Why Does Media Violence Effect Behaivors?

"Media violence produces short-term increases [of aggression and violence] by priming existing
aggressive scripts and cognition, increasing physiological
arousal, and triggering an automatic tendency to imitate observed
behaviors. Media violence produces long-term effects
via several types of learning processes leading to the acquisition
of lasting (and automatically accessible) aggressive
scripts, interpretable schemes, and aggression-supporting
beliefs about social behavior, and by reducing individuals’
normal negative emotional responses to violence (i.e., desensitization)."
- Source

its obvious that violence- in video games especially- is influencing the young minds that are playing these games on a daily basis. but why are video games any worse than a gory horror movie?

"You are not only being exposed to situations... the way you are with T.V or movies, but you're an active player in them. And you make decisions that... [create] a virtual reality."
- Michael Rich, MD, MPH

Banning Violent Video Games Violates 1st Ammendment?

The government never regulated who can go to movies so the question is: can the government regulate who can buy video games. Some opponents of the ban say there is no research to prove the link between violent video games and violent behavior. If a connection is researched and proven, does the 1st amendment conflict become a non-issue in the proposed government regulation of video games? "Probably the best solution is to educate parents and general public about what the real effects [of violent video games on children] are. We also need to give parents better tools so that they can, in fact, take charge of their child's media diet, and the current rating systems don't do that,"- Dr. Anderson. Parents might not be worried about the dangers that violent video games have on a young child's mind because the lack of information given to them. Instead of baning the availability of certain video games to specific age groups, Dr. Anderson believes that  to inform parents of the danger of letting their children play video games that are rated for an older audience is the best soulution.

Then comes the question if being informed is enough for parents to protect their kids from dangers. Many parents are aware of how violent the video games are that their kids' are playing. That might not stop the parents from letting their children play the games that they want to play.


Here you can see how easy it is for little kids to play violent video games. These kids can barely speak and they're already shooting each other in a video game.

If you still need some convincing, here is an example of how the kids above will act in just a couple years if their parent's arn't informed of the dangerous effects of video games.

This teach children that shooting people is okay. Dr. Anderson proves that violence in video games encourages violence in everyday life for young children in this video.

Violent Facts

• More than 70 percent of American teenage boys have played the violent and adult-rated Grand Theft Auto video game, and those teens are more likely to have been in a fight than those who have not played

• "I fear we are growing a society of alienated, aggressive, untrustworthy adults," - media researcher Joanne Cantor.

• "The best selling games of the past year glorify and reward extreme violence, particularly toward women," the report notes.  "While these games are rated M (Mature), they are extremely popular with pre-teen and teenage boys who report no trouble buying them."

• "This medium is potentially more dangerous than exposure to violent television and movies." -Psychologists Dr Craig Anderson