Video games can increase aggression

Question

This source claims that studies show an increase of violence within men who play video games.

Comments

I very heavily agree with your research and found your article very helpful. I also agree and have seen that video games can increase aggression in people.

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Although the source of this article, American Psychological Association, is known to be peer reviewed, I think that this specific article is not the most credible. The article does include examples of two studies that can be looked up for further information and insight. Both of these studies resulted in findings that supported an increase in aggression from playing certain video games. However, these specific studies seemed to be more focused on finding out other information such as video games leading to a decrease in grades and violent games causing more aggression that violent movies, instead of focusing on the main argument. Additionally, the author did not provide enough evidence to create a strong enough claim.  In order to enhance the statement, more evidence should be collected and further elaborated on. When I searched up other articles with similar claims, a large amount appeared from reliable sources, like university research, that also shared that video games can cause aggression. Clearly, this is an accurate claim to make, but this specific article does a poor job making a strong and clear argument.

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The relationship between violent video games and the human brain has been a huge argument throughout the past decade on whether it influences dangerous behavior in kids and even adults. Some research can see a potential connection between violent video game exposure and heightened aggressive behavior. For example, a 2018 meta-analysis led by social psychologist Jay Hull found a small increase in real-world physical aggression among adolescents and pre-teens who played violent video games.
https://magazine.wsu.edu/web-extra/the-evidence-that-video-game-violence-leads-to-real-world-aggression/
However, there are many mixed opinions about this argument. Patrick Markey, a psychology professor at Villanova University, found that men who commit severe acts of violence play violent video games less than the average male.
https://apnews.com/article/global-trade-games-china-texas-violence-142636cf56de4ec8a7bf277a49f9efe7?
While both of these articles share some interesting points I think In summary. At the same time, some studies suggest a link between violent video games and increased aggression, the evidence is not conclusive, and attributing violent behavior solely to video game exposure is not supported by current scientific understanding.

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The article's information is from a reliable source but isn't up to date. Many current videogames have lots more violence and realism than the videogames of the past. You would think that the aggression would be greater more recently but more recently researchers have mostly thrown out this concept. This is largely due to the fact that as males age they simply have a higher likelihood of engaging in aggressive behavior. I say males since that it the most common audience of the violent videogames. The article also states that videogames are correlated to worse grades which is obviously just because of the time spent playing them since they are addictive. The article also doesn't really have a very good measure of aggression which is a very difficult thing to consistently measure. The article also never gives a degree to which the aggression increased in the researched subjects. It could be that there was a very slight or negligible affect from the violent videogames.

Answer 1

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/05/health/video-games-violence-explainer/index.html

While I do think some good points are made in your article, the article itself is incredibly outdated. The article linked above is much more recent study on the subject, and it concludes that "where there are correlations, it's probably because of a third factor." The article also discusses how Andrew Przybylski, an associate digital media professor at Oxford, recently released a study of "more than 1,000 British adolescents that found no link between time spent playing violent video games and aggressive behavior."

Comments

I think linking additional or at least one original source material that is not from a news outlet would be helpful in this factcheck. The original source, although from 2000, is from the American Psychological Association, so having an opposing source from a source with a similar or related rapport in terms of validity and trust. Also the CNN article listed is from 2019 so perhaps a more recent article may have been beneficial and analysis to where CNN got there information from would perhaps build trust in this fact check, like the professor you mention and more linkage to them which was good.

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Good job in your factcheck by providing a far more modern article as the original article was really outdated. I do think that if you included a more updated article from a medical journal which could be more trustworthy than a legacy news site even though CNN used exerpts from the ASA. While the CNN article is good putting in an updated version of the ASA would be great.

Answer 2

Studies have linked videos games with aggressive behavior in teens. Not only that, but doctors have found that video games may be related to bullying, which has been founded as a risk factor for violent behavior. The American Psychological Association (APA) linked video games as a risk for aggression. It has also been found that video games can desensitize users to identify aggressive behavior and preventing those violent thoughts, actions, and behaviors. Directly from the APA, "violent video games may be more harmful can violent television and movies because they are interactive, very engrossing, and require the player to identify with the aggressor..."

https://yvpc.sph.umich.edu/video-games-influence-violent-behavior/#:~:text=Although%20playing%20violent%20video%20games,for%20more%20serious%20violent%20behavior.

https://www.center4research.org/violent-video-games-can-increase-aggression/

https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2000/04/video-games

Answer 3

According to an article by the National Library of Medicine, video games can increase aggression, if they are violent. Playing video games can can increase anger and frustration , especially if the game is not going right or it is stressful. This can also lead to a form of aggression shown while playing the video game. Violent video games cause the most aggression because the game is based off of aggression, causing the player to become more violent or aggressive. In most cases, this anger and aggression does not leave the video game (as in the player is not aggressive in real life), but in certain cases it can happen that the video game player or user can become violent and in a change of headsace.

Answer 4

Although it might not always be the case, it is true that violent video games can increase aggression. According to this website I found sourced below, this claim is true because violent video games provide a forum for learning and practicing aggressive solutions to situations with conflict. Video games wield tremendous emotional influence because of the way players identify with the controllable characters within the world of the game, to an extent, essentially melding their identities with those of the characters. With this sense of connection, playing a violent video game appears to affect aggression by priming and promoting aggressive thoughts.

https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2000/04/video-games#:~:text=%22Violent%20video%20games%20provide%20a,aggression%20by%20priming%20aggressive%20thoughts.

Answer 5

While I agree with some of the research targeting violent games as a cause for violence, but it is not entirely true. According to the University of Oxford, there is a study titled "Violent video games found not to be associated with adolescent aggression" Tied with The royal society publishing article: Violent video engagement is not associated with adolescents aggressive behavior evidence from a registered report. Written in the Oxford article aligns with my stance that video games can provide good outcomes. Video game advocates agree that the topic is flawed and hateful. As video games serve as a outlet for anger, or any other emotions.

"A final series of models used the prosocial behaviours subscale of the SDQ to determine if carers’ impressions of their child's helpfulness was influenced by violent video game play. - Results from this analysis mirrored those for aggressive behaviour: there was no significant linear (p = 0.49) or nonlinear (p = 0.70) relation in evidence."

sources: The Royal Society Publishing

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17577537/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/23/video-games-boost-mental-health-stop-guilty-pleasure

Answer 6

After reading the article that was liked, it became evident that the study was outdated, and although some good points were made, more recent studies have disproven many of the points made in the article. The article in question is the one that was linked by the best answer to this claim.

Original article: https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2000/04/video-games

better article: https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/05/health/video-games-violence-explainer/index.html

Answer 7

According to the title, video games can increase aggresion. The user provides a link to a very creditable source, the American Psychological Association. When clicking the link, I instantly recongnize the title to be almost the same. It states, "Violent video games can increase aggresion." After scrolling down to find other examples, I saw that there was a conducted study by the APA's Journal of Personality and Social Psycology. It states that video games such as Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, and Mortal Kombat can create or intensify the feelings and emotions of anger or agression. The study's outcome also shows that because video games are so interactive, they're much more likely to cause emotional responses in players than tv shows and movies. 

In other article I found, "Do video games influence violent behavior," written by Youth Violence Prevention center, I found that there has been a few studies conducted and talked about in the book," Violent Video Game effects on children and Adolescents,". Anderson, Gentile, and Buckely go through with a study of 161 9-12 year olds along with 354 college students were assigned either a violent or non-violent video game. In the end, what the three researchers found was that habitual exposure to violent media was associated with higher levels of recent violent behavior than those who played non- violent video games. 

https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2000/04/video-games

https://yvpc.sph.umich.edu/video-games-influence-violent-behavior/

Answer 8

The claim that video games can increase aggression is somewhat factual because the aggression is typically caused by specifically violent video games. Harvard Health Publishing writes, “The view endorsed by organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) is that exposure to violent media (including video games) can contribute to real-life violent behavior and harm children in other ways.”

Some studies have suggested that there is a link between aggression and playing violent video games like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto. University of Michigan’s Youth Violence Prevention Center states, “Researchers have reported experimental evidence linking violent video games to more aggressive behavior, particularly as it relates to children who are at more sensitive stages in their socialization. These effects have been found to be particularly profound in the case of child-initiated virtual violence.”

The source linked in this claim matches the information provided from other websites on whether video games affect aggression levels. The American Psychological Association says, “In the short run, playing a violent video game appears to affect aggression by priming aggressive thoughts. Longer-term effects are likely to be longer lasting as well, as the player learns and practices new aggression-related scripts that can become more and more accessible for use when real-life conflict situations arise."

Answer 9

This website may be credible from it's source but because this specific page hasn't been updated in a very long time, I'm not sure how relevant it is now in the year 2025. While the article gives points like how there's a possibility that violent video games may be more harmful than violent tv or movies with how interactive they are, it doesn't give a clear reasoning that video games are causing more people to be aggressive. It mostly talks about how video games are mostly affecting students learning and lowering gpa scores. While an article by PsyPost conducted a study where study author David Lacko and colleagues found in all 3,010 Czech kids, that people who were in the between person findings were the ones that played more violent video games sought to score higher on cognitive empathy and verbal aggression. The other group were the within-person findings meaning "looking at how changes in an individual's gaming habits relate to changes in their behavior over time", this group found neither a decrease or increase in the level of violence in the games played by the participants over the study period had any real effect on empathy or change. This found that video games are not a direct cause of aggression, though it shows that the relationship appears to be influenced by a number of differences and situations. While there is way more information in the text itself this is just an overlook of the study and it's findings. All my info on the study can be found on: https://www.psypost.org/study-finds-little-evidence-linking-violent-video-games-to-increased-aggression-in-adolescents

Answer 10

After fact-checking this claim using CNN’s article, “Do Video Games Lead to Violence?” along with other reviewed studies, it is evident that there is no conclusive link between video game violence and real-life aggression. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), while video games may contribute to short-term increases in aggression, they do not lead to long-term or criminal violence.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/05/health/video-games-violence-explainer/index.html