Nowadays, the impact of mass media on our daily lives is beyond doubt. In recent decades, thousands of research and experimental studies have been published on the effects of the media and mass media communication. Among other cognitive, emotional, and behavioral impacts, several studies have focused on the effects of exposure to media violence on aggressive behavior. Violence in the media includes violent scenes in television, video games, music and films. Violence in video games has come under extreme scrutiny lately. Although there are studies that avoid the fact that there is no experimental evidence of the relationship between violence in video games and aggressive behavior, several researches have concluded that there is a direct relationship between the two on a mental and physical level. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Cognition is defined as “the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.” This includes psychological skills and methods related to cognition, attention, memory, evaluation, problem solving, and decision making. Furthermore, violent video games stress children and make them more aggressive. There is no doubt that playing video games develops the player's cognitive abilities, as they use existing knowledge to make decisions and generate new ideas. The question remains on the development of these cognitive abilities towards aggression. Based on an overall analysis, “Andersen et al” concluded that violent video gaming is “positively associated with aggressive behavior, cognition, and affect, as well as negatively associated with empathy for victims of violence and social behavior” . Researchers have also observed these behaviors across cultures, genres, and game types. According to the same study, researchers concluded that the impact of video games could be stored in short memory, furthermore, repetitive exposure to violent scenes will create habituation to these scenes and lead to reduced empathy and sensitivity to violence. The more players see violent acts, the more their memory becomes accustomed, to the point that they would not have a “negative” reaction to these scenes in real life. Video games, violent or not, also promote certain behavior. Children exposed to repetitive violent scenes in video games may indirectly understand that aggression can be the solution to several life problems. For example, they may unconsciously use aggressive behavior to solve any problem they face, recalling the “learned behavior” from short- or long-term memories. In fact, children may have a wrong interpretation of the world and think that it is a hostile world and that aggression is a natural behavior towards the hostile environment. Although much other research has concluded that violent video games and aggression are directly linked, these studies have not reduced the doubts of other smaller researchers who deny the direct correlation between violent video games and aggression, arguing that the direct relationship is significantly exaggerated or completely invalid. A study was recently conducted showing that a team of German researchers led by “Simone Kühn” studied the long-term impact of video games on aggression. They concluded that violent video games do not increase aggression or decrease pro-social behaviors. The results showed that while violent video games can have a short-term impact on.
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