Do games cause behavior issues?

[HylianAshTTV]

So I just had to write a small essay on any topic for school. The topic that I chose was "Do violent video games cause behavior problems?" So I am here asking this question to see what other people's opinions are.

 

[Malligos]

No

[BardinAeducan]

No, of course not.

[Quikdrawjoe]

Go do the research yourself

[Remilia Scarlet]

No, I don't believe they do. In fact, studies have shown that prison inmates who played video games showed a much clamer, cooperative side, and had a much larger chance of making it out on parole for good behavior.

 

Here's a link: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2006-03-14-prison-arcade_x.htm

 

Personally, I play vid​eo games to calm myself down when I'm angry. I always feel better after a couple of hours of killing shit or a relaxing game of Bejeweled.

 

If a child has behavior​al problems, it's not the video game's fault. It's either the parents' or something is wrong with the kid.

[Parker]

In a normal, stable person, no. In a crazy fucker, maybe. 

 

Go do the research yourself

 

He clearly asked for our opinions. If you don't want to give yours, don't post. 

 

 

Parker

[Priere]

My opinion...is no.

 

Firstly, violent games are usually rated for 15-18 years old, so that means that the gamers who do play violent games are *supposedly* mature enough to know that it's just a fun game and should not be copied. Anyone who does use violence used in games as an excuse for anything has a problem, not the game.

 

Secondly, kids are the ones that usually like to take a role of a character in a normal game or something, and act cute and all. Exposing children to inappropriate, violent games is the parent's vault and is responsible for the outcome.

 

Hope that helps your report

Edited January 14, 2016 by YaoiGod

[TheYuriG]

Do guns kill people?

[A12]

Cause, no.

Exacerbate, yes.

[Redgrave]

Not really. I do think competitive games like fighting games and other MP stuff can make people a bit too competitive but that's expected. I was told (or maybe they said they think that, I don't remember) that games make people more paranoid, but I don't really see that unless someone is playing horror games constantly with headphones. 

[Condemned09]

Nah it's impossible for video games to cause behavior issue

[Hoshi]

No. That's just an excuse so a parent doesn't have to take responsibility. People are always trying to find some scapegoat to blame when they don't understand something or don't want to admit it was their fault. If someone has a behavior problem, it's because of how they were raised. What you do in a game doesn't always reflect your nature. Just like what an author writes about doesn't always reflect their personal beliefs and watching horror doesn't desensitize people to violence. There have always been violent people, long before games.

[thegirlruka]

I wouldn't say violent games cause violent behavior, but bad games and hard games definitely do. I was playing WarioWare Twisted on my gba sp and the calibration was slightly off. I starting failing on things and wario started laughing at me. I  got so pissed off at it that I threw my gameboy at the wall to stop wario from laughing at me. I shouted "Who's laughing now?" and immediately realized that he was still laughing because I had to buy a new gba.

Edited January 14, 2016 by kuuhaku

[JapanimeGamer]

What worries me is that it could actually be a larger amount of people who get easily influenced by video games than some people would actually believe.

I am not saying that the majority of people go around killing people after playing GTA or CoD, of course not, but who knows who has? I mean, if it happened just once then that's more than enough. How about 10 times, 100 times?

I don't have any scientific proof for this but knowing some people who really did get lost into MMO's to the point that their real lives/jobs and people around them suffered showed me that it is (under some circumstances) easy to get deeply absorbed and dangerously influenced by playing video games.

It might be rare, but yes, I believe it can (and does) happen.

Edited January 14, 2016 by JapanimeGamer

[DEMON]

Bad parenting causes behavior issues (letting your kids play games 18 rated when they are at an age where they are easily influenced by everything) or people with unstable minds if we are talking about adults who get influenced.  Anyone who is in a stable mind shouldn't be influenced by what they see in any kind of violent game.

[Lord_of_Ra]

It depends on the person, basically.

[Waffle-Sensei]

Depends on a lot of things. How a person is raised and how much they are influenced by things are the bigger key factors I think.

Though most of the time it seems like people who are violent just so happen to play video games, rather than it completely influencing their actions. There's also the fact that newscasters and parents hate video games, so they tend to blame them for the actions of an individual rather than the individual themselves.

[Lillia]

No, gamers should not be identified with a certain behavior, there are many types of gamers.

We're all different people with different personalities after all. 

[LittleLamb121]

Do they cause the behavior? No, I don't think so. Could it possibly effect someone who is already having symptoms of some kind of problem? Yes, that is possible.

 

All in all, it comes down to the person. The games themselves are not what we should be blaming, but at the end of the day, if someone was going to have problems, it's going to happen regardless of gaming (or any hobbies, to be quite honest).

[Quikdrawjoe]

In a normal, stable person, no. In a crazy fucker, maybe. 

 

 

He clearly asked for our opinions. If you don't want to give yours, don't post. 

 

 

Parker

 

That was my opinion. 

[Maftet]

No I don't think the games themselves have any influence on a stable, rational healthy person.

I do think online aspects influence behaviour in young children whose parents buy them games that they're not emotionally mature enough to play.

 

The content of the game probably has little effect, but hearing the abuse people hurl at each other while playing online can and does influence children's behaviour. They pick up words and phrases they have no idea what the meaning is but fling them around anyway.

Also because they are emotionally immature they don't know how to deal with frustration and losing. This can lead to tantrums, lashing out and destructive behaviour because the child doesn't know how to properly handle those emotions.

 

Well, that's just my 2 cents anyway.

[QuentinCle95]

I'm a theoretical and experimental psychology student, and am TA of a social psychologist, so I deal with this question from time to time. Basically: yes, slightly. 

 

When people think of the debate 'games cause violence', they tend to think in extremes: 'Yes, it causes people to go on killing rampages' vs 'No, it doesn't effect me in any way.'

If the phenomenon exists at all (which is no guarantee due to the changing nature of scientific consensus in psychology), it's extremely slight. 

 

There are a number of studies that did find significant effects. But people have to bear in mind: the effects found are almost always rather small, and one can almost always call into question the external validity of these studies. Mainly, because the measure used for 'agressive behaviour' is never as extreme (or, in other words: to the extent of what most people would call 'agressive') as people imagine. Most studies have people cause discomfort to another person, or ask the participant about their intention of agressive behaviour in a hypothetical situation.

 

The following is not a recent study (2002), but it is one that has received some consensus from a number of leading researchers and I personally haven't found a more sound explanation than the one this offers.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brad_Bushman/publication/251403039_Violent_Video_Games_and_Hostile_Expectations_A_Test_of_the_General_Aggression_Model/links/53d3df810cf228d363e990e4.pdf

For those who don't feel like reading it completely: The study found an existing effect of what they dubbed the hostile expectation bias. Basically: video games tend to make people expect more agressive behaviour from others, and in return they may behave more agressively (defensively) themselves.

 

That said, these studies all confirm only short-term effects, and hardly any conclusions have been dran from longitudinal studies.

 

 

However, as stated: this effect should in no way be interpreted extremely (as in 'Video games make you paranoid'), just as a minor effect that video games may have, which no one should actually worry about that much. I know I don't

Edited January 17, 2016 by QuentinCle95

[Feral]

No, people just like to say they do as a scapegoat for poor parenting.

[Z1MZUM]

It's like blaming AC/DC on Richard Ramirez and his rampage, fabricated. People were running over prostitutes and taking their cash way before GTA3. Other fabrications that are just created to serve a different purpose are the "war on drugs" and the "weapons of mass destruction". I don't know what to tell your teacher apart from no, people are not going to stop what they like doing regardless. The most frequent cause of bad behavior in youth is poverty, gaming isn't cheap.

[Fierce_DeityX1]

I did a project about games and behavior (spent about 5 months on it). My reasearch (thus opinion) showed that it does not. BUT a factor is somebodies mental stability.

Some people have mental diseases that separate them from reality (schizophrenia being a prime example). 

 

 

tl;dr: No in most cases.

Edited January 17, 2016 by Fierce_DeityX1