Stop the Madness
With all the recent shootings, one might wonder what sparks such aggressive acts. We believe these actions stem from the very early stages of innocence. The core reason to the increased violence is due to a child's exposure to violent video games such as Halo, Call of Duty, Gears of War, and Assassins Creed. We intend to prove that a child's interaction with such games effects their cognitive processes and leads to increased aggression. Additionally, it is our goal to increase and promote awareness of this growing problem.
Our Theory
Carey Goldberg of the New York Times wrote, '''Most of the games that you see, like this right here, this is outrageous,' said Harvey Lemay of Malden, Mass., gesturing toward a shelf of violent games. 'This is teaching kids to go out and fight in school, and get a bad attitude''' ("Children and Violent Video Games: A Warning").
Supporters
"Playing violent games leads to increased physiological arousal, increased aggressive thoughts, increased aggressive feelings, increased aggressive behaviors, and decreased prosocial helping." (Gentile, "The Effects of Video Games on Children: What Parents Need to Know").
Craig Anderson and Brad Bushman note, "Exposure [to violent video games] is positively associated with heightened levels of aggression in young adults and children, in experimental and non-experimental designs, and in males and females" (“Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Scientific Literature”).
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