RJA #15: Reflection

During the course of this class there have been many helpful skills that I have learned. For instance the formatting of an MLA style research paper was something that I have not done before, or if I have it was a decade ago. Also utilizing search engines on the Internet in an efficient manner was very helpful to me. As for the topic I researched I actually learned a lot. In fact I actually started on the opposite side of my stance until I had done all of my research. I really had no idea that there were actually benefits to kids playing video games. I feel that the whole research process will be very helpful to me in my future career as an Electrical Engineer because I am sure there will be many times where I am going to have to research something. Also as I said before, being able to use the search engines online in an efficient manner was something that I did not know how to do before and it really cut my research time probably in half. That is something that I know I will use at least on a weekly basis for the rest of my life.

RJA #14b: Application Project References

References

Parrish, D. (2008, April 19). The Effect of Violent Video Games on the Human Psyche. Retrieved April 5, 2010

Fleming, M. J., & Rick Wood, D. J. (2006). Effects of Violent Versus Nonviolent Video Games on Children's Arousal, Aggressive Mood, and Positive Mood. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 31(10), 2047-2071.

Desensitize. (2010). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved April 8, 2010

Brockmyer, J. H. (n.d.). Violent Video Games and Desensitization. Retrieved April 10, 2010

Schaffer, A. (2007, April 27). Don't Shoot: Why Video Games Really are Linked to Violence. Retrieved April 5, 2010

RJA #14a: Application Project Progress Report

The application project that I am going to be doing is a short story. My story is going to be following an elementary aged kid who has an obsession with video games. I plan to go through how video games impact his life negatively and positively. The negative impacts will range from lagging behind in school work to signs of desensitization. The positive influences I plan to incorporate are increased visual reflexes and increased cognitive abilities. I also plan to have him in the end figure out a good median of video games and real life, but is not definite at this point.
So far I have come up with a basic outline of what I want to incorporate into my story. Also I have begun an outline for my plot. In addition I have been examining other short stories to see how much detail they gave in their short stories to make them remain short stories instead of novels.
I still need to finish my plot line, however I may just leave the end out of the outline to kind of see where my writing takes it. In addition I still need to go through my sources a little more to make sure that I meet all the criteria for which ones to use. Other than that I just need to write it out.

RJA #13c: Application Project Example

Growth by Edward
http://www.freestoriescenter.com/storyview.asp?entry=3149

The short story which I found gave me a good structure to base my own on. By reading it I realized that my writing style will have to be drastically different than when I wrote my argumentative paper. Based on this authors style he starts a new paragraph whenever the subjects attention or train of thought is shifted in an other direction. Also it will give me a good start in using conversation between my main subject and other people in his environment. In addition to the structure I'm also going to have to be able to describe the environment in which my character is going to be interacting in, which will be very important since the story is going to be based on how he reacts to this environment. I also believe that since I am going to be showing how he engages his environment after playing video games, I am going to need to give sort of a short background story on how he acted before he was introduced to video games.

RJA #13b: Application Project Plan

For my application project I plan to write a short story depicting an elementary aged kid who has an obsession with video games. I plan to go through how video games have been effecting different aspects of his life. By using information that I have gathered from my resources for the argumentative paper I will show both negative and positive effects on his life. I intend to finish the story with him coming to some resoloution with his obsession and finding a middle ground, however we will see how things sort out when I start writing.

RJA #13a: Word Cloud

RJA #10c: Ideas for the Application Project

I've begun thinking about what to do for my application project and here are a few of my ideas:

• Write a news article on a child using skills that he has advanced by playing video games to help police solve a crime
• Do a short story about a young boy who spends all his time playing video games and how it effects his social life
• Write a news article on a recent crime spree committed by a couple of elementary school students and how video games did or did not contribute to their decisions
• Write an editorial on how society constantly searches for easy scape goats instead of focusing on the actual problem

RJA #10b: Progress Report for Argumentative Paper

Accomplished:

• Argumentative question developed
• Stance on question decided
• Thesis statement written
• Resources found and read
• Began putting resources in citation format
• Finished outline
• Began separating useful and non-useful information

Still need to do:

• Finish going through all resources (completed within a week)
• Begin to construct rough draft (within 10 days)
• Finish peer reviews (2 weeks)
• Finish final paper (2 1/2 weeks)

RJA #10a: Annotated Bibliography, Part 1

Parrish, Drew. "The Effect of Violent Video Games on the Human Psyche." ParrishCo. http://parrishco.com/academic/the-effect-of-violent-video-games-on-the-human-psyche/. Web. Apr. 19, 2008.

A student at the University of Central Florida created this website which contains articles he has written which correlated with his own interests. He states in his article that contrary to popular belief, video games can actually have positive effects on people including increased cognitive abilities. Parrish also goes on to show how video games were found to be protected under the first amendment. While this source was composed by a student he does cite many reliable references which support his ideas.

Fleming, Michele J. and Rick Wood, Debra J. "Effects of Violent Versus Nonviolent Video Games on Children's Arousal, Aggressive Mood, and Positive Mood." Journal of Applied Social Psychology. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119017627/abstract. Web. July 31, 2006.

Researchers from the Centre for Applied Psychology at the University of Canberra in Australia did a study on a child's mood after playing violent and non-violent video games. The study shows that after playing the violent video game that there is actually an increase in positive mood. Their study also showed that there was no increase in aggressive mood after playing the violent game. This study shows contradicting findings to what people believe to be true about violent video games. Also this study supports other references who make the same claim as these researchers.

RJA #9b: Argument

Research Question:



What effects do video games have on our youth?



Thesis Statement:

In the aftermath of such tragedies as the Columbine shootings and other such violent crimes committed by children has held the video game industry under scrutiny. However since claims have been made that the video games pushed these youth to act out on their violent impulses, many Psychologists and other professionals have began studies which contradict such claims. These studies have shown that children actually posses higher cognitive abilities, sharper visual reflexes, and an overall more positive behavior after playing video games.

Reasons:

1. Children who regularly play video games show an increase in cognitive abilities.

2. Children who regularly play video games are able to remember more details in a real life environment than those who do not.

3. A study done testing children's mood after playing violent, non-violent, and a pencil and paper game shows that after playing either video game the child's mood actually increased positively as opposed to negatively.

4. With advancements in technology there are actually video games that can provide exercise and learning activities for children.

Counter Arguments:

1. Children mimic acts seen on violent video games

2. Video games cause desensitization in not only children but society as a whole

3. Study shows that by seeing situations solved with violence, when that situation is presented they will react violently.

RJA #9a: Thesis Statement

Research Question:

How do video games effect our youth?

Precise Claim:

Popular opinion states that video games have a negative impact on the physical and psychological development of our children, however studies show that they actually have a positive impact.

Reasons/blueprint:

-Youth who play video games show an increase in cognitive abilities
-After playing video games children are able to pick up on details in real life that a normal person would overlook
-Children have an increase in positive behavior as opposed to a negative or aggressive behavior after playing violent and non-violent video games alike

Complete Thesis Statement:

In the aftermath of such tragedies as the Columbine shootings and other such violent crimes committed by children has held the video game industry under scrutiny. However since claims have been made that the video games pushed these youth to act out on their violent impulses, many Psychologists and other professionals have began studies which contradict such claims. These studies have shown that children actually posses higher cognitive abilities, sharper visual reflexes, and an overall more positive behavior after playing video games.

RJA #8a: Quotation, Paraphrase, and Summary

This study investigated the relationship between violent video games and children's mood. A total of 71 children aged 8 to 12 years played a paper-and-pencil game, a nonviolent video game, and a violent video game. Results indicate that arousal, as measured by heart rate and self-reported arousal, increased significantly after playing the violent video game, as compared with the other two game conditions, with girls reporting more arousal than did boys. There was no significant increase in aggressive mood scores for either boys or girls after playing the violent game. Positive mood, as measured by positive affect, showed no significant increases or decreases after playing either video game. However, positive mood, as measured by general mood, showed a significant increase after playing the violent game for both boys and girls, but only as compared with the paper-and-pencil game. Results are interpreted in terms of social learning and cognitive information processing theories of aggression.



http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119017627/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0





Quotation



Since the increase of violence in schools there has been many studies done trying to find out what stimuli or experiences are causing our children to become more violent. Such areas including video games, movies, and television programs have been targeted as causing desensitization among our youth. There has been outcry that there needs to be more limitations, harsher ratings and perhaps even censoring of such multimedia. According to a study done by the Centre for Applied Psychology University of Canberra Canberra, Australia, "There was no significant increase in aggressive mood scores for either boys or girls after playing the violent game."





Paraphrase



A study was done investigating the relationship between a child's mood and violent video games. The group consisted of 71 children ranging in ages from 8-12 years old participating in a pencil-and-paper game, a non-violent video game and a violent video game. Based on the arousal, measured by their heart rate and self-reported arousal, there was a significant increase after playing the violent video game as compared to the other two activities, with the girls reporting higher levels of arousal than the boys. However there was no increase in aggressive mood for either the boys or girls after playing the violent video game, and there was also no increase in positive mood for either after playing the pencil-and-paper game or the non-violent video game. There was a significant increase though in positive mood after playing the violent video game compared to the general mood after playing the pencil-and-paper game. These results are all based on terms of social learning and cognitive information processing theories of aggression.



Summary



According to a study done on children ranging in ages from 8-12, it was shown that a child's aggressive behavior does not increase after playing a violent video game. It does show however that compared to a pencil-and-paper game the child's mood is effected positively by playing a violent video game.

RJA #6c: Field Research Options

As far as field research for my topic of, psychological effects of video games on children, I have been mostly considering doing an interview. One interview that I had contemplated is with my psychology 1001 professor. The interview would consist of a list of questions that I would come up with relative to my topic, and then schedule a place and time to conduct the interview, and whether it be done via e-mail, in person or on the phone. Another source I had recently considered would be finding an expert on Allexperts and submit my list of questions to them. A third option that I have considered but am not so sure about is actually going online and submitting a survey to be done on the topic, or even going onto xbox live, which is where you can find "gamers" and survey people I found on there. The last idea I do not think will work very well since they do not use their real names on there and would probably be pretty reluctant on giving out that information. Also the validity of the results would be biased since I'm sure they are all pretty pro video game since that is the only reason they are on that network. All in all, I feel that the interview would get me the most useful and relevant information for my research.

RJA #6b: Social Media and Multimedia

Below is my searches performed in social media search tools:

Technorati
video game psychology
Feb 25, 2010
5 hits
relevance 2



Google blog search
"video games" AND "child psychology"
Boolean, search engine math
Feb 25. 2010
1,370 hits
relevance 1



blinkx
"video games" AND psychology
Boolean, search engine math
Feb 25, 2010
42 hits
relevance 2

RJA #6a: Websites

The following are web searches that I performed for my topic of psychological effects of video games on children:

Google Scholar
Video game, psychology
Advanced Search, social sciences
Feb 25, 2010
63,200 hits
relevance 3



Yahoo directory
"video game" AND psychology
Boolean and search engine math
Feb 25, 2010
145
relevance 1



Allplus
"video games" AND psychology
Boolean, search engine math
Feb 25, 2010
137
relevance 4



IncyWincy
"video games" AND psychology
Boolean, search engine math
Feb 25, 2010
15,326
relevance 3

RJA #5c: Reference Articles

This is a list of reference articles that I have found:

Ian Parker
Intelli games
Ian Parker- A Writers Portal
Digital Universe
August 5, 2008
http://www.trunity.net/ianparker/articles/view/134524/?topic=14562



Minister Stephen
Non-Violent Games Please
Light of Life Society
Digital Universe
May 28, 2008
http://www.digitaluniverse.net/LightofLifeSociety/blogs/view/133050/

RJA #5a: Books

Here is a list of books that I have currently found on my topic:

James Paul Gee
What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy
New York
Palgrave Macmillan
2007



Geoffery R Loftus, Elizabeth F Loftus
Mind at Play: The Psychology of Video Games
New York, NY
Basic Books
1983



Douglas A Gentile, David A Walsh
The Impact of Video Games on Children and Youth
Informed Educator Series
Arlington, VA
Educational Research Service
2001



United States. Congress. Senate, Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
The Impact of Interactive Violence on Children: Hearing Before the Committee on Commerce
Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One hundred Sixth Congress Second
Session, March 21, 2000
National Government Publication
United States; Congress; Senate; S. hrg
Washington
US GPO
2003

RJA #5b: Periodical Articles

The following are articles that I have found so far on my topic:

Mark D. Griffiths
Video Games and Health: Video Gaming is Safe for Most Players and Can be Useful in health
Care
BMJ: British Medical Journal
Vol. 331, No. 7509
July 16, 2005
pp. 122-123



Mark D. Griffiths
Playing Video Games Seems to Have few Serious Acute Adverse Effects on Health
BMJ: British Medical Journal
Vol. 324, No. 7346
May 11, 2002
p. 1159



Craig A. Anderson, Brad J. Bushman
Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive cognition, Aggressive
Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Pro social Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Review of the
Scientific Literature
Psychological Science
Vol. 12, No.5
September 2001
pp. 353-359

RJA #4c: Research Question Check

http://carmelosbornresearchjournal.blogspot.com/2010/02/rja-3c-research-question.html
http://brandoncarmack31-eng1020.blogspot.com/2010/02/rja-3c-research-question.html

RJA# 4b: Search Strings

+"video games" +psychology
+video +game -movie +child +psychology
+entertainment +therapy
+"violent behavior" +multimedia


children AND psycholgy
entertainment NEAR child psychology
xbox AND violent behavior

RJA #4a: Keywords

Psychological Video games
Psychologist Video gamer
Psychology


Mentality Entertainment
Subconscious Multimedia
Chemical reaction Computer game
Thought process Educational
Therapy Physical movement
Behavior Nintendo
Emotional Xbox
Cereberal Playstation


Social Science-Psychology-branches-child psychology

Recreation-games-video games-issues-violence

RJA #3c: Research Question

Who is most effected by the violence in video games?
What stimuli in the games, if any, cause the aggressive behavior in children?
When do violent video games start affecting children's behavior?
Where should the problem be solved, at home, or at the companies?
How should the video game industry control who can purchase these games?
Why do parents allow their children to play violent video games?
Should there be more legislation passed restricting violent content?
Would more legislation to censor be a violation of our civil rights?

RJA #3b: Research Topic Focus

Here is a list of questions that could be debated on my subject:

-Cause children to be more violent
-Children becoming desensitized to violence
-Excessive use cause child obesity
-Increases hand eye coordination
-Children become more tech savvy, adapt easier to new technologies
-Bad for the eyes
-Lack of concentration in school
-Lack of fitness
-Inappropriate material too easy for children to obtain
-Children become lazy
-Makes children less sociable
-Video games can be educational
-Can also be used as exercise (Wii)
-Should increase pressure on parents
-Legislation should be passed in making it harder for children to obtain violent
video games

RJA #3a: Research Topic Exploration

I began research into my topic of psychological effects of video games in children initially in Google Scholar. So far in my analysis of what I have found, it appears that there are numerous articles and studies done that show increased aggressive behavior in children after they play violent video games. In continuing my research I plan to delve deeper and see how these levels compare to individuals that actually commit violent acts. My opinion at this moment is that despite video games causing an increase in aggressive thoughts, in order to cross that line of I think I can and I am doing is more greatly effected by other stimuli. It seems this is going to take a lot of research as the studies I have found have been pretty recent, and they all state that there has not been an adequate amount of studies done to make a solid decision on whether or not these video games are causing harmful psychological damage to our youth.

RJA #2b: Research Topic

The psychological effects of multimedia on children has been an issue of debate for quite some time now. Most notably would be the argument of whether or not violent video games fueled the violence behind the shootings at Columbine High School. I chose to research this topic because when such horrible things happen there is an immediate need to find a scapegoat, because the thought of a child carrying out such an act is incomprehensible. However, when we are looking for a driving force of such actions we tend to look at other actions which are similar. This seems logical, but can we really place the blame on video games, or do we have to look deeper into the psychological workings of a developing mind.

According to the news, the shootings at Columbine were conducted by two young men that were avid players of a violent video game. However these same two kids were also outsiders in their school, often heckled by the more "popular" kids. In addition there is a video of them posing with and firing assault rifles, which brings up the question, "Where are the parents?" There seems to be more to our children's psychological workings then what seems the most obvious. I believe that in the whole array of influences in a child's life that video games itself is a very minor factor.

Aside from the information portrayed in the main stream media, there is not a whole lot that I know on this subject. According to the media violent video games can influence children to commit violent acts. However, if a child can be individually influenced by a game, why are there not harsher restrictions on them. These conclusions sparked my interest into looking deeper into the subject. What other outside sources can contribute to the violent behavior of our youth, could it be parenting, society itself, these unknowns to me are my driving force into delving deeper into the psychological mind frame of a child.

RJA #2a: Possible Topics

Some of the possible topics that I am considering to research are as follows:

• The psychological effects of multimedia in children
• The link between advancing technology and increasing obesity
• Increase of juvenile delinquency and decrease of "family time"
• The acceptance of unethical behavior by professional athletes
• Robotics replacing manual laborers

The topic that I am favoring at the moment is the psychological effects of multimedia in children, which I will narrow down into not such a broad topic when I begin researching.

RJA #1: Areas of Academic Interest

Areas of scholarly and academic interests:

-Electronics (advancement of technology)
-Psychological effects of multimedia in children
-Downfall of ethics in professional sports
-Technology and the physical effects on society
-Military tactics