RUNNING HEADER: Video Game Violence and Youth

Joshua Montanez
University of Texas at El Paso
Video game Violence and Youth

Video Game Violence and Youth

Abstract
This essay will discuss the research taken in order to understand, and comprehend the
controversy of Video Game Violence. Young adults are often criticized for their addiction to
video games and the fascination for violence. Video Game Violence has never been linked to
Teenage aggression and violent behavior. The essay will input scientific research and date, as
well as opinions of both sides. Scientific date will include analysis of addiction, video game,
violence and the development of the brain.

Video Game Violence and Youth

There have been various concerns about the psychological effect onto a youths behavior
when playing a violent video game. The violence aspect of video games have forever been
frowned upon, and often rejected due to its effect on teenagers. As an adolescent child, they are
constantly growing both physiologically, and mentally. These changes in hormone tend to cause
significant change towards their behavior and responsive actions. Although it is not always youth
that play video games, but also a small percentage of adults. Adults are less susceptible to the
aggressive tendencies of video games, because an adults brain has already developed maturely.
A teenager is an easier victim of aggressive behavior for several reasons, including the pressure
of society and acceptance. Engaging in video gaming produces satisfactory emotions but can also
develop other negative effects. The following questions will be discussed, researched, answered,
and explored thoroughly so that the reader may further comprehend the extensive changes
violence in video games could cause.
How do video games cause a physiological change inside the adolescents brain?
Video games in fact cause a significant release of dopamine, and often raises adrenaline
to an abnormal level. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays several key functions in the
central nervous systems, and the brains system as well. Dopamine is strongly correlated with
both sensations of motivation, and reward. These sensations are often sought after due to their
extensive properties of making the person feel high and sometimes euphoria. The brain will
often starve of such sensations, therefore it will seek stimuli that cause the same effect again,
leading to an addiction. For example, a gambling addiction is often unseen as an addiction itself
but it is highly addictive. The sensation of winning in gambling releases intense levels of
dopamine, that the persons becomes addicted to that sensation. Is it possible that children playing
video games that resemble a reward system, could become addicted? In plenty of video games
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Video Game Violence and Youth

such as the Call of Duty series, a player is rewarded for acts of violence instead of punished by
it. This reward system once again motivates the player to develop high levels of dopamine. The
motivation to kill for rewards will often skew the childs perception of death. The brain learns to
condition itself to events concerning death, especially when newer games contain higher quality.
The graphics of the games can often contain such high quality that the images seen are so well
related to reality. The blood, screams, gunshots, screams and commands trigger senses of the
brain which often create a realistic environment. An adolescent brain is still growing until
maturity which is approximately 21-25 years old. Therefore, the development of a youths
knowledge will often resort to that of violence and aggression.
Violence, aggression, anger, and irritation are all controlled by various parts of the brain.
The Amygdala is the area of the brain responsible for allowing us to detect threats, negative
stimuli and other reactive emotions. The prefrontal cortex responds to the threat and makes a
judgment as to what should be done. Violence in video games will often create a sort of
numbness to violence and could possibly alter the method in which the amygdala responds to
negative stimuli. A child with controllable anger will respond differently than a child that does
not understand how to control outbursts of anger. A child that interacts with violent video games
secretes adrenaline during intense gaming moments. Adrenaline is a hormone that causes the
sympathetic nervous system to activate which results in dilated pupils, increases blood pressure,
increase heart rate, increase breathing, and bursts of energy. Adrenaline is in fact addictive in the
sense that a child will seek those same sensations again. Adrenaline is often released when
watching intense scenes of action and children correlate action with violence. A child exposed to
violence could possibly react differently than a child whom has never seen graphic violence.
How does violence serve as Catharsis?
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Video Game Violence and Youth

Violence for most teenagers often serves as a method of Catharsis. Catharsis is the
release of certain emotions and is relevant with anger and frustration. According to catharsis
theory, acting aggressively or even viewing aggression purges angry feelings and aggressive
impulses into harmless channels.(Bushman, 2009) An adult that suffers from stress could
perhaps take kickboxing classes at the end of his day, to release those sensations. Allowing a
person to release emotions leads to a decrease of sudden violent outbursts. Violence has always
served as a method of entertainment since Egyptian times. In 380 B.C., Saint Augustine
lamented that society was addicted to gladiator games and drunk with the fascination of
bloodshed (quoted by Bok, 1999, p. 31). This belief that humans resort to violent
entertainment comes from the admiration society has for violence. A teenager goes through
various hormonal changes and emotional stability is often affected. A young adult that is stressed
with taking various classes throughout high school, responsible for finishing homework, and
facing social issues becomes a victim of stress. This stress builds frustration, and certain things
that dont usually irritate them, will easily irritate. By allowing a teenager to vent their emotions
by playing video games, it will provide them with an alternative way of allowing themselves to
calm down. Although the question still remains quite clear. What exactly motivates a child to
play video games? A teenager faces various stressor on a daily basis just like an adult could as
well. An adult develops techniques and methods of coping with stressors. Therefore they are
slightly more confident in their ways of handling stress. An adults experience with stress
management gives them an advantage over a teenager. Young adults are vulnerable to stress,
social anxiety, peer pressure, and bullying. A teenager that faces such incidents develops angry
emotions and must learn to cope with them. Video gaming is an essential key to distract
themselves from reality.

Video Game Violence and Youth

Virginia Tech was victim to a mass shooting of gunman Seung-Hi-Cho where 32 were
killed and others were injured. Seung-Hi-Cho purchased two firearms, a Waltherp-22 and a
Glock 17 9mm. Both weapons were used during the shooting. After taking the lives of 32 people,
Cho then proceeded to take his own life. It is a horrific tragedy and created controversy as to
how violent video games affect mass shooters. Surprisingly enough, Cho was not a fan of video
games and hardly played any at all. Chos roommate told media that Cho did not play video
games at all. So this discovery places a higher emphasis on the controversy of video game
violence. There is no correlation with crime and video game violence found just yet. Juvenile
delinquency and crime were at its peak on 1994, and were beginning to worry society. In the late
1990s, violent video games such as Mortal Kombat became popular in consoles. Researchers
predicted that crime could possibly rise even higher than before. Astonishingly, crime actually
decreased extremely rapidly. By 2004, arrests were down 71%, to 1,110. According to the latest
available data, juvenile violent crime arrests were up slightly in 2005 and 2006, although the
number of 2006 arrests was still lower than any year in the 1990s. Arrests for property crimes
have continued to decline (Snyder, 2008). It is a questionable hypothesis to believe that video
games reduced crime, but just because it has not been proven, the theory cannot be eliminated.
How does a childs environment impact reaction to video games?
A child is exposed to a high amount of stress in their school environment, as well as
theyre home. (QUOTE QUOTE) Teenagers facing social anxiety, and feelings of belongingness
cause drastic issues emotionally. Emotions of loneliness, abandonment, and lack of attention
alter a teenagers mindset. Conformity and peer pressure are culprits of causing a child to change
their personality, and their behavior. A teenager who is victim of peer pressure will do anything
to be socially accepted. Part of growing up is learning how to distinguish between what you
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Video Game Violence and Youth

believe, what others want you to believe, and how willing you are to understand another point of
view, (N.A, 2012) This peer pressure affects every teenager differently depending on their
morals, or values. A teenager could react negatively to social pressure, and may choose to isolate
themselves from negative influences. By choosing to isolate themselves from negative
influences, the teenager could choose to follow positive influences instead. A personality of
optimism is developed and the teenager is content with his social status. A teenager with a
cheerful and positive attitude reacts differently to violence. How an individual responds to their
environment depends on the brain of the beholder, (Klein, 2014) Aggressive traits shown in
childhood will alter how a teenager reacts to violence in video games. while watching the
violent media, aggressive participants blood pressure went down progressively with time while
the non-aggressive participants experienced a rise in blood pressure (Klein, 2014) This helps
prove that aggressive traits alter the way in which the brain reacts to violence therefore some
aggressive teenagers will feel a sort of numbness. If the teenager is a positive person, the
violence will make activate his sympathetic nervous system, and will cause a different reaction
than someone with developed aggression. An aggressive teenager will feel no change and enjoys
the violence because their aggressive attitude becomes fueled. Teenagers who become victims of
bullying will often become sensitive, but the teenager could develop a sort of inner anger. The
anger can then be vented by playing video games and engaging in violent video game play. It is
important to understand the concept that a teenager faces various factors of stress, and some even
use video games to relieve stress. Video games arent just only intended for violent aggression
based enjoyment, but can also allow the teenager to drift away from a world of stress. These
video games create a false world in which the gamer can control what is out of their control in

Video Game Violence and Youth

the real world. The satisfaction of being able to control the actions and outcome of the character
is what attracts most gamers.
How does the teenage body inform the reaction to video games?
The teenage body is constantly changing and growing causing various effects. Acne,
puberty, hormonal changes and testosterone are all changes occurring within the teenage body.
The most important of changes occur inside of the brain where the power to make decisions
resides. The brain develops over time. The white insulating coat of myelin on the axons that
carry signals between nerve cells continues to accumulate, gradually improving the precision and
efficiency of neuronal communication a process not completed until the early 20s.(Harvard,
2005). This quote proves that adolescents have not yet developed their brain entirely which
inhibits the ability to think rationally better. Adults are more likely to understand consequence,
and teenagers are prone to be attracted to risk taking. This ideology correlates with video games
because of the video games ability to make choices. Having choices in video games allows the
gamer to create their own conclusions. It is interesting to realize that video gaming is simply
based on the old fashioned reward system. A gamer is rewarded based on their gaming ability
which results in the need to improve that ability. For example, in the Call of Duty Franchise, a
player is rewarded XP (Experience Points) for killing a player in a talented way. This talented
way could be a headshot, a knife attack, or even an opportunity to kill various players with one
grenade. This system of reward creates an addiction that teenagers seem to crave more so than
adults. This all lies within the brains early development and construction. Because the brain is
not fully developed until the late 20s, the Orbitofrontal cortex (segment of the brain responsible
for evaluating rewards) is not fully mature. This helps identify that teenagers are simply more
exposed to taking changes and enjoying the result of a reward. Teenagers are fascinated with
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Video Game Violence and Youth

taking risks, it is in their nature to experiment and deal with consequences. Testosterone is a
hormone which creates the male sex hormone, and develops male characteristics. Testosterone is
also responsible for the sensation of dominance and superiority. A teenager ongoing changes of
Testosterone will often feel the need to assert dominance over his peers. This assertion develops
into a form of aggression and depending on the teenagers ability to control it, could lead to
habits. It is these developments that alter the teenage body, and leave the teenager more
vulnerable to a society of violence.
Video game violence is a subject which is often correlated to aggression, juveniles and
crime. It is important to fully research and understand the reasoning behind the assumptions.
Teenagers engaged in video games involving violence are often labeled as teenagers of
aggression and negative tendencies. Social pressure, peer pressure, and the sense of
belongingness, allow a person to take a closer look of the daily stress teenagers face. High
expectations, high moral values and other pressures placed on them divert the attention away
from success. Abraham Maslows pyramid of psychological needs help identify how we placed
our necessities. Physiological needs being on the bottom and self-actualization being on the top
as the desire that all humans attempt to meet. It allows us to understand in detail the needs of
human psychology.

Video Game Violence and Youth

References
The adolescent brain: Beyond raging hormones - Harvard Health Publications. (n.d.).
Retrieved from http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog-extra/the-adolescent-brainbeyond-raging-hormones
Aggressive People React Differently To Media Violence Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Study. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.biospace.com/news_story.aspx?StoryID=346778
Conformity and Peer Pressure - Psychology. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.netplaces.com/psychology/social-interactions-and-interpersonalbehavior/conformity-and-peer-pressure.htm
Humans Crave Violence Just Like Sex. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.livescience.com/2231-humans-crave-violence-sex.html
Testosterone Promotes Aggression Automatically - Scientific American. (n.d.). Retrieved
from http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/testosterone-promotesagression-aut-12-06-09/
Why Johnny Can't Stop Playing Video Games | Psychology Today. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/unplugged/201011/why-johnny-cant-stopplaying-video-games
Wood, R. T. (2008). Problems with the Concept of Video Game Addiction: Some Case
Study Examples. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction.
doi:10.1007/s11469-007-9118-0
Young Adult Development Project. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://hrweb.mit.edu/worklife/youngadult/brain.html

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