Video games psychological pros and cons

Video Games Psychological Pros and Cons Name Course number Instructor’s name Date Introduction As of 2004, the video game business in the US was doing better than other entertainment sectors such as box office movies and popular music industry making over seven billion dollars (Kalinske, 2000). The video game phenomenon is new to research and to most parents. This is due to the fact that many parents are unable to teach their children how to play the games for lack of previous interaction with the games. Traditionally, parents have been teaching their children how to play most games. This lack of mastery of the phenomena has thus resulted in slight removal of parental control over their children (Kalinske, 2000). The amount of revenue generated in the video industry is indicative of just how popular they have become. It is important to study the psychological effects that the games are having because people are spending heavily in this area. Many parents are at dilemmas on whether or not to get them for their children because of the controversy surrounding the phenomenon. Some parents have reason to believe that video games are negative influencers for their children particularly due to fears that it nurtures aggressive habits. Others have reason to believe that it has positive impacts on their children’s ability to interact with technology and others find it useful in keeping their children indoors without having to constantly baby sit them. There are many inconclusive findings about how it contributes to aggression. The researches have shown that a controversy exists on whether children are able to distinguish between make believe and reality (Grapes, 2000). Other social factors such as violence in the homes, and fatherlessness have been cited as the primary causes for aggression in children as they seek to resolve their internal conflicts. There are reports that show that the games are likely to cause addiction which may even become worse by deteriorating to depression (Sammis, 2008). Video games are important in assisting children to become familiar with technology that is in use or will be in use in the next generation’s employment requirements. Children are also able to form good social structures with others as they engage with the games. Researchers have indicated that video games are a significant way of children understanding and taking control of the world. The children are able grow when they take full control as they play and they are also aware that the situations are only make believe. They benefit from rewards for successful moves and when they make mistakes, they are given a chance to do it again without any scolding or insensitive ridicule. Another way in which they promote social growth is because children often play them in the company of others. This allows them the opportunity to receive admiration for demonstrated prowess encouraging a sense of belonging among others that may be stronger in other areas such as studies or athletics (Kalinske, 2000). These and other effects are the variables for this study. The paper shall present various research findings on the various psychological effects of video games. It shall be divided into three sections with the first section on the positive effects, the second on the positive effect and the third will be a general discussion entailing an argument for video games as an inevitable technological tool that could be used to our advantage. Beneficial psychological effects Some video games have a significant effect on inductive reasoning, ability to be flexible while thinking and visual memory (Bailis, 2009). Video games improve the player’s visual attention so that they are able to not only see but also to more proactively attend to those objects that they can see. When we look around, we are able to see a number of things at a time but we only process those things that we attend to. This is why when one is perhaps cooking their visual attention is in the pot and not on the sink nearby although it is in the visual range or at the periphery. Trained gamers demonstrate more efficiency in visual attention because they are aware of the potential occurrences that are stored in their visual memory. The players have practiced the art of quickly deploying their visual attention to the objects in the periphery and quickly shifting it back to the main area of focus and are thus better performers on tasks that require such skills such as driving. There are a number of tests for various aspects of visual attention such as the multiple objects tracking paradigm (Pylsshyn & Storm, 1988). It measures visual attention by testing one’s ability to track the number of moving items across a field and determines the strength of the visual attention by the number of objects that are successfully tracked or attended to. Tests performed using this method have indicated that the players are two times more able to track items than non- players (Green & Bavelier, 2003). Other methods include the Useful Field of View and the attentional blink paradigm that measures the ability to attend to objects across the entire scene and the ability to process existing and rapid new information simultaneously. The players demonstrate superiority in these aspects of visual attention. Action games are effective in building the skills for increased attention and drivers would benefit from such games to increase their ability for safer driving because of the increased ability for simultaneous object monitoring they provide (Shawn & Bavelier, 2004). A recent study by Paul J.C. Aldachi and Teena Willoughby has explained that video games may contribute positively on psychological development. They indicate that they satisfy the same aspect of development that hobbies and sporting activities satisfy. The player’s development is impacted upon when they employ their cognitive abilities for problem solving (Shapiro, 2013). They develop skills to follow the rules given and to employ problem solving to successfully navigate through the games. The skills required for every level of the game are different and thus the need to acquire new ones hence building upon the already existing ones. This improves their overall cognitive problem solving capacity even for use in other life scenarios. The players have to concentrate and are driven by an intrinsic motivation to tackle the exciting challenges in the games and the social benefit accrued by enjoying the game together with peers. The systematic and sometimes complex rules require one to concentrate to grasp. After grasping them, they are required to consistently exercise them even in unfamiliar situations in order to be successful in the game. Finally, the players are able to use the cumulated skills in every level of the games to reach a certain goal. They are required to engage their cognitive abilities in mixing the appropriate strategies and problem solving skills throughout the game and this enhances their psychological responses in other unfamiliar set ups (Shapiro, 2013). Another positive psychological impact of video games is that it enhances ones reaction time and visuo-motor coordination (Shawn & Bavelier, 2004). Persons that play video games become fast and accurate in coordinating their hands and eyes and are thus very effective in other activities that rely on sight and hand movement coordination. Those involved in manual jobs such as carpentry, mechanical engineering and other forms of work that require one to properly coordinate between their eyes and their hands would enhance their ability through video games. They become quite fast in responding to arising unexpected circumstances that require movement such as applying brakes while driving in case of an obstacle. People with difficulties of longer reaction times when faced with circumstances requiring reduced reaction time could better enhance their ability for reduced reaction time through video games (Shawn & Bavelier, 2004). Video games also enhance player’s spatial visualization skills (Gagon, 1985). A study was conducted whereby a group was trained on the Zaxxon game that has a three-dimensional space where the player controls the spaceship movement and evades obstacles launched by enemies. The group was then tested for spatial skills while being compared to a group that had not received training on the game and the one that had received training demonstrated better results (Gagon, 1985). Other tests have indicated that children demonstrated better scores on mental rotation tests when they are trained...