
who have a predisposition to mental health problems. (Nauert) Nauert continues by saying
Their findings are in line with those of a recent Secret Service report in which the occurrence of
more general forms of youth violence were linked with aggressiveness and stress rather than with
video game violence. They admit that some circumstances do go against their results but as
everything is circumstantial in and everyones situation is different. Another article and study by
Gene Beresin and Steve Schlozman continues to support the theory that video games dont cause
the acts of violence. In their article they stress that it is the parents who need to pay attention to
how their children are reacting to such things and react accordingly. If violent video games are
making them more aggressive lower their exposure, or if they help then let them play them. But
the choice is up to the parents and the parents need to take responsibility for what they let their
children see and play.

Homer 5

To help parents and guardians know what they are letting their children play, the ESRB
(Entertainment Software Rating Board) was formed. It was formed to rate the games based on
their content and have the information form the rating on the box so parents and guardians can
look at the box and know if it is something they can let their child see or play. Here is the official
rating system for Video Games:
RATING CATEGORIES

EARLY CHILDHOOD Content is intended for young children

EVERYONE Content is generally suitable for all ages. May contain minimal cartoon,
fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language.

EVERYONE 10+Content is generally suitable for ages 10 and up. May contain more
cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes.

TEEN Content is generally suitable for ages 13 and up. May contain violence, suggestive
themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling and/or infrequent use of strong
language.

MATURE Content is generally suitable for ages 17 and up. May contain intense
violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.

ADULTS ONLY Content suitable only for adults ages 18 and up. May include prolonged
scenes of intense violence, graphic sexual content and/or gambling with real currency.

Homer 6

The higher rated games will only be sold to adults and not to under age children. These
ratings have helped control who gets the games and plays them. But it is up to the parents on
whether their children play them.
So to conclude violence in media does have influence with people through the Social
Learning theory. Children do mimic what they see as good on TV and games, so parents must
control either what they see or explain why the violence they see is wrong. Prolonged exposure
to violent video games and media for hours on end does make us think more aggressive thoughts
and we are desensitized to violence because of it. The solution to that is to limit the exposure.
Video games dont cause people to become violent but people who gravitate towards aggressive
feelings or have a mental condition should limit their exposure unless it truly does help calm
them. For the sake of our children and future generations we must pay attention to our children
and pay attention to the ratings systems in video games and movies. It is something that current
parents need to pay attention to. If the current generation becomes too heavily desensitized, then
they might not be as strict on what their children see and it will spiral out of control.

Homer 7

Works Cited

Beresin, Gene and Schlozman, Steve. Research Shows Violent Media Do Not Cause
Violent Behavior. Massachusetts General Hospital. 26 Dec. 2012. Web.

Cherry, Kendra. Bobo Doll Experiment. About Education. About Education. 1 Jan. 2012. Web.

Nauert, Rick. Video games not tied to violence In New Study, Video Games Not Tied to
Violence in High-Risk Youth. Web. 27 august, 2013

Park, Alice. Little By Little, Violent Video Games Make Us More Aggressive. TIME. 24 Mar.
2014. Web.

esrb.org link https://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.aspx