PSYM100 Understanding Psychology: Media Claim Evaluation Essay

This essay provides a critical evaluation of a media claim, specifically from The New York Times, suggesting a link between violent video games and aggression in young people. The essay examines the claim's strengths and weaknesses, referencing various research perspectives, including those who argue for and against the claim's validity. It delves into the potential negative impacts of violent video games on children's mental and physical health, such as poor social skills, aggressive thoughts, and sleep disturbances. The essay also acknowledges counterarguments suggesting that video games may have positive effects on cognitive development. Furthermore, it analyzes how the claim was presented to the public, considering both positive and negative impacts of its representation. The essay concludes by summarizing the diverse viewpoints and emphasizing the importance of understanding the psychological effects of media on young people, highlighting the role of psychologists in studying these behaviors.

Critical evaluation of a media or public claim
about psychology

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERNCES...................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Psychology refers to study of mind and behaviour of human. This helps in identifying
issues faced by people and solution can be find. The claim was made in media that violent video
games make young people more aggressive (Bandura (2018). This is one of the issue which is
faced by most of the people because nowadays, young people are involved in playing video
games. The report examines, about claim and strength & weakness of claim about psychology.
MAIN BODY
The claim was made in the media “The New York Times” that violent video games is
making young people aggressive. Nowadays, young people are using more social sites and they
are involved in wrong activities. Youngsters are enjoying with their friends and play violent
video games and get aggressive. This is not good for their health and this is affecting their mental
as well as physical health. In The New York Times it was mentioned that, a group of senators
suggested to identify how video games and other electronic media is affecting health of children.
According to Cabras, Cubadda and Sechi, (2019), young people are more involved in
electronic media or playing video games because they like it. They are enjoying with their
friends and want to be good in front of others. This is not good because it is affecting health of
children and they are not able to concentrate on their career. Children are spending more time on
electronic media and playing violent video games. These games are affecting health of children
mentally as well as physically. The claim was made so that other people can also know and they
can protect their children. Research was conducted to identify that how violent video games is
affecting young people and make them aggressive.
As per the view of Calvert and et.al. (2017), it is important to analyse how health of
children is affected by violent games and necessary steps should be taken so that it can be
stopped. Young children should focus on their career and did not involve much in video games.
Playing too much video games lead to poor social skills and it has negative impact on mental and
physical health of children. This is wastage of time because once children started playing video
games they are not focusing on other work. It affect their studies and they are not able to think
properly. Children playing video games score less grades in exams and they are not paying
attention towards their health. Children become overweight and have aggressive thoughts. They
are not able to focus on other activities and their behaviour becomes aggressive.

According to American Psychological Association called for a reduction of violence in
all video games. When there will be less video games then children focus on their studies and
less focus on video games. From the research some psychologist said that violent video games
have no long term effect on health of children. Video games are not having permanent effect on
mental or physical health of children. Necessary steps should be taken by association to stop use
of video games or electronic media by young people because it has negative impact on their
health (Copenhaver, Mitrofan and Ferguson (2017).
Different people have different thoughts and views like some people are saying that
playing violent games is not good for children and some are saying that it is good for their
health. According to some researchers video games and apps are interactive and it has positive
impact on children’s brain. This helps in development of children and they develop some skills
which is beneficial for them. from the research it has been identified that, video games improve
learning of children. All the people are having different views and they are giving opinion as per
their thoughts. It is difficult to take necessary steps and find solution for stopping violent video
games.
According to some researchers, violent video games has negative impact on health of
children because due to video games children are not sleeping properly. It may lead to depression
and anxiety among children, their studies and health is getting affected. Some children take video
games seriously and link it with their life and take wrong steps which is harmful for them. from
the research it has been noticed that children are not focusing on studies and not sleeping
properly because of violent video games and it has bad effect on their eyes (Jack, Crivelli and
Wheatley, 2018). They are spending most of the time playing video games and this lead to stress
and anxiety.
It is important to take public opinion regarding this claim and ask them to give
suggestions so that better steps can be taken and it helps in solving problem. Video games are
having negative affect on health of children and their behaviour is not good. It is the
responsibility of associations to identify problem and research should be done so that solution
can be find out. It is beneficial to identify issues faced by young people with violent video games
and find solution which is good for them.
According to some researchers, violent video games does not have long term effect or
permanent effect on children. This is short term effect as when children are playing games they

become aggressive. After that when there is no video game they will become normal and enjoy
other games. Violent video games should be stopped so that people can focus on their studies
and play outdoor games. This claim is suitable for psychology because it helps in studying mind
and behaviour of children. Psychologist are determining mental process, brain functions and
behaviour of human. It is essential to identify what children think and their behaviour (Scharrer
and et.al., 2018). Violent video games are affecting children and they are not able to focus on
other activities.
From the research, it was found that a jury in Alabama reached a guilty verdict in case of
Devin moore who killed three people. He was just 18 and kill three people and as his defence
blamed video game”Grand Theft Auto”. Many researchers said that, violent video games are not
having permanent affect on health of children, it is temporary. When games will be banned then
young people focus on other activities and score good marks (Shao and Wang, 2019).
There are some problem related to game addiction like, repetitive strain injuries, skin
disorders, health issues. Excessive video games playing can lead to death and it has negative
impact on health of children. Young people are not having so much knowledge and they do what
their friends are doing and want to enjoy their life. Parents should focus on their children and try
to understand what they are doing. Children should play video games but did not link it to
personal life. Things are different in games and real life. Associations should take necessary
steps to stop children from playing violent video games. Survey should be done and take public
opinion about this claim.
Strength and weakness of way claim represented to public
The claim is represented to public through The New York Times. This has positive
impact on people because they know about this claim and pay more attention on their children.
Most of the parents are not knowing about this issue. This is increasing nowadays because all
young people are having smartphones and they are spending their time on electronic media. The
way of presenting claim has positive impact on people because people are reading newspapers
and relevant information is represented in it. This is the best way to represent this claim and
evidences are provided which help people in understanding things in better way (Valsiner,
Chaudhary and Benetka, 2017). It is essential to provide relevant details to people so that they
can take necessary steps and provide proper care to children.

The way claim is represented to public has negative impact on people. Before this claim
survey should be conducted and opinion of people should be asked so that they can suggest some
better ideas. The way claim is represented may lead to negative effect on young people and
parents are not able to take correct decision. Other ways can be used like, survey can be done in
which opinion of people should be collected and on the basis of that represent claim. Violent
video games make young people aggressive, some researchers agree to this and some does not
agree to this. Firstly, opinion of people should be gathered so that this claim does not have
negative impact on public. Psychologists are responsible for studying mind and behaviour of
human.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it can be concluded that, violent video games make young
people aggressive. Different people or researchers are having different views as some people say
that video games are good for health and some researcher said that it is not good for health of
children has been discussed. Further, positive and negative impact of the way claim about
psychology was represented to public has been described. Views and opinions of people about
claim and what they think has been discussed.

REFERNCES
Books and Journals
Bandura, A., 2018. Toward a psychology of human agency: Pathways and
reflections. Perspectives on Psychological Science. 13(2). pp.130-136.
Cabras, C., Cubadda, M. L. and Sechi, C., 2019. Relationships among violent and non-violent
video games, anxiety, self-esteem, and aggression in female and male
gamers. International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations
(IJGCMS). 11(3). pp.15-37.
Calvert, S. L., and et.al., 2017. The American Psychological Association Task Force assessment
of violent video games: Science in the service of public interest. American
Psychologist. 72(2). p.126.
Copenhaver, A., Mitrofan, O. and Ferguson, C.J., 2017. For video games, bad news is good
news: news reporting of violent video game studies. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and
Social Networking. 20(12). pp.735-739.
Jack, R. E., Crivelli, C. and Wheatley, T., 2018. Data-driven methods to diversify knowledge of
human psychology. Trends in cognitive sciences. 22(1). pp.1-5.
Przybylski, A.K. and Weinstein, N., 2019. Violent video game engagement is not associated with
adolescents' aggressive behaviour: evidence from a registered report. Royal Society
open science. 6(2). p.171474.
Scharrer, E., and et.al., 2018. Violent video games do contribute to aggression. In Video game
influences on aggression, cognition, and attention (pp. 5-21). Springer, Cham.
Shao, R. and Wang, Y., 2019. The relation of violent video games to adolescent aggression: An
examination of moderated mediation effect. Frontiers in psychology. 10, p.384.
Valsiner, J., Chaudhary, N. and Benetka, G., 2017. From methodology to methods in human
psychology. Cham: Springer International Publishing.