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Violence In Video Games

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Violent Video Games and Violent Behaviour
Hazel O’ Connor
The University of Limerick

Violent video games and violent behaviour
Oxford dictionary defines violence as “behaviour involving physical force intended to hurt, damage or kill”. Violence has always existed, but is the use of violence in the popular video games played today causing an increase in this problem?
“Violence is one of the most fun things to watch” – Quentin Tarentino..REFERENCE
With the demand for video games growing constantly in today’s world, it is not surprising that there are concerns relating to the impact of these games on players. Now, 89% of video games contain violence (Children Now, 2001). It is, therefore, no wonder this topic piques much curiosity …show more content…

The results of the famous Bobo doll experiment provides an effective example of this and support bandura’s theory. He exposed children to an aggressive adult in a room with a doll in one group and a non-aggressive adult in a room with a doll in the control group. Just as he had predicted, the children exposed to the aggressive adult imitated this aggressive behaviour when they interacted with the doll themselves. In contrast, the children exposed to the non-aggressive adult acted less aggressively towards the doll (Bandura, 1961) .This experiment certainly provides evidence of observational learning, particularly in relation to the vulnerable minds of children. It is difficult to deny that this may also apply to the violent characters in video games. This is likely to be a contributor to the belief that violent video games influence aggressive …show more content…

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Nauert, R. (2013, August 27). In New Study, Video Games Not Tied to Violence in High-Risk Youth | Psych Central News. Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/08/27/in-new-study-video-games-not-tied-to-violence-in-high-risk-youth/58934.html
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Radowitz, J. V. (2014, August 5). Violent video games lead to riskier behaviour in teens | Irish Examiner. Retrieved from http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/violent-video-games-lead-to-riskier-behaviour-in-teens-278159.html
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