Psychology. The effects of computer and video games.

Hey guys, heres another little essay. The question was about the effects of computer and video games. The effects of computer and video games The Negative Effects Video games and aggression Experimental studies- Lab experiments have found short-term increases in levels of physiological arousal, hostile feelings and aggressive behaviour following violent game play compared to non-violent game play (Gentile and Stone, 2005). Aggressive behaviour cannot be studied directly, as this is not permitted on ethical grounds, therefore other forms of behaviour must be used instead. For example, participants blasted their opponents with white noise (a random, multi-frequency sound) for longer and rated themselves higher on the State Hostility Scale after playing Wolfenstein 3D (a violent ‘first person shooter’ game) compared to those who played Myst (a slow-paced puzzle game) (Anderson and Dill, 2000). Longitudinal studies- Anderson et al. (2007) surveyed 430 children aged between seven and nine at two points during the school year. Children who had high exposure to violent video games became more verbally and physically aggressive and less prosocial (as rated by themselves, their peers and their teachers). Meta – analyses on the video games and aggression link- several meta-analyses have found a consistent link between violent game play and aggressive behaviour. This association appears to hold for children and adults (Gentile and Anderson,2003). It might be expected that there would be larger effects with newer studies as violent video games have become more violent over time. In the Gentile and Anderson study, this was the pattern found, with earlier studies showing smaller effect sizes than more recent studies. Children playing either violent or non–violent games and looked into the long term effects of game playing- Anderson et al (2007) had 161 9 to 12 year old children play either violent or non violent video games for 20 minutes. After this, the children were given another computer game to play which allowed them to select the degree of punishment to deliver to an opponent. They found that children who had played violent video games previously tended to deliver stronger punishments than those who had played a non-violent game. Anderson et al then looked into the long term effects of playing violent video games and found that the amount of violent game playing at the start of the study predicted the degree of increased aggressive behaviour and hostile feelings five months later. Violent video games might have a particular effect on people who already have aggressive personalities - Peng et al (2008). They had forty participants play two popular violent computer games for the first time 0 the godfather and true crime: streets of LA. Both games involved the characters in violent acts, such as punching, kicking, and using weapons. Some of this play was captured for content analysis. Several weeks before the study took place pps with higher physical aggressive personality scores from the questionnaire engaged in more frequent violence when playing the games. This study has important implications. It might be that people with aggressive predispositions are particularly attracted to such games, or that playing a game in a more violent way might have greater effects on later aggressive thoughts and actions. According to Padilla-walker et al (2009), the use of video games leads to poorer relationships with family and friends. In a survey of 813 university students they found that as the amount of time playing video game went up, the quality of relationships with parents and peers went down. In order to play video games, young people remove themselves from social setting, or it may be that they are already struggling with relationships and have turned to video game playing as an escape or an alternative way to spend time. A recently recognised problem associated with internet use is ‘internet addiction’. Typically, people show a psychological dependence on the internet and devote so much time to surfing that family, friends and employers suffer (Young 1998) research has found that high internet use can be related to reductions in psychological well being. In a two year study of internet users, Harman (1998) found that heavy users spent a reduced amount of time with family and friends, and this increased their feelings of loneliness. The fact that much online activity appeared to be social, in that it involved chat rooms and email, did not seem to have a positive influence. Computers: Facebook use Facebook friends and stress- Charles (2011) used focus groups and interview techniques to investigate the Facebook habits of 200 undergraduate students in Scotland. A significant number (12%) experienced anxiety linked to their use of the social networking site. The majority who reported anxiety had significantly more friends than other Facebook users. They reported stress from debating unwanted contacts, the constant pressure to be humorous and entertaining and worrying about the proper type of etiquette toward different friends. Of the students surveyed, 32% stated that rejecting friend requests made them feel guilty and uncomfortable and 10% reported that they dislike receiving friend requests. Daft et al. (1987) found that computer-mediated communications (CMCs) negatively affected feedback levels, communication cues, language variety and person focus. As these are important factors in communicating and negotiating, this suggests that computers hinder such processes. The Positive Effects Video games and prosocial behaviour Helping behaviour- research has also shown that playing a prosocial (relative to a violent or neutral) game can increase helping behaviour. Greitemeyer and Osswald (2010) demonstrated that participants who played the prosocial video game Lemmings, (where they had to ensure the safety of the lemmings) subsequently displayed significantly more prosocial behaviour than those who played an aggressive game (Lamers), or a neutral game (tetris). After playing the respective video games for eight minutes, participants saw the researcher accidentally knock a cup of pencils off a table and onto the floor. Of those who played the prosocial game 67% helped pickup the pencil, whereas only 33% of those who had played the neutral game and 28% of those who played the aggressive game helped. Multiplayer games and social commitment- games that involve other players offer the possibility of social outcomes, including learning about a problem in society, or exploring a social issue. Kahne et al. (2008) found that the majority of those who listed The Sims (a life simulation game) as a favourite game said they learned about problems in society and explored social issues while playing computer games. Lenhart et al. (2008) carried out a large-scale US survey to investigate the influence of multiplayer game play on social commitment. They found that 64% of those who played multiplayer games such as Halo) where players must battle to save humankind) or The Sims were committed to civic participation (compared to 59% of ‘solo’ players), and 26% had tried to persuade other how to vote in an election (compared to 19% of solo players). They also found that those who regularly took part in social interaction related to the game (e.g. on websites or discussion boards) were more committed civically and politically. De-Lin Sun et al (2008) point out that it is difficult to measure the effects of excessive game playing because payers suffer the negative consequences and the benefits from playing at the same time. They suggest that the positive effects of game play may last longer than those that are negative. Computer gaming has been found to improve a range of cognitive skills. Sims and Mayer (2002) found that players of the game Tetris had improved spatial skills of the kind required by the game. Evidence from Karni and Sagi et al (2003) shows that such cognitive experiences can lead to long term changes in the brain. Increased helping behaviour with video games and cultural relatedness also- Gentile et al (2009) conducted three studies in three countries with three age groups, to test whether video games in which character help each other increased both short term and long term pro-social behaviour. Findings from the US part of the study, involving 161 college students, showed that those who were randomly assigned to play pro-social games behaved more helpfully towards another student in a later task than those who played violent games. It appears that pro-social game playing can also have prolonged effects. In a sample of Japanese 10 to 17 years old, pro-social game playing was related to pro-social behaviour over a three to four month period. Gentile et al suggest that since games can have both positive and negative effects parents should monitor their child’s game playing to ensure that games with maximum benefits are played. Despite the issues regarding obesity, VG and computer can also aid physical activity – Lannigham-Foster et al (2006) found that, whilst watching TV and playing traditional computer games expended similar amounts of energy expenditure trebled with active video games. This is supported by Mellecker et al (2008) who compared heart rate and calorie expenditure in children while playing an active bowling game, an active running game, a seated bowling game and during rest. Compared to the resting condition, they found 39% more calories were burned during the seated game, 98% more in active bowling and 451% more on the running game, this clearly indicates a benefit in calorie expenditure for active game playing. They point out that the four-fold increase in energy expenditure during active game playing might compensate for weight gain caused by sedentary entertainment choices. As such, it could help prevent young people from becoming overweight. (Positive and negative) Whilst video games like Wii sports, Dance Dance revolution and guitar hero offer ways of getting people more active, it has been argued that they are not a replacement for more traditional forms of exercise. Graves et al (2009) compared the energy expenditure in adolescents whilst playing four computer games a sedentary Xbox 360 found that, whilst playing an active game used nowhere near as much energy as playing the sport for real. For example, it has been estimated that whilst playing virtual tennis will burn off calories, actually playing tennis will burin off four times as many. It is recommended that young people engage in an hour of moderate to vigorous activity each day, a clearly active gaming is not going to provide anything like that. One advantage of virtual gaming however is that they can develop confidence in people in something they might not ordinarily try by improving coordination skills and rue knowledge, which in turn might encourage them to try the real thing. Computers: Facebook use Facebook and Self-esteem Gonzales and Hancock (2011) argue that Facebook walls can have a positive influence on our self-esteem, because feedback posted in them by others tends to be overwhelmingly positive. In a study at Cornell University in the US, students were given three minutes to 1. Use their Facebook page, 2.look at themselves in the mirror and 3. Do nothing. Those who had interacted with their Facebook page subsequently gave much more positive feedback about themselves than the other two groups. Durkin and Barber (2002) found evidence of positive outcomes in 16 year olds playing computer games. Measures of family closeness, activity involvement, school engagement, mental health, lack of substance misuse and friendship networks were superior in game-players than non-playing peers, suggesting that computers can be a positive feature of a healthy adolescence. Keisler and Sproull (1992) found that CMCs led to disinhibition, with users becoming more selfish and self-concerned, and lacking in empathetic feeling for the welfare of others. But thy also found that anonymity could help those with social inhibitions to communicate across social and psychological boundaries, suggesting that CMCs can have positive and negative effects. Evaluation The negative effects of video games Problems with research- a major weakness of lab experiments in this area are that researchers cannot measure ‘real-life’ aggression. They therefore must use measures of aggressive behaviour that have no relationship to real-life aggression, and can only measure short-term effects. Longitudinal studies are able to observe real-life patterns of behaviour and document both short-term and long-term effects. However, a problem for most longitudinal studies in this area is that participants may be exposed to other forms of media violence (e.g. on television) during the course of the study, meaning that the effect from violent video game exposure alone is uncertain. Why might there be an effect? – research has yet to establish a reliable casual link between violent game play and aggressive behaviour. A ‘bi-directional model’ (Gentile et al., 2004) has been proposed whereby, although playing violent video games may cause an increase in aggressive behaviour, it is just as likely that people whop already posses personality traits that orientate them towards aggressive behaviour, preferentially select violent video games for recreational purposes. Computers The negative effect of Facebook use Facebook and college grades- Karpinski acknowledges that her study does not suggest that excessive Facebook use directly causes lower grades, merely that there is some relationship between the two. She suggests that other personality factors are likely to be involved, and perhaps Facebook users are simply prone to distraction. However, other psychologists have gone further. Greenfield (2009), in a presentation to the House of Lords, argued that social networks such as Facebook ‘infantilise’ the brain by shortening the attention span and providing constant instant gratification although, as yet, she had failed to provide the evidence to support this claim. Facebook use and stress- the stress associated with Facebook use has been supported in a case study of an 18 year old asthmatic man whose condition was stable until he split up with his girlfriend and she erased him from her Facebook page (D’Amato et al., 2010). He became depressed and change his Facebook name in order to become ‘friends’ with her again, but after logging on to the site and seeing her picture, his maximum breath force was reduced, a sign of his asthma worsening. This case indicates that social networking sites such as Facebook could be a significant source of psychological stress, and a triggering factor in depressed asthmatic individuals. The positive effect of video games Why don’t prosocial video games have more of an effect? – Greitemeyer and Osswald (2010) suggest that as 85% of video games involve some kind of violence. Therefore, although the content of prosocial games can cause behavioural shifts in an altruistic direction, people who play video games are much less likely to experience this type of game, partly because they are seen as less attractive. Consequently the video game industry is less likely to produce such games for purely commercial reasons (i.e. they are less likely to sell). Methodological limitations- a problem for surveys in game research concerns the lack of controls for young people’s prior civic commitments and prosocial activities. The lack of random exposure to civic gaming opportunities (i.e. young people choose these games rather than being randomly allocated to them) also limits our ability to make causal claims about how games or features of games influence the development of social and civic responsibilities. Therapeutic applications of video games- video games have been successfully used in the treatment of post traumatic stress. For example, the virtual Iraq computer ‘game’ is a ‘fully-immersive’ computer simulation, which allows soldiers suffering post traumatic stress disorder to relive and confront psychological trauma in a low threat context. Researchers have also discovered that playing the game Tetris minimises the mind’s tendency to flash back to memories of traumatic events. Computers The positive effects of Facebook use How does Facebook increase self-esteem? – One explanation for the relationship between Facebook use and positive self-esteem comes from the hyperpersonal Model (Walther, 1996). This claims that self-selection of the information we choose to represent ourselves (e.g. through photos, personal details and witty comments) can have a positive influence on self-esteem. Computer mediated communication (such as through the medium of Facebook) offers people such an opportunity for positive self-esteem as feedback left on their ‘wall’ is invariably positive. AO3 Real world application- research has shown that playing the computer game Tetris can help to reduce memory flashbacks after traumatic events. Holmes et al. (2010) showed volunteers traumatic images of personal injury (e.g. from traffic accidents). Thirty minutes later, some volunteers played Tetris for 10 minutes, some played Pub Quiz and some did nothing. In a second experiment , the wait between viewing the film and playing the computer games was extended to four hours. In both experiments, those who played Tetris had significantly fewer flashbacks from the film compared to the other groups. Tetris was effective as long as it was played within a four-hour 'window' after the traumatic event. This was achieved without altering the person's ability to make sense of the event. The researchers concluded that playing the game interfered with the way that traumatic memories are formed in the mind. It is thought that games like Tetris reduce flashbacks because they compete with the same sensory channels that are needed to form the memory. Have fun!! Leave me a wee comment and let me know if this was helpful. also give me any questions you may need assistance with and i will have a look to see if i have anything on that topic! Your Study Pal! xo