The exposure to violent videos on the internet and also through watching movies and playing video games are potentially detrimental to behavior. Arguably, the watching of these movies contributes significantly to the development of perceptions. Additionally, behavior change over the years is attributable to the negative or positive material that the contents on television peddle.
Arguably, 67% of families in America are reported to be playing video games 5which are different in making and con8tent. Most of such games are highly saturated with violent actions such as war or even comfortable inclining towards criminal activities. There are also p0rosocial videos that benefit people from viewing them. In essence, there are arguments that such prosocial games or videos may help in cutting down aggression. Significantly, 99% of boys in 2008 were reportedly playing video games. Also, among girls of the immature stage is 94% were playing such games (Engelhardt et al., 2015). These numbers have been increasing over the years.
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Video Content and Behavior Change
Significantly, the watching of videos affects cognition, beliefs, and practices, such as aggression. The content in the video is likely to enhance learning through observation. In children and teenagers, the effect is highly effective. In essence, the video games that involve fighting, such as the avenger’s game, create a perception that fight is a way to defend oneself (Hilgard et al., 2015). The people who are watching play such a game are likely to progress to practicing in real-life leading to violence
In essence, children are mostly affected since their minds are still developing, and they have not yet attained independent cognition. The video games are likely to produce a mimic effect on the children. Through observing or playing, a child is expected to feel the excitement of killing zombies. Desensitization, therefore, occurs, making the child view the act of slaughtering as heroism (Engelhardt et al., 2015). The exposure to violent games and movies is likely to affect neural mechanisms, which in turn negatively affects emotional regulation. These individuals are expected to develop anti-social behavior.
Additionally, physical arousal is likely to occur, which may affect the behavior positively or negatively. Significantly, through watching movies with sexual and robust content, the brain reacts by triggering the release of hormones that create aggressiveness sexually. Through arousal by watching pornographic content, the person watching becomes highly inclined to sexual or pervasive behavior (Mohammadi et al., 2015). In cases of watching lots of such content, the individual is likely to engage in cases such as rape.
Additionally, the desire to portray certain traits that the videos praise is detrimental, especially to children and most young people. For instance, watching celebrities in movies that portray a sexual or violent characteristic is likely to produce a similar reaction among those watching (Romer et al., 2018). Children desire to be seen as those they believe are highly regarded and, as a result, produce similar behavior.
However, there are several cases where movies and games produce positive effects. For instance, prosocial behavior such as kindness and protecting those we love are highly transmittable (Pollard, 2015). Therefore, despite causing harm, some may be contributing to shaping good traits among individuals. This positive contribution may also indicate that indeed, there is an impact on behavior that results from what one view. However, behavior change and a rise in crime rate and violence, cannot be said to be entirely caused by such games and movies (Markey et al., 2015). However, the media, through such movies, peddles ideologies, beliefs and even informs a pattern of behaviors such as bullying and sexual violence.
On legislation in US the media has severally been on the spotlight concerning adult content regulation. For instance, the sellers of adult content attribute their freedom to the first amendment on freedom of expression. However, there have been policies for instance placing bans and regulation to ensure viewers are of the consenting age. Video games cannot be regulated through acts of legislation apart from placing license policies to ensure vetting of the games and copyrights laws.
In conclusion, behavior change may not be entirely blamed on video content or graphic images. None the less, parental guidance needs to be exercised significantly to ensure that there is safeguarding from such behavior change. However, with the high rate of polarization through the media, crime rate, and rape and violence cases are on the rise.
Reference
Engelhardt, C. R., Mazurek, M. O., Hilgard, J., Rouder, J. N., & Bartholow, B. D. (2015). Effects of violent-video-game exposure on aggressive behavior, aggressive-thought accessibility, and aggressive affect among adults with and without autism spectrum disorder. Psychological Science , 26 (8), 1187-1200.
Hilgard, J., Engelhardt, C. R., & Bartholow, B. D. (2015). Effects of Video Game Violence, Game Difficulty, and Prenatal Testosterone on Aggressive Behavior. Interaction , 249 , 2-48.
Markey, P. M., French, J. E., & Markey, C. N. (2015). Violent movies and severe acts of violence: Sensationalism versus science. Human communication research , 41 (2), 155-173.
Mohammadi, S., Kiani, H., Perina, A., & Murino, V. (2015, August). Violence detection in crowded scenes using substantial derivative. In 2015 12th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Video and Signal Based Surveillance (AVSS) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Pollard, T. (2015). Sex and violence: The Hollywood censorship wars . Routledge.
Romer, D., Jamieson, P. E., Jamieson, K. H., Lull, R., & Adebimpe, A. (2018). Parental desensitization to gun violence in PG-13 movies. Pediatrics , 141 (6), e20173491.
