Violence and Kids?

Post Reply New Topic

I need to dispute this. In psychology the other day we watched a video done on a certain study. In said study one group of young kids watched a grownup acting very violently towards a "knock down" clown (knock them down, they pop back up type). Then they were allowed to interact with the clown. All the kids who saw the adult behavior acted extremely aggressively. However another control group who did not see the adult and just went in acted very differently.

The point is unless you have a frame of reference, the first thing you see as an act will tend to stick in your head. If a very young child plays GTA they will have a different image of the world then if they know better first.

Also you cannot blame the parents for everything. Sure, many are to blame for much of what happens but the kid needs to take responsibility as well.

Do you know the name of this study? I saw this too in a psychology class a few years ago. It was really interesting and very scary stuff. Sort of reminds me of that "blue-eyed people/ brown-eyed people" study that a teacher did with her classroom in the 60's.

Dmitri Christakis has done a lot of this work and also work on attention span and exposure to media (games, tv, etc).
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/c ... /113/4/708

Funny story. Last weekend my 4 year old (very bright NT child) watched "Beauty and the Beast" with us. We watched as a family and he was a little frightened in the scary parts, but we talked about it and hid under the covers. Fine. So, movie gets over and a couple hours later I hear our dog yelping in pain, and my husband jumps up and runs over there. My boy had sat on the dog - hard. My son looked upset, and confused. I talked to him and it became apparent he thought he could "ride" the dog, like in the final scene of Beauty and the Beast when Chip, the little cup, turns into a boy and rides the big Sheep Dog, formerly a foot stool? Our dog is a little 18 pound terrier.

I was really surprised at this! I mean obviously you can't ride the freaking dog, he's way too small! But it made sense to him perfectly because he saw it on the cartoon.

I will quote a study that is on the book "On Combat" written by Lt. Col Dave Grossman and Loren W. Christensen. According to the authors researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine recently conducted a study that demonstrated that video game affects the child's behaviour. The researchers compared a set of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) that showed the difference in brain activity in the pre-frontal cortex of kids with low exposure to media violence and kids with high exposure to media violence. The pre-frontal cortex is the part of the brain responsible for moderating impulse urges and thinking about the future consequences of decision-making.

The results achieved by the researchers were that teens with low violent media exposure were using more of their pre-frontal cortex than teens with high media exposure. The pic is bellow (the larger the green area the more brain activity is happening at the pre-frontal cortex):



The same result was achieved after a fMRI that was made when the teens were performing a exercise called "GO-NO-GO" (these tests mesure the capacity for sustained attention and response control). The results were the same, the low media exposure group was using more of pre-frontal cortex of the brain (logical part of the brain) when it comes to looking into the future, weighing consequences and making decisions. The results are bellow:




The result of the researchers was that teens that were subjected to high amount of media violence had reduced activity in the pre-frontal part of the brain (logical part of the brain) that was similar to teens which had a diagnosis of disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) which is a diagnosis that is given to children who have shown significant aggressive behavior and resistance to authority.


References: "On Combat, The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace", Lt. Col Dave Grossman, Loren W. Christensen. (chapter 7), Warrior Science Publications; 3rd edition, 2008

Chapter 7 of the book is availabe on-line at: http://www.killology.com/on_combat_ch7.htm

No, but I will ask next class.

I would say that once a child has:

1. seen blood
2. Understands death
3. Knows that killing people is a bad thing
4. can differentiate fantasy from reality

Just about any game will be fine. At that point your biggest worry will not be wether or not the violence will turn your child into a serial killer, but just wether it's graphic enough to give nightmares. I played plenty of "T" rated games at like, eight, and I'm not a serial killer. Of course, I was unusually perceptive when I was young, always trying to explain to everyone else at pre-school why it was impossible to grow up to be a duck or a power ranger...

Do games have an effect on the people who play them? certainly. But I would argue what matters is not the violence, but the motivations of the characters involved. When some stupid kid blames video games for something they've done, it's usually a game that casts them as the villain. In games where the characters are trying to save the world, talk about the lunacy of war and stuff, that will have a very different effect.

Will your kids draw violent pictures? maybe. But focus less on the fact that their characters are fighting and more on what motivates them to fight.

It depends. Be sure to understand the age restrictions. Games have ratings just like movies. Look up ESRB or similar rating systems to understand what the symbols mean.

Violent video games damaging a child are all in the parents head. They need to stop watching faux news and realize that this is just a game and it is not real (except for the very rare severe cases where the kid is just an idiot). And when you feel your son is of age to play the video games you and your consider violent just teach that the game is not real and what you do in a game you cannot do in real life no matter what. Like teach what is real and what is not.

the ESRB's rating system is INCREDIBLY flawed it is reay pointless to judge a game based on the rating the ESRB gives them. Because it makes no sense how the halo trilogy is the same rating as the gta games. And yet there are plenty of teen rated games that can be deemed much more innapropriate than halo yet the ESRB gives it a lower rating

just something to remember and think about.

All I have to say is that just do not keep them ISOLATED from the reality of life. That includes violent video games. As others have said it is the parents job to influence the child. Proper exposure and taught mind-set at an early age is important I'd say. I can't be one to say if violent games at an early age is good or not, you can make that choice, I just say in the long run they should be allowed to play those things.

Unless you're a complete nut with your child and keep them under watch at all times they are going to do things you don't want them to. It is best that some of those things are done with the parent around.

I don't consider myself an authority figure at all on this, but I will provide my opinion.

Keep two things in mind. First, the video game industry is liberalizing. The standard for the Mature rating 10 years ago is tantamount to the standard for the Teen rating now. Second, nobody knows the full psychological effects of video games on young children.

start them playing as soon as possible. for his age get borderlands, its brightly colored and lots going on. i baby sit my infant nephew alot he really loves head shots

dealta force was epic those days <3 i would keep gta series bad for kids under 5-6 ...and then we get to REALLY scary games that u dont want to play in dark alone.....like fear(dont even think about it) alien vs predator,i would not let playem under 10-12...while games like counter strike source can provide entertaiment to almost everyone i seen kids of 8 years playing that...and they are good

I begin to play Duke Nukem 3D when I was eleven and Soldier of Fortune (the first) when I was 16...

I remember reading somewhere (cant remember where) that killing someone in reality, killing someone in a videogame and watching a murder on TV (newsbreak or movies) exactly involved the same brain areas. Is it true or false ?

i doup no one could kill a pixsels in game and then human and feel nothing so it has to be false

Well, as my younger brother put it, "Can a video game make you want to kill people . . . no. Can people make you wanna kill people . . . HELL YES!!"