Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory, Research, and Public Policy

by Craig A. Anderson, Douglas A. Gentile, Katherine E. Buckley

Overview

Violent video games are successfully marketed to and easily obtained by children and adolescents. Even the U.S. government distributes one such game, America's Army, through both the internet and its recruiting offices. Is there any scientific evidence to support the claims that violent games contribute to aggressive and violent behavior?

Anderson, Gentile, and Buckley first present an overview of empirical research on the effects of violent video games, and then add to this literature three new studies that fill the most important gaps. They update the traditional General Aggression Model to focus on both developmental processes and how media-violence exposure can increase the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior in both short- and long-term contexts. Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents also reviews the history of these games' explosive growth, and explores the public policy options for controlling their distribution. Anderson et al. describe the reaction of the games industry to scientific findings that exposure to violent video games and other forms of media violence constitutes a significant risk factor for later aggressive and violent behavior. They argue that society should begin a more productive debate about whether to reduce the high rates of exposure to media violence, and delineate the public policy options that are likely be most effective.

As the first book to unite empirical research on and public policy options for violent video games, Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents will be an invaluable resource for student and professional researchers in social and developmental psychology and media studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195309836
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/11/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	9.40(w) x 6.36(h) x 0.73(d)

About the Author

Craig A. Anderson, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Iowa State University, is widely regarded as the foremost expert on the effects of violent video games. His research on aggression, media violence, depression, and social judgment has had a profound influence on psychological theory and modern society. His tireless efforts to educate public policy-makers and the general public have earned him recognition as one of the most influential and respected social psychologists in the world.

Douglas A. Gentile is a developmental psychologist and is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Iowa State University and the Director of Research for the National Institute on Media and the Family. As one of the country's leading media effects researchers, he conducts studies on the positive and negative effects of media on children and adults, including the effects of advertising, educational television, and video games. His studies provide valuable insights to parents, educators, pediatricians, and policy-makers about how to maximize the benefits of media usage while minimizing potential harms.

Katherine E. Buckley, who is completing her Ph.D. in Psychology at Iowa State University, has been researching aggression and media violence. Katherine received her M.A. from Wake Forest University in 2001. She is a member of the American Psychological Society as well as the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and the Society for Research in Child Development.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Violent Video Games: Background and Overview     3
Effects of Exposure to Violent Entertainment Media     12
The General Aggression Model     40
New Studies
Study 1: Experimental Study of Violent Video Games With Elementary School and College Students     61
Study 2: Correlational Study With High School Students     78
Study 3: Longitudinal Study With Elementary School Students     95
Risk Factor Illustrations     120
General Discussion (What Does It All Mean?)
New Findings and Their Implications     133
Interpretations and Public Policy     142
Reducing Violent Video Game Effects     160
Best Practices Coding     165
Video Game Ratings     167
References     173
Index     187

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Michael S. Goldsby, PhD, CCRP (Family Psychiatry of The Woodlands)
Description: This groundbreaking book presents three important new studies on the effects of violent media on children, adolescents, and young adults that yield a host of new findings. An overview of the previous research on the effects of violent video games helps to put these three new studies into historical context. The impact that this body of research has for policymakers and for those in the video game industry is discussed in detail.
Purpose: The purpose is to offer empirical evidence to support the position that exposure to violent video games and other forms of media violence constitutes a significant risk factor for later aggressive and violent behavior. Thus, policymakers and other concerned citizens can use these findings in an effort to strengthen their position on regulatory matters involving violent media content.
Audience: Clearly, there are two target audiences for this book. First, the authors have done a marvelous job of targeting professionals in psychological and sociological research by presenting significant research findings in the style and format typical for specialized research analysis. Second, incorporated into each chapter, the authors have transformed the technical language of each research study into a user-friendly format in plain language that will be useful to parents, policymakers, teachers, clinicians, and all who work with children.
Features: Readers are introduced to a brief history of violent video games as well as to early research studies about the effects that violent video games have on triggering aggressive behaviors in children and adolescents. The authors feature three new important studies that reveal further evidence regarding the ill effects of violent video games on children, adolescents, and young adults. The authors also introduce a slight addition to the General Aggression Model, which they state is a powerful theoretical advance because it not only includes the strengths of a developmental risk and resilience approach, it also posits special testable pathways of effect based on specific theories.
Assessment: The effect of violent video games on children and adolescents is such a hotly debated topic throughout society, it deserves a serious and comprehensive empirical investigation. We often seek solutions to tough moral, social, and ethical problems by looking to science for empirical evidence to guide our public policies. This book delivers on all accounts. The authors are widely regarded as the foremost experts on the effects of violent video games and the media, and this book is by far the most significant addition to the study of developmental psychology this year.

Doody's Review Service

"Craig Anderson, a leading investigator of the consequences of exposure to violence in the mass media, and his colleagues Douglas Gentile and Katherine Buckley, here give us an extremely scholarly and highly sophisticated explanation of both why participation in these violent games can indeed promote violence by the players and why the public at large, including many of our nations' most eminent newspapers and journals, find it difficult to accept the great amount of carefully collected evidence that now exists documenting these ill effects."—
eonard Berkowitz, Vilas Research Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"This book is a must read for scholars interested in the effects of media violence. It combines a concise summary of past research with reports of three new important studies elucidating the effects of violent video games on children, adolescents, and young adults."—L.Rowell Huesmann, Amos N. Tversky Collegiate Professor of Communication Studies and Psychology Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan

"The studies reported in this book provide the most rigorous and compelling evidence to date about the harmful effects of violent video games. In particular, the authors' longitudinal study of video game violence effects should silence the critics who complain about the validity of short-term, experimental lab research. Policy-makers will cite this research as a cornerstone in their future efforts to address concerns about video game violence."—Dale Kunkel, Department of Communication, University of Arizona

"This is a 'must read' for anyone concerned about the effects that video games have on children and teens! Anderson and Gentile are leading researchers in the field who have done a masterful job of pulling together what we know about video game effects and presenting them so that they are accessible to those who need to understand and can make the most difference- parents, teachers, clinicians, and all who work with children."—Michael Rich, MD, MPH, Director, Center on Media and Child Health, Director, Video Intervention/Prevention Assessment (VIA), Children's Hospital Boston

"With the growing interest of researchers, public policy makers, parents, and educators on the negative effects of video games, this book is a most welcome addition to the communications literature. The authors present an excellent blend of theory and reserach, including their own studies, and numerous suggestions for public policy debates that will hopefully lead to more positive game content and a more considered use of videos. The chapter on methodology is particularly well written and is a must for anyone contemplating entering the field of video game research."—Dorothy G. Singer, Senior Research Scientist,k Department of Psychology, Yale University, and Co-Director, Yale University Family Television Research and Consultation Center

"...an indispensable tool for parents and professionals who want to have important knowledge to make wise decisions about video game use in the lives of childrens and teens."—Gloria DeGaetano, founder and CEO, The Parent Coaching Institute

"This book delivers on all accounts. The authors are widely regarded as the foremost experts on the effects of violent video games and the media, and this book is by far the most significant addition to the study of developmental psychology this year."—Doody's

"This is a shocking but necessary read for anyone working or living with children or adolescents. In fact the information contained within the book is a must read for anyone who knows anyone who plays video games, whether the games played apear to be overtly violent or not...Although this is a controversial subject, this book successfully opens the readers eyes to the psychological, sociological and political implications of violent video games for the mass population."—The Psychologist

"Anderson, Gentile, and Buckley have written a brilliant, highly accessible volume on the effects that playing violent video games have on kids and teens. Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents explains the logic, history, and science behind the domain of media effects research and introduces the emerging focus on video games in the field to a broad readership."—International Society for Research on Aggression

From the Publisher