Communication 240

James Elkins

As I was traveling on Interstate 71 two motorcycles, riding side by side and going the opposite direction, quickly initiated a horrible thought and eventually a horrible statement to my passenger: “I should swerve over the median and nail them.” This of course brought a chuckle from my fellow Grand Theft Auto player who also enjoys driving around San Adreas nailing oncoming motorcyclists because after a while murdering prostitutes and blowing up helicopters just gets boring.

Dr. Craig A. Anderson, who received his PhD in psychology from Stanford, writes in an article found on the American Psychological Association website that video game play “creates aggressive behavioral scripts and makes them more cognitively accessible.” In other words, without my interaction with the GTA video game, I would have had a harder time accessing that horrible thought. This research and other significant findings reveal that video games affect the user. Aggression, arousal, and emotional outbreaks, can be attributed to playing violent video games that potentially surpass those responses of violent movies and television for three reasons according to Craig Anderson and Karen Dill in an April issue of the American Psychological Association's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. They are listed as “identification with the aggressor, active participation, and a video game’s addictive nature.” Thus, in a first person shooter game the player’s hand is the one on the screen pointing the gun. Secondly, the video game player is “actively participating” and choosing where, when, how, and who should be injured or killed. Thirdly, as noted in class, video game usage has greatly increased from the mid-nineties. Video game players are playing more often because of better graphics, better games, more time consuming games, and an overall better gaming experience with the “next-generation” systems.

These three unique characteristics of video games consequently can alter a player’s “emotional valence,” according to Ravaja and his colleagues in his article Phasic Emotional Reactions to Video Game Events: A Psychophysiological Investigation. Sweaty hands, a pounding heart, and an endless amount of varying facial expressions almost always accompany a video game player. These are physical displays of emotion that were found to be caused by video games. Moreover, they found certain brain activity peaked and declined along with the key moments in video game play (e.g. virtual player fell off a cliff; almost fell off a cliff; completed a level or goal; did not complete a level or goal). In addition, another study reported on the American Psychological Association’s website revealed that “even a brief exposure to violent video games can temporarily increase aggressive behavior in all types of participants." In fact, violent video games can also negatively influence how an avid video game player resolves conflict. Once again, the APA article also observes that "this medium (video games) is potentially more dangerous than exposure to violent television and movies, which are known to have substantial effects on aggression and violence."

Video games are an interactive technology that is proven to effect a player’s emotions and aggression levels. Due to better graphics, games, and systems that allow even more interaction (Nintendo Wii), a strong correlation could develop in the future between these improvements and the negative or positive effect it causes the user.

References

Anderson, C.A., & Dill, K.E. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 772-790.

Ravaja, N., Saari, T., Salminen, M., Laarni, J., Kallinen, K. (2006) Phasic emotional reactions to video game events: A psychophysiological investigation. Media Psychology, 8, 343-367.