Playing Violent Videogames Has Negative Effects on the Behavior of Young Adolescents
Bella van Arendonk
Enlish and Popular Science
Brigitte van Pelt - Hinkle
Avans University of Applied Sciences Playing Violent Videogames Has Negative Effects on the Behavior of Young Adolescents.
Everyone has memories of when they were young and having fun. Some children liked to play outside all day, others were more interested in playing videogames. Just imagine you would be able to play your favorite videogame in real life. Wouldn’t that be amazing? But what if your favorite game was a violent one, would you still want to play it in real life?
The reason why it is important to acknowledge that violent games influence the behavior of young people is because negative effects can come from it. An example are the school shootings. The most well-known one is the shooting on the Columbine High School. Two young kids killed thirteen people. One of the reasons behind their actions was said
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But recent research from Anderson & Dill (2000) shows that the influence of playing violent videogames is bigger than expected. Many of the videogames that the young adolescents play are being used by the military to train their soldiers. An example of a videogame that is used by the military is ‘Conflict: Desert Storm’. The army uses them because the games look a lot like how it would actually look in a battlefield. The reason why it influences the behavior is that the players of the game have to participate actively. When you watch a movie, you are looking at a character who behaves aggressively, so you are watching the behavior passively. When you are playing a violent game, you are the one who is doing the damage to the enemy. In that way, you are watching the behavior of the character actively, because he does what you want to do. People learn better when they actively participate. (Atlas, Cornett, Lane & Napier,