Effectof violent video games on desensitization.Brockmyer,J.
F. (2015). Playing violent video games and desensitization toviolence. Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America, 24(1),65-77.Thisauthor’s research in this article displays how exposure to violent video gamesare linked to violence desensitization in real life.
The data used for thisresearch is from psychophysiological and behavioral research, and from aquestionnaire given to children and adolescents. The author concluded that thereis an increased risk ratio of desensitization to violence when exposed toviolent videogames. In addition, there could also be a prosocial behaviordecrease and aggression increase. This source is helpful because it usesmultiple methods to support the predicted outcome.Bushman,B. J.
, & Anderson, C. A. (2009). Comfortably numb: Desensitizing effects ofviolent media on helping others. Psychological science, 20(3),273-277.Thisarticle examines two studies that used to test the hypothesis that exposure toviolent video game media decreases (desensitization) any action intended tohelp others in trouble or pain. Partakers played violent and then non-violentvideo games in the first study and watched violent and non-violent movies inthe second study. At the end of the study while taking a questionnaire, therewas a scenario presented where an injured person was in need of help and thepartakers who were part of the violent media group took longer to respond tohelp compared to non-violent media group.
This supported the hypothesis andsuggests that the participants exposed to violent media were desensitized topain and violence of others. This source would be useful for those who is doingresearch on violent video games.Engelhardt,C. R., Bartholow, B. D., Kerr, G. T.
, & Bushman, B. J. (2011). This is yourbrain on violent video games: Neural desensitization to violence predictsincreased aggression following violent video game exposure. Journal ofExperimental Social Psychology, 47(5), 1033-1036.
Thisarticle examines how exposure to violent video games can lead to neuraldesensitization to violence. The study included participants with differentlevels of previous exposure to violent video games. In this experiment,participants played violent video games and or non-violent video games.
Inaddition, they were also exposed to violent and non-violent photos, the brainactivities were monitored, and the P3 component of event-related brainpotential was measured. Participants with minimal previous violent gameexposure who played violent game in this experiment showed decreased P3 levelsafter looking at violent photos. This indicated physiological desensitizationto violence and linked it to an increased aggression. Fraser,A. M., Padilla-Walker, L. M., Coyne, S.
M., Nelson, L. J., & Stockdale, L.A. (2012).
Associations between violent video gaming, empathic concern, andprosocial behavior toward strangers, friends, and family members. Journalof youth and adolescence, 41(5), 636-649.Thisstudy shows that playing violent video games can lead to cognitive desensitization,lowering the empathy for others in need, and decrease prosocial behavior. Theauthor investigated how these affect the empathy and prosocial behavior towardsfriends, family, and strangers. The results of the study showed that there wasa decrease in empathy and prosocial behavior towards friends and family but itwas stronger towards strangers. It was discussed how prosocial behavior throughmechanism of decreased empathy due to exposure to violent video games affectdifferent targets.
This article is a relevant source for those whose researchis about violent video games.Grizzard, M., Tamborini, R., Sherry, J. L.,& Weber, R. (2017).
Repeated Play Reduces Video Games’ Ability to ElicitGuilt: Evidence from a Longitudinal Experiment. Media Psychology, 20(2),267-290. Thisarticle examines the correlational and cross-sectional studies which state thatviolent video games leads to emotional desensitization.
A longitudinal studywas done to see if playing violent games repeatedly could cause emotionaldesensitization and if it can generalize to the other types of games and reallife experiences. The results showed that repeated violent game play causedconditioning and reduced the capacity to cause the feeling of guilt on theviolent game. In addition, this also affected the other type of games.
