Impact of Violent Video Games

In today's modern but volatile society, playing video games is considered very much a norm. You can find video game consoles in almost every household and even on peoples mobile devices. This exposure to video games makes the players very vulnerable to being affected by the games they play, since video games have become to hard to avoid.


The content put out by the companies that publish video game titles have evolved over the years. Ever since the first video games, these companies have been constantly trying to introduce new games and revolutionary gameplay to attract new players and keep the video game industry going.
From the earliest arcade games to today's modern titles, the change in the content and intensity has changed significantly. The main difference being the sheer amount of action and violence in modern games.



Game developers decided that adding more over-the-top violence and allow gamers to do outrageous actions would end up generating more sales. This did more than just that because the video game industry has been dominated by violent video game titles due to their massive appeal.
However it has been noted that the psychological effects of playing violent video games for extended periods of time can be detrimental and can have adverse consequences.


Research has shown that immediately after playing a violent video game, kids can have aggressive thoughts, angry feelings and physiological effects such as increased heart rate and blood pressure. In addition, studies that survey large populations of kids on their game-playing habits and measure aggressive personality traits or self-reported aggressive acts — physical fights, arguments with teachers — often find an association between games and aggression.
A lab experiment showed that individuals low in violent video game exposure (VVE) behave more aggressively after playing a violent video game than after a nonviolent game but that those high in VVE display relatively high levels of aggression regardless of game content. Mediational analyses show that trait hostility, empathy, and hostile perceptions partially account for the VVE effect on aggression.

However, not all people who play violent video games will show some signs of aggressive behavior immediately afterward. A person who just played Call of Duty for example won't always have the sudden urge to pick up a gun and start shooting at other people or start being very hostile toward others. It is true that there is a certain connection between violent video games and the aggressive behavior shown in those who played them but it is not always apparent.

I feel that alot is dependent on the players themselves and depending on their age, they play the games deemed appropriate for them. Or else they risk exposure to game content that they might not understand or be prepared for. There is a rating coupled with every video game sold today which suggests the age appropriateness for the game, and appears on the front of virtually every game box available for retail sale or rental.



For example, a little kid picks up a mature game from the local store and goes home to play it, he might be exposed to things which might not be appropriate for his age, such as the level of violence or deaths of the in-game characters. This might trigger a unintended response in the kid and may result in a permanent change in his behavior.

Although this is just a hypothetical and extreme situation, my point is that aggressive or unpredictable behavior in the player would typically arise because he is not prepared. Also not be able to distinguish between virtual reality and real life can attribute to aggressive behavior.

Amongst other things..




Sources:
http://www.esrb.org/ratings/index.jsp
http://psp.sagepub.com/content/31/11/1573.abstract
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/03/health/la-he-closer-20100503

Body Language: Not what you hear, but what you see.

Remember Chapter 5? The one on non-spoken communication? The lesson where the Australian guy in a suit demonstrated how we unconsciously know how to interpret body language?
Well, here is Allan Pease again in case you don't remember:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoEfCOTcYIQ

Body language plays such a large part of our lives every single day however we don't even notice it. It is widely agreed that body language plays a significantly larger role in us being able to understand other people as compared to spoken words. According to Professor Albert Mehrabian, who has pioneered the understanding of communications since the 1960s:

• 7% of message pertaining to feelings and attitudes is in the words that are spoken
• 38% of message pertaining to feelings and attitudes is paralinguistic (the way that the words are said)
• 55% of message pertaining to feelings and attitudes is in facial expressions

We are constantly exposed to body language when we interact with other people. Like you instinctively know when is the appropriate time to go up to someone and talk to him/her. And when that person is actually listening to what you say, whether the person's responses are truthful or not. You can kind of see it, rather than pick up something a little off just from the words that person is saying.

Like when the person you are talking to is constantly making eye contact and not being easily distracted by other things, you know you have that person's attention and they are willing to hold a conversation. Or when Murphy's Law strikes and due to the Law of Encounters, you suddenly find yourself with a person you don't really want to talk to.

Like so,



You would to everything you can to break off the conversation as fast as possible with the least pain right? So, you would act like you're in a hurry or distracted and constantly check you phone for example, all the while saying all the right things. All of this is to just convey the message that this conversation is getting awkward and you don't wanna talk anymore, but in a more subtle, and less direct way.

Another situation would be when you come up to someone and you get a feeling that you don't want to approach the person just by the way he acts. His/her body language tells you so much without him/her needing to say a word.



 "Be water, my friend."


You wouldn't wanna mess with him right? Even if you wanted to you simply can't. He's Bruce Lee.
But, the main point is the body language part.

The point is recognizing body language and interpreting it correctly will help you through daily life, it lets you see so many other hidden meanings you could have missed and enable you to react accordingly. Recognizing negative vibes early on would save you from making the wrong choices, and this can be applied in almost every aspect of daily life.


Mehrabian's Communication Research, Retrieved from: http://www.businessballs.com/mehrabiancommunications.htm
Bruce Lee picture, retrieved from http://www.bruceleedivinewind.com/