Violence and Computer Games Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Violence and Computer Games - Research Proposal Example Video games are a relatively new type of entertainment that first appeared only some thirty years ago in the 1970’s. However, they become really popular only in the late 1980’s and only then the interest emerged in exploring their impact on children’s psychology. This rsearch proposal tries to give more than one opinion on the problem. Majority of researchers consider violent computer games to be among the top causes of aggressive behavior and violence in real life. Yet some psychologists think that computer or television violence does not really causes violent actions in real life, rather on the contrary: it helps people to give a loose to their negative emotions and thus reduces probability of aggressive style of behavior in real life. This research proposal covers a history of video games studies, from the one that was carried out in the beginning of 1980’s that failed to prove their effects on children’s behavior. But in more recent studies and reports this connection has been confirmed by Zisman in 2000. This research proposal focuses on two main approaches in social psychology that throw light on the nature of how computer games influence children. The first one is called the cultivation theory. Other studies on the subject do not differ much: they prove positive correlation between playing violent computer games and aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior for â€Å"they [violent video games] introduce a unique feature: the individual creates and participates in the violence† - Funk.