Psychology

The link between video game exposure and aggression has been demonstrated in numerous studies, but the need for further research has also been called for (Anderson  Bushman, 2001). The advent of video games had provided children and young adults alike with action and entertainment, but it has also gave way to the preoccupation with violent video games. The gaming industry was quick to capitalize on the interest of gamers towards violent content and role-playing that most videogames have the elements of violence, action, danger, risky behavior, aggression, hostility and brute force.

Most successful videogames provide the gamers with an alternate form of reality where they can play without the boundaries of civil society, where violence and aggression are necessary for the survival of the character that the individual is playing (Lee  Peng, 2006). One of the earliest and popular videogames was Pacman and Super Mario Bros, although, seemingly cute and adorable, Pacman gobbled up monsters or else the game was over. Also, Super Mario had to slay the dragon before he could rescue the princess. The succession of games like Doom, Counter-Strike, Resident Evil, Half-Life and Grand Theft Auto all had explicit violent content and yet were rated as the bestselling videogames in the year it was released.

On the other hand, there are also the proliferation of nonviolent videogames that focuses more on puzzles, strategies, social networking and simulation. The focus of videogame exposure research had been on the negative effects that violent videogames have on human behavior, particularly on aggression and hostility (Anderson  Bushman, 2001). The effects of nonviolent videogames had not been given the same attention that violent videogames had. If the assumptions on violent videogame exposure and aggression were true, then exposure to nonviolent videogames might also result to nonviolence, less aggressive tendencies and to prosocial behavior.

This paper demonstrates that videogame exposure is linked to behavioral changes and tendencies, but that, the effect can be negative (aggression) or positive (prosocial behavior) depending on the content of the videogames. This paper will also provide a synthesis of select studies pertaining to videogame exposure and propose a study that will help further the knowledge of videogame exposure and its effects to human behavior.

Empirical Evidences
Violent videogames had been the focus of most researches on videogame exposure the cause for concern had been due to the recent shootings and increased aggression among children and adolescents that has resulted to delinquent behaviors. There has been a direct link between violent videogame exposure and aggressive behavior, as well as hostility and less empathy. In a study by Bartholow, Sestir and Davis (2005) found that acute and chronic exposure to videogame violence was associated with increased aggression among the surveyed students and those who participated in the laboratory experiment. The researchers designed an experiment to measure aggression and hostility of the participants after playing a violent and nonviolent videogame. It was hypothesized that those who had high prior violent videogame exposure would manifest more aggressive behavior than those who had low exposure to violent videogames, and that those who had high violent videogame exposure would behave aggressively regardless of the type of videogame they played. Older students participated in the study, which was between 18 to 22 years old and were enrolled in a college course. After being subjected to the videogame, the participants were asked to complete a task that would measure aggression and perceived hostility. The findings of Bartholow, Sestir and Davis (2005) supported the theory that prolonged exposure to violent videogames resulted to higher aggressive behavior and greater tendencies to perceive the tasks as hostile. Moreover, it was also found that those who were chronically exposed to violent videogames behaved aggressively even when they were assigned to the nonviolent games. This experiment provided evidence that violent videogame exposure is associated with increased aggression, even, in an ambiguous situation. This finding was more apparent with chronic exposure, thereby indicating that prolonged exposure brings about changes in the persons schema or cognition of situations or events that they are involved with.

In a similar study, Anderson and Dill (2000) sought to examine the relationship between violent videogame exposure to the individuals thoughts, feelings and behavior in a short-term task and in the long-term behavior. The researchers hypothesized that long-term exposure to violent videogames would result to aggressive behavior in real-life situations, also, that short-term exposure to violent videogames would result to increased aggression. Moreover, it was also assumed that those who would have high aggressive tendencies on their personality test would be more aggressive when incited. The two experiments made use of a violent videogame that was rated as violent by the regulatory board on videogames the second experiment used a nonviolent game that was matched to the violent game. After exposure to the violent game, the participants were instructed to complete a survey (experiment 1) and to work on competitive reaction time task, where they were allowed to punish their opponents if they won the round. The results of the experiments revealed that aggressive personality are drawn into playing violent videogames and both were positively associated with aggressive behavior and nonaggressive delinquency. Moreover, it was also found that playing violent videogames predicted delinquent behavior and increased aggressive behavior. Anderson and Dill (2000) concluded that the positive relationships that their study found with regards to playing violent videogames, aggressive personality and delinquency create a profile of an aggressive personality type. This would imply that individuals with aggressive personality types are more predisposed to play violent videogames and are more prone to commit delinquent behavior. The said experiments showed that violent videogame exposure can be used as an indicator of possible aggressive tendencies and the proclivity for delinquency. These findings suggests that videogames are harmful rather than beneficial to those who are exposed to it, however, the other aspect of videogames had not been explored in the same way that violent videogames were. The following researches tackle the effects of nonviolent and prosocial videogames to human behavior.

Gentile and his colleagues (2009) examined the relationship between playing prosocial videogames to prosocial behavior. Prosocial games were defined as games that had no violence in it and the main objective of the character is to help out others. Most simulation and social networking games use this approach, where, players help each other to score points or to move to another level. The researcher used the theory of priming effect to explain the possibility of their assumptions. The researchers hypothesized that playing prosocial videogames would also lead to prosocial behavior. This study conducted three studies, a cross-sectional study, a longitudinal study and a laboratory experiment to demonstrate the relationship of exposure to prosocial videogames to participants behavior. The first cross-sectional study of Singaporeans students found that the self-reported playing of prosocial games was positively associated with prosocial traits and behaviors. In the second study, Japanese children were surveyed to determine their videogame habits and personal behavior during a 3 to 4 month time span. The children were surveyed at an earlier date the first time and after 3 or 4 months were resurveyed. The objective was to determine whether there were changes in the gaming habits of the participants. The results of the second study showed that prosocial behavior was demonstrated both immediately after the game exposure and after 3 to 4 months. The third study was an experiment that was designed to test the assumption that after playing a videogame with prosocial content, the individual would be more likely to behave prosocially, while exposure to violent videogames would also cause people to be less helpful and more hurting of others. The findings of the experiment showed that those who were playing prosocial games were more likely to help others and to be less hurtful when compared to those who were exposed to violent content. This study demonstrated that the earlier observed influence of violent videogames to aggression is also manifested with prosocial videogames.

Greitemeyer and Osswald (2010) explored the effects of playing prosocial videogames to human behavior. Using four experiments, the researchers wanted to determine in what ways prosocial videogames influence and affected the behavior of those who were exposed to the prosocial videogame. In the experiments, the participants were asked to play a videogame, either with prosocial content, violent content and neutral. After 20 minutes, the participants were introduced to scenarios that would elicit prosocial behavior. The behavior was then identified and recorded as whether it helped others or not. The scenarios included where the dropping of pencils, volunteering to help others and helping a harassed experimenter. The findings of the 4 experiments showed that exposure to prosocial videogames were positively associated with the increase in the different kinds of prosocial behavior. It was also reported that those who played games with prosocial content were more likely to help others whether they were requested or not. This study demonstrated that prosocial videogames have positive influences on human behavior as it is associated with altruism and prosocial behavior. This aspects have not been clearly defined and more researches are needed to build theory on prosocial videogames and its effects to behavior, and the possibilities that this relationship opens in terms of harnessing videogames as a learning tool.

Discussion
The relationship between violent videogames and aggression had been well documented in fact, the theory of Bandura on vicarious learning was the first to put forth the idea that exposure to violence would predispose children to behave aggressively towards each other. Early on, the idea that children learn what they see and hear had been the distinguishing principle of learning theories, and whether it is positive or negative, the child is not able to discern which is proper and cannot make the decision to refrain from committing such violent behaviors. However, videogames are not just about vicarious learning or modeling, often videogames transcend the reality and consciousness of the individual, thereby creating a different world where violence in accepted and breaking the rules and norms of society is the norm.

Videogames also provide children and adults alike the opportunity to play out their fantasies and to escape from their tasks and responsibilities. At certain times, the boundary between what is considered fantasy and real has been blurred. For example, when those school shooters took on the personality of their game characters, and they committed such acts of extreme violence like what they do in the games that they played, the boundaries were crossed and reality and imagination became one. The school shootings were tragic and brought about grief and loss in the community that there has been a renewed interest on studying violent behaviors and violent videogames.

The research findings of the four researches on violent videogame exposure, prosocial videogame exposures and aggression and prosocial behavior point into one conclusive finding, that the effects of videogame exposure is dependent on the content of the games. If the videogames are violent, then aggression is most likely to occur, but if the videogame was prosocial, then prosocial behavior is most likely to be manifested. There are different explanations for such findings, but for now, suffice it to say that videogame per se does not cause aggression or prosocial behavior, but that the contents of such videogames dictate how the players react to such content.

The researchers used different games and schedules but the findings remained the same, video exposure influenced immediate behavior whether it was positive or negative. The contrasting viewpoints presented in this paper provide the audience with an understanding of how the content of videogames can result to patterns of behavior that the individual may or may not be aware of. Also, the implications of such findings are that, students and parents often have to make choices about their life and future based on their previous experiences. Thus, delinquency and aggression does not develop over night. There are instances or situations that would preclude the individual to commit such behaviors but there are also situations that prevent them from doing it, and that is dependent on the kind of information and knowledge that is presented to them.

Exposure to videogames have been found to influence human behavior, whether positively or negatively, the fact remains that videogames are tools that can be harnessed to develop, reinforce and influence human behavior. The possibilities that this holds for other areas of human behavior such as in learning, cognitive processing, decision-making and even personality traits is exciting and should be explored further. The experiments in the cited studies were also well designed and had proven to be an excellent method of measuring human behavior and responses that are difficult to observe and measure. The series of experiments on helping behavior was especially intriguing and exciting, in that it had adequate control of the experimental conditions and complications for such experiments had been addressed.

Proposed Study
Videogame exposure had been found to be directly linked to human behavior this would mean that by merely playing a game, in a given situation, that prior experience or knowledge would influence the resulting behavior. Videogames are highly visual and engaging to the players, thus, their interest and attention would be encouraged. By assuming the roles of the character, the player suspends his or her reality, in some cases, such as in a very engaging fight or action-packed scene, the players come to believe that they are the character and prolonged exposure solidifies or intensifies such belief. The proposed study will be conducted in the same stringent and critical path. Playing videogames is not complicated and most children have the ability to understand the rules of the games.

The proposed study will make use of the general learning model wherein the participants are younger and more cognizant of the intricacies of videogames and are not as discerning and critical as older students about their behavior. Adolescents are also quite active and often are the subject of studies as they are in a very interesting stage.  The proposed study will then measure the display of aggression and hostility and whether the said variables are mediated by positively oriented prosocial behaviors.

Prosocial behavior, refer to those behaviors or actions that help others without any expectations of return or reward. Prosocial videogames are not the fashion, but there are games that do exist with such platforms and this will comprise the second half of the proposed research. The participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups, the violent videogames, the prosocial videogames and the neutral videogames. After a given period of time, the participants will be asked to stop playing by a cohort and will ask them to help in a given task that would measure aggression and prosocial behavior. The interruption will be timed when the participants are already engrossed in their games, and the chance for continuing the game is lost. Participants who will refuse to help the cohort will be demonstrating aggression, while those who would stop their game to help the cohort would be demonstrating prosocial behavior.

It is hypothesized that prosocial behavior would be manifested in players who were playing prosocial videogames and that there will be greater aggression among the participants who were playing violent videogames. The neutral videogame group will serve as the control group for this experiment. It would be interesting to note the responses of the control group and compare it to the violent and nonviolent videogame group. In this way, the immediate influence of the type of videogames would be determined and implications for conceptualizations and theory building would also be included.

It is expected that the hypothesis for the proposed study would be supported as demonstrated by the cited literature, but this time, instead of measuring one variable singularly, aggression and prosocial behavior can be examined in one experiment in a nonthreatening design and one that could yield better control since it does not involve the use of punishment. By simply refusing to help the cohort, aggression is already manifested. Moreover, the challenge of coming up with a prosocial videogame that focused on helping others would be a limitation of the proposed study.

In another direction, the proliferation of social networking games has also made it possible to explore a new dimension of prosocial behavior. Social networking games are based on simulations and in order to advance in the game, the players have to help and give others presents. This is clearly prosocial in nature but there are instances when it can result to violence, thus quantifying which action is considered aggressive or prosocial should be identified before the start of the study.