Lately, with the advent of advanced technology and the introduction of video games to the market, researchers have started evaluating players’ psychological health and seeking a correlation between their moods, attitudes, and aggressive games. It is widely believed that playing violent video games makes individuals more aggressive, decreases pro-social behavior, increases impatience, and interferes with temperament and intellect. In this sense, video games influence the psychological system of players, causing frustration and anger. However, while violent video games might be perceived as harmless in the hands of some individuals, they still impact the cognition of susceptible people and result in their inability to solve arguments without aggression.
First, playing violent video games is a way to learn and practice using forceful dispute-resolution techniques. The social psychological hypothesis claims that violent video games can start young people’s development through observation. Individuals might not only mimic the violent conduct of the role model in this scenario, but their perceptions of aggressiveness may also shift as an outcome (Shao & Wang, 2019). Consequently, teenage violence and violent video games may be mediated by normative attitudes about aggression. The players cannnot differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate due to the long-term effect of violent games.
Second, video games that expose players to violence and aggression make those with a weak psychological system more prone to the influence of such games and, as a result, more susceptive to temperament issues. According to one research, children may be more susceptible to the aggravating effects of prolonged exposure to violent video games (Zhang et al., 2021). At an early age, the mental state of children is still in the phase of development, and if the youth representatives have psychological issues, violent games will only exacerbate the situation. Assertive cognition facilitates the link between violent video games and aggressiveness, supporting previous studies that found aggressive understanding to be a mediator of the effects of violent video games.
Still, it is believed that aggressiveness is significantly influenced by parental family discipline, domestic violence, and other familial circumstances. On the one hand, the home environment can directly affect aggressiveness by influencing individuals’ thought processes and establishing behavioral norms (Shao & Wang, 2019). In other words, for people who have less family communication and experience abuse, the impact of violent exposure on normative ideas about aggressiveness is higher (Shao & Wang, 2019). In this sense, the root cause of aggression is mostly family circumstances, and such behavior should usually be controlled. Yet, it is vital to mention that family control might be meaningless if a person is prone to mental instability.
Hence, while some people may view violent video games as innocent, they nonetheless have an adverse effect on vulnerable individuals’ cognition and make it difficult for them to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence. First, utilizing harsh conflict resolution strategies is something they can learn and practice by playing violent video games. Second, those with weak psychological systems are more susceptible to the effects of violent and aggressive video games, making them more prone to temperamental problems. It can be argued that domestic violence and other familial situations are the main roots of aggression and that parental family discipline is the key to the absence of violence. However, it is important to note that if a person is prone to mental instability, family control may be useless.
References
Shao, R., & Wang, Y. (2019). The relation of violent video games to adolescent aggression: An examination of moderated mediation effect. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1-9.
Zhang, Q., Cao, Y., & Tian, J. (2021). Effects of violent video games on aggressive cognition and aggressive behavior. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 24(1), 5-10.
