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My Annotated Bibliography

Violent Video Games and Aggression

Kelly Lowery
Campbell
English 1103
March 12, 2015

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Anderson, Craig A. "An Update on the Effects of Playing Violent Video Games." Journal of
Adolescence 27.1 (2004): 113-22. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
In this academic journal, author Craig Anderson describes how violent video games are linked to
increases in aggressive behavior. He also mentions that it tends to decrease helping behavior in
children. He then goes on to explain studies that were shown to support his earlier statement. The
relevant studies that were linked to in his journal were ones who included data testing a possible
link between violent video games and one of five outcome variables: aggressive behavior,
aggressive cognition, aggressive effect, helping behavior, and physiological arousal. Later on in
the journal he explains the results of the studies done; Anderson mentions, that for each of the
five target outcome variables, there happened to be a significant effect of exposure to violent
video games. Playing violent video games was associated with increases in aggressive behavior,
aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, and physiological arousal, and with decreases in helping
behavior. I feel that the author, Craig Anderson, is a reliable source to use for my paper. He gave
a lot of facts and examples in his paper, and seemed to shy away from his own opinions. He is
also an American professor and a director at the Department of Psychology, Iowa State
University at Ames, with a PHD from Stanford University. I do plan on using this journal as a
source for my paper, because I feel that is a reliable source, and it gives me good information on
my topic of violent video games. It also describes one view point, that violent video games do in
fact cause higher levels of aggression.

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Fox, James A. "Don't Blame the Video Game Industry for Mass Shootings, Says Expert." NY
Daily News. N.p., 24 Mar. 2013. Web. 05 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/don-blame-video-game-industry-massshootings-expert-article-1.1297539>.
This article, by James Alan Fox, was written after the Sandy Hook Shooting, and is about how
the video game industry is not to blame. Fox talks about preoccupation with video game is more
of a symptom of personal problems than a cause of them. He mentions that it is extremely
tempting to point fingers at the gaming industry, which in a Gallup Poll taken after the 1999
Columbine Massacre found 62% of adults felt that media were a major cause for school violence,
and 83% supported restrictions on sales of violent video games to children. Later on he talks
about that it isnt that the entertainment media are so powerful, but that other institutions-family,
school, community, and religion- have grown weaker. I believe that this source is not too
credible. Fox does mention experts in this article, but fails to mention who they are or who they
work for or any actual information about them. He does mention one poll, the Gallup Poll from
1999, but this poll is not in favor of his own views. Overall, I probably will not use this source
unless it is absolutely necessary.

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Makuch, Eddie. "Violent Video Games Don't Lead to Increases In Violent Crimes, Study
Finds." GameSpot. N.p., 19 Sept. 2014. Web. 6 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.gamespot.com/articles/violent-video-games-dont-lead-to-increases-inviol/1100-6422421/>.
This article talks about how violent video games do not lead in increases in violent crimes. The
study that was used here was the, Violent Video Games and Real-World Violence: Rhetoric
Versus Data, and it was conducted by researchers at Villanova University and Rutgers University,
and was published recently in the Psychology of Popular Media Culture. The research from this
study found that there is no real evidence that violent video games are positively correlated to
real-world crime rates in the United States. The author, Eddie Makuch, then goes on to quote
some of the research from the study, "Annual trends in video game sales for the past 33 years
were unrelated to violent crime both concurrently and up to four years later. Unexpectedly,
monthly sales of video games were related to concurrent decreases in aggravated assaults and
were unrelated to homicides. Searches for violent video game walkthroughs and guides were also
related to decreases in aggravated assaults and homicides two months later. Finally, homicides
tended to decrease in the months following the release of popular M-rated violent video games."
I feel as if this article is in fact credible. The entire article is based off of a reliable study that was
taken place and that study was even published in a journal. Makuch even provides a link to the
journal that the study was published in. I do plan on using this source, because it is credible and
reliable, plus it provides the opposite stand point of violent video games causing aggressive
behavior.

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Maldonado, Marissa. "Frustration with Video Games Leads to Aggressive Behavior." Psych
Central.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2015. <http://psychcentral.com/lib/frustration-withvideo-games-leads-to-aggressive-behavior/00019446>.
This article discusses that playing violent video games do lead to aggression, but that it might be
caused by something other than the actually game itself. An April 2014 study shows that the
reason behind the aggression might be from the frustration of failing the game than the game the
person is actually playing. Researchers from the University of Rochester created 7 different lab
experiments that used almost 660 college-aged participants. Maldonado talks about how the
researchers found similar findings across all 7 experiments, that the more frustration a person felt
playing a game, the more likely they were to exhibit aggressive thoughts, feelings, or behaviors.
The author ends the article by talking about how sometimes nonviolent games could be worse for
a person, According to this research, violent content of the games has no influence on whether a
person becomes aggressive. Poorly designed games or very difficult games can cause a person to
become more aggressive and violent even if it is a seemingly benign game. Therefore, some
nonviolent games could end up more destructive than the super-violent games that receive bad
reputations. I do believe that this is a credible source. Firstly, it talks about a study and gives the
facts and figures of said study. The author, Marissa Maldonado, also seems like she well
informed on the subject, by working at a dual diagnosis center. I will be using this source,
because it seems to fall in the middle of the main two view point, that violent video game can
cause aggression but that it is not the game itself.