I know what it's about. Did you know that games are partly developed with the help of psychologists, in order to get you 'addicted'. Everything is well put together and it works pretty well. To prevent your youngsters from slipping up in 'real' life, read the following article carefully, it will prevent you from waking up with a 14-year-old GI Joe in your living room...

lk. There is no longer any doubt about the relationship between violence in the media and the increase in aggressive behavior. 3500 scientific research studies were consulted. These studies include broad epidemiological surveys among the population, cross-cultural studies, experimental research and "natural" research in the laboratory. There are only 18 studies in which this ratio was not found.
Human aggression is produced by its culture and the relationships between humans, as shown by extensive research in the fields of anthropology, cultural anthropology and ethnology (Leakey, Malinowski, Benedict, Mead, Montagu) .¹
“All in all, this means that the thesis of congenital aggression in humans is simply no longer defensible.”²
"Even from the point of view of biology, humanity is not doomed to war." There is no reason “to fatalistically maintain the view that violence and aggression are some kind of 'natural law'”.3

Violence is learned

Since the 1970s it has been clear that violence is learned and not rooted in instinct. ⁴

Learning from a model

Aggression is learned by imitating a “model”: “Human beings are not born with a preformed repertoire of aggressive behaviors; they have to learn them somehow.”⁵
Even non-aggressive children imitate the aggressive behavior of role models. "Apparently you don't have to have an emotional problem or be hyper-aggressive to learn aggressive tactics by observation."⁶
Demonstrating and experiencing aggression does not lead to a reduction in aggression, but on the contrary to an increase in it. (Bandura, p. 169)

violence in the media

Some media currently offer the most powerful models for learning about violence. Many studies prove it:
 

Loss of sense of reality through consumption of violent media ⁷

Media consumption prevents the confrontation with reality which alone can generate responsibility, self-awareness and the joy of living. Through play, the child must be able to acquire fundamental social skills and overcome negative experiences, which does not happen with video games. There, the children are confronted with extreme images and behaviors and they do not acquire positive values. 8
The media isolates children emotionally and physically from the close and necessary attachment of the adults who care for them. ⁹
 

In the long term, media consumption leads to an aggravated use of violence

Already in 1977 the long-term observation of Lefkowitz et al. concluded that “it is television with its emphasis on human-to-human violence and its unbridled drive for profit that both stimulates aggression and teaches viewers the special techniques of aggressive behavior.”¹⁰
The portrayal of violence on television and in videos not only encourages children to copy it, but it makes them desensitized, i.e. they show less emotional reactions to acts of violence and accept the real violence all the more naturally, so to speak, as normal. ¹¹
Long-term observations unequivocally prove the relationship between media consumption and aggression. “The more television teenagers watch, the more violent they will be as adults.”¹²
Learned aggression may not show up in every behavior, but in corresponding situations, learned aggressive behavior will occur. “Aggressive behavior is preceded by aggressive thinking based on theoretical aggressive models. It is these aggressive patterns that are established through the consumption of television violence.”¹³
 

Killer games: media that lead to violence

Some media train children to kill and injure like soldiers in military training. Dave A. Grossman, former officer and military psychologist at Westpoint, shows that with television, movies and video games, children are desensitized, brutalized and conditioned in the same way as soldiers who in military training programs learn to overcome their natural resistance to killing.
“We expose teenagers and children to the exact same mechanisms that condition professional soldiers to kill.” "To kill you need three things: a weapon, the know-how and the will: violent videos give two of them, the know-how and the will."¹⁴
 

Dehumanization of children and adolescents by violent media

The use of violent electronic games has increased in recent years to gambling addiction. School children play for up to 50 hours a week and until they faint.
Werner Glogauer, media scientist at the University of Augsburg, proves that many massacres caused by children or adolescents from the mid-90s in the USA and Germany have a clear connection with media consumption.
Violent acts in movies have instigating effects for young people: Murders are staged based on known movie sequences (eg Littleton Massacre, Kentucky Amoks, Arkansas, Washington Mississippi).
The contents of violent electronic games are becoming increasingly realistic and dehumanized. The consumer can modify them according to his motivations and his interests, he can for example draw on photos of people he hates, scanned in the games.
Violent videos and computer games are causing a massive increase in aggressive behavior and a regression in positive social behavior in children. ¹⁵

Prevention

Violence prevention must take place in the family, at school and in society. What is fundamental is the prohibition of all forms of violence among adults as well as among children. The domains and conceptions of prevention are:
 

Prevention through emotional warmth, empathy, boundaries, non-hostile measures, and authority

The prevention of violence begins with the emotional exchange in the first relationship (usually of the mother) with the child. A positive emotional attitude towards the child, characterized by warmth and empathy, significantly decreases the risk that the child will develop a hostile and aggressive attitude towards loved ones and his environment.
Allowing freedom of action for autonomy training must go hand in hand with taking a clear stand against negative or violent behavior of the child. It is in this consistent attitude that positive authority manifests itself and gives the child a positive orientation.
“The love and empathy of the person(s) bringing up a child, clear boundaries of what is allowed and what is not, non-physical methods of parenting create harmonious and independent children.”¹⁶
 

Guidance by parents encourages the development of social behavior

It is necessary :
Parental empathy and care; a measured but effective control by the parents; parental guidance and role models; collaboration in the household and assumption of responsibilities; imitate harmful interactions between children, encourage positive interactions; allow the child a measured degree of autonomy; a positive identification of the child with the adult. ¹⁷
 

Lively relationships build positive values

Attachment research shows: The transmission of values ​​is an emotional process and does not just happen at the rational level. The prerequisite for values ​​and for conscience is stable attachment to close people in the first years of life. In cohabitation, the child increasingly integrates the behaviors, norms and values ​​of those around him. Values ​​are emotionally grounded capacities, an integral component of personality, and they guide behavior in all situations. ¹⁸
 

School violence prevention

Adults must take responsibility for the whole situation of the child, in learning and in his social relationships. Teachers and all citizens surrounding the child must collaborate. Olweus presents a catalog of measures to be taken, adapted to the level of the school, the class and the individual. In Norway, this concept of violence prevention for schools has led to a significant drop (50%) in cases of direct or indirect violence – and this at school, in families and in the school environment. school. ¹⁹
 

Punishments are useful

The American psychologist Ervin Staub explains in his fundamental work "The Psychology of Good and Evil", in an analysis of various studies: "Permissiveness, a lack of limits and standards or a lax discipline could be related in a group young offenders with a lot of aggression (DiLalla, Mitchell, Arthur & Pagliococca, 1988). In a permissive setting, aggression may be reinforced by a lack of consequences (Patterson, 1986; Patterson, Littman & Bricker, 1967), because children learn that aggression pays off (Buss, 1971). This is especially true when the environment encourages aggression without controlling it. Permissiveness also means non-existent direction and contributes to inefficiency and lack of self-control. One of the reasons for the development of aggression is “the permissiveness and lack of punishment of aggression”. ²⁰
In his reference work "Kriminologie für das 21. Jahrhundert" (Münster 2001), Hans-Joachim Schneider points out that violence in the media is "above all harmful, if violence on the screen is justified, rewarded or remains unpunished”. ²¹
 

In summary you need:

• Stop the violence (put out stop signs): Intervene immediately unequivocally, condemn the act; to deprive violence of glory; not taking a stand feels like approval.
• Reparation: Awakening compassion for the victim, instructing violent pupils, cooperating in the repair of psychological and material damage.
• Create positive values: encourage students to be compassionate, to understand, to take responsibility for their actions; study human rights.
Violent videos and killer games offend human dignity and should be banned. •

1 cf. MF Ashley Montagu (ed.): Mensch und Aggression. Weinheim/Basel 1974
2 Leakey, Richard E./Lewin, Roger: Wie der Mensch zum Menschen wurde. Hamburg 1978, p. 221
3 cf. UNESCO: Erklärung von Sevilla: Gewalt ist kein Naturgesetz. 1986
4 Selg, Herbert (ed.). Zur Aggression verdammt? Ein Überblick über die Psychology of Aggression. Stuttgart, 1975
5 Bandura, Albert: Aggression – Eine sozial-lerntheoretische Analyse. Stuttgart 1979, p. 78
6 Bandura, Albert: Aggression – Eine sozial-lerntheoretische Analyse. Stuttgart 1979, p. 296; The result was confirmed in a modified experiment from ARD 1975. cf. Tausch, R./Tausch, A.-M.: Erziehungspsychologie. Begegnung von Person zu Person. Göttingen 1977, 8. ed., p. 36.
7 Neil Postman: Das Verschwinden der Kindheit.
8 Zöpfel, Helmut: Virtual Welt oder reales Leben? In: Zeit-Fragen of 22/4/02
9 Alliance for Childhood: Fool's gold. A Critical Look at Computers in Childhood. Ed. By C. Cordes and E. Miller
10 Lefkowitz, M./Eron, LD/ Walder, LO/ Huesmann, LR: Growing up to be violent: A Longitudinal Study of the Development of Aggression. New York/Frankfurt/Mr. 1977, p. 113
11 see ibid. p. 114-127
12 “Mehr Fernsehen, mehr Gewalt” A study proves the relationship between media consumption and aggression. FAZ 29/4/02 = Johnson, Jeffrey G./Cohen, Patricia/Smailes, Elisabeth M./Kasen, Stephanie/Brook, Judith S.: Television Viewing and Aggressive Behavior During Adolescence and Adulthood. In: Science 2002 March 29, Vol. 295: 2468-2471
13 Kleiter, EF: Film und Aggression – Aggressions
psychology. Weinheim 1997, p. 111
14 Grossman, Dave A.: Warum töten wir? Die Zeit, 23.9.99; Grossman, Dave A.: Stop teaching our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action against TV, Movie and Videogame Violence, New York 1999
15 Glogauer, W.: Gewalthaltige Medien machen Kinder und Jugendliche zu Tätern. In: Kinderärztliche Praxis (2001) No. 4, Kirchheim-Verlag Main; Glogauer, W.; Die neuen Medien verändern die Kindheit. Weinheim 1998; Glogauer W.: Kriminalisierung von Kindern und Jugendliche durch Medien. Baden Baden 1994
16 Olweus, Dan: Gewalt in der Schule. Was Lehrer und Eltern wissen sollten – und tun können.
2. korr. Aufl., Bern 1996, p. 48 sq.
17 Staub, Ervin: Entwicklung prosozialen Verhaltens. Munich, Vienna, Baltimore 1982, p. 304-306
18 Buchholz A.: Der Beitrag von Psychologie und Pädagogik zur naturrechtlichen Auffassung vom Menschen. In: Mut zur Ethik: Schutz der Familie und der heranwachsenden Jugend. II Congress 1994; Buchholz A.: Personale Psychologie – Der Beitrag von Psychologie und Pädagogik zur Menschenwürde. In: Mut zur Ethik: Die Würde des Menschen. V. Congress 1997
19 Hanewinkel R./Knaack, R.: Prävention von Aggression und Gewalt an Schulen. In: Holtappels, HG/Heitmeyer, W./Melzerm W./Tillmann, KJ (ed.): Forschung über Gewalt an Schulen. Erscheinungsformen und Ursachen, Konzepte und Prävention. Weinheim, Munich 1999, p. 303; Olweus, In: Täter-Opfer-Probleme in der Schule: Erkenntnisstand und Interventionsprogramm. In: ibid., p. 291 sq.
20 Staub Ervin, Psychology of Good and Evil, Cambridge 1999
21 Schneider, Hans-Joacchim: Kriminologie für das 21. Jahrhundert, Münster 2001, p. 146

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