Violence and video games has become a sub topic of the overall conversation about gun control in America over the past few weeks.
On MSNBC’s The Daily Rundown with Chuck Todd Republican Senator Lamar Alexander said yesterday that guns don’t kill people, video games do.
This implies that videos games 100 percent influences our decisions good or bad.
First it’s important to note the complexity of studying and analyzing individuals and how they are influenced by various media elements. There are a number of factors that influence us everyday. These various factors include our environment, biology and family and friends – who then in turn help shape our views and opinions about our lives.
With that said, this doesn’t mean that video games cannot and does not influence our behavior.
A recent Ohio University study published in December 2012, took a look at how violent video games influence people. They studied 70 French university students who played video games for 3 consecutive days. One group played nonviolent games for 20 minutes a day while the other group played violent games for 20 minutes a day.
Researchers found that:
“People who played a violent video game for three consecutive days showed increases in aggressive behavior and hostile expectations each day they played. Meanwhile, those who played nonviolent games showed no meaningful changes in aggression or hostile expectations over that period.”
There have been many studies like over the past years looking into how video games influences people. I believe that not one element influences our behavior. Video games for some people may play a role, but what causes someone to act on that aggression? Is it their biological makeup, their environments, a combination of things?
What do you think?