Violent Video Games and Learned Helplessness - Assignment Example

1. Do violent video games or other forms of entertainment cause violent behavior? What do you think? What does the evidence suggest? Playing video games with scenes of violence is often associated with increasing risk of aggressive behavior and school problems. But it is important to understand what is being cause and what is being effect. Games can lead to aggressive behavior and lower academic achievements, but along with that more aggressive, non-contact children may show more interest in aggressive video games. And it may be turned out that the games with aggressive gameplay can help such children to deal with their anger. Scientists consider that every day watching the scenes of virtual violence makes people to lose the understanding that aggression is unacceptable in society. All this mud also makes people less sensitive to the pain of others and aggression turns into something familiar. I think that in many respects the situation is explained not by the fact that violence has increased, but by the fact that it was easier to show (Ferguson, 314). Still, scientific research has shown that video games can actually cause aggressive behavior in reality. However, the reason for this behavior was not videogame content itself, but the psychological experience which it provides. The people’s feeling of losing control over the game leads to aggression regardless of whether there is violence in the game or it does not exist. When gaming experience hurts our ego, it leads to increased hostility. Thus, even the most innocuous games such as "Tetris" can cause severe episodes of aggression. Apparently, we are very far from the final answer to the question of how we are being affected by the aggressive video games. Sure, violence in games makes us more violent on microsocial level, but it is difficult to say whether this aggression comes beyond the permissible social norm. Most likely, people who break the law and use violence to others, initially have problems with communication and anger management(Ferguson, 311). Thus, violent videogames are just a symptom of the problem than its cause. 2. What is learned helplessness? Discuss some of the ways that learned helplessness has been applied to human behavior (give examples). How can learned helplessness be overcome in academic settings? The phenomenon of learned helplessness is being associated with passive, non-adaptive human behavior. Learned helplessness is a violation of motivation due to lack of the situation control experienced by the person, for instance when the result comes to be independent from the efforts and no matter how hard you try, still the desirable result is not available. Learned helplessness syndrome was firstly described by American psychologists Martin Seligman and Steven Maier on the basis of experiments on dogs. Seligman notes that learned helplessness is being formed till eight years and reflects the degree of a persons faith in own effectiveness. He points out three sources for helplessness formation. The first one is an experience of adverse events and a lack of control over the events in own life. Thus negative experience acquired in one situation begins to transform other situations where the ability to control is real (Hiroto, 315). As uncontrollable events Seligman considers offenses inflicted by parents (as well as by teachers and childrens institutions educators), death of beloved people and animals, serious illnesses, parents’ divorce or scandals etc. The second source is the experience of watching helpless people and the third one is the lack of independence in childhood, parents willingness to do everything instead of the child. It can be assumed that child perceives father’s indulgence as encouraging independence, whereas mother’s indulgence turns out to be the overwhelming it. Both mothers and fathers of helpless children are projecting own undesirable qualities on their child. Parents tend to see those traits in a child, which cannot admit in himself. Thus parent struggles with these child qualities, both real and imaginary, taking from this emotional benefit for himself. Child is being imposed a negative role, and it allows the father or mother to believe that they do not have these qualities (Hiroto, 319). Thus, the child may not feel control over what happens. Helplessness is formed in those children whose fathers have less developed paternal feelings and a lack of desire to communicate with their children. In addition, helpless children’s fathers more often prefer and implement nursery qualities in their babies, thus reducing requirements to child. Baby is not getting enough experience to overcome the difficulties of responsibility and an active influence on the situation (Hiroto, 324). 3. Are there any limits to “rewrite memories pharmacologically”? When beta blockers like propanolol should be used? Recently in the «Nature Neuroscience» journal were published the results of the study, according to which the β-adrenergic blocker propranolol can significantly weaken the reaction of anxiety and help people who have suffered from trauma or great sorrow, such as terrorist attacks or natural disasters (Donovan, 72). These investigations may have important implications for the understanding and treatment of permanent anxiety and endless memories of those patients who are suffering from emotional disorders. Nevertheless there are being raised some doubts about ethical side of such manipulations with conscious. People are particularly concerned about the "purely pharmacological" approach to people suffering from various phobias or who are prone to excessive anxiety. Also it must be admitted that the wear of good memories may result such treatment. Thus there is a danger of possible Alzheimers disease. Moreover, memories are enable people to learn from their mistakes. That is why removing bad memories changes the identity of the person (Donovan, 64). Perhaps in some cases it will be useful, but before erasing events from the memory we need to think about the impact which it will have on both individuals and our society. We should also note another interesting feature related to the use of these drugs. It may happen that the victims of violence will have the desire to erase painful memories. But in this case they will also get rid of the need to testify against their abusers. And it does not contribute to the accomplishment of justice, so perpetrators or witnesses of crimes will get rid of the memories under the guise of eliminating traumatic experiences, which in its turn will help them to avoid testifying or to answering for their actions (Donovan, 69). In any case, the benefit from such effect is obvious to anyone who has experienced trauma, and every patient has the right to decide whether he wants to take a chance and get rid of the disturbing memories or not. 4. Why should one be cautious about accepting the accuracy of memories of childhood sexual abuse that have been “recovered” in the course of psychotherapy? In the 1970-ies there were lots of cases when people during psychotherapeutic procedures suddenly started to think about their childhood experience of sexual abuse from the family members – for instance, from the father, uncle, elder brother etc. Many of them publicly stated that as a child they were exposed to violence. Some claimed that they had learned about their experiences of violence through the memories restoring. This led to the fact that people who considered themselves to be victims of sexual violence sued their elderly fathers or uncles. Initially, the courts took the side of the "victims", but later some cases reached the point of absurdity. For example, one woman in every detail described how her father was raping her regularly for seven years. However, a medical examination found out that that young lady was a virgin. That is why psychological experts were involved. So now there are still very little scientific evidences supporting the theory that childhood memories about sexual abuse are being unconsciously suppressed, or that the repressed memories recovery leads to a significant improvement in mental health. Memories recovery comes to be not just a fun trick to demonstrate the possibilities of experimental psychology. The ability to manage human memory is huge. Of course, there may be nothing threatening just in false memories about own childhood. But the memory of crime witnesses may be modified with the same ease, and thereby one of the existing justice system pillars would be destroyed (Herman, 12). To erase memories is always easier than to understand and be able to survive. Thats why by erasing own unhappiness we may delete the source of our own development. The painful problems are often an incentive to do something, as they leave no opportunity to forget about own personality in a boredom of everyday life. But the real problem is not in identifying memories’ accuracy, as there is still some hope to clarify whether true or false memories were produced. The real problematic question is raised about the symbolic value of the memories. As still it is a matter of dispute whether any memories, true or false, reflect some truth, objective or subjective (Poole, 432). It is possible that chemical "erasing" of the memories eventually will be able to turn in quite a safe medical procedure. But we must pay attention on the social dangers that may result manipulation with memories (Herman, 9). Of course, if such a possibility is inherent in the features of memory and was opened by science, there is no reason to withhold it, it will not help. So, people should know about it. But moral questions still remain. This is a very complex problem that should be discussed throughout society. 5. Does nature or nurture have greater influence over who we become? What evidence supports the role of each in determining our psychological makeup? Environment and heredity influences are the two most important factors determining the development of the child, but it is difficult to say which of them is more important in this case (Mackinnon, 492). This problem is both purely scientific, and social, because the future of the society depends from its resolving. Each person has two natures: genes that we possess from birth and upbringing. Much in the formation of personality depends on the environment in which a person grows up. All these factors affect the height, weight, our IQ, and the risk of behavioral problems or autism. First of all, the balance of nature and nurture in shaping the personality of the child depends on where the child lives. Of course, a fundamental role in the development of human personality plays genetics. But who and what surrounds us is very important in the formation of the right values and concepts (Mackinnon, 489). Observations after the twins most vividly illustrates how different may be people with the same set of genes, but living in a completely different environment. Another fact in favor of the education priority may be children who were raised up by animals. Life stories of real children indicate that a child devoid of human community under a certain age may not subsequently fully adapt to life in society. From all this we can conclude that intelligence and individual abilities can be both inherited and developed, but the personality along with its system of ethical values still continues to be the purely social product. 6. Explain the idea of “possible selves” and describe how possible selves can affect behavior. Give an example of some of your possible selves and how they have affected your behavior. What strategies are you using to become the self you want to become? Image and estimation of own I predispose an individual to a specific behavior; therefore the global self-concept can be viewed as a collection of individual units. The concept of the "possible self" was established due to the analysis of the self-concept structure as a holistic education. "Possible self" corresponds to the plan of opportunities, and comes to be a representation of what kind of person he or she could become (Markus, 459). It is not identical to the "ideal self", as it does not pay attention on social norms and obligation and it includes a negative self-characterization. It is different from "I desired," as it directly reflects our motivations, so it includes the involuntary reflection moments in self-development (Markus, 462). More detailed and in isolation from the idea of tiered structure the concept of the "possible self" was developed by H. Marcus. There is an unlimited number of "possible selves"; they can be both negative and positive. "Possible self" is our imaginary idea of what we will become in the future (both "good" and "bad") and they have a motivating function. The image of own personality in the future makes real success or failure. In addition, the strong differences between the current «working self-concept» and «possible self» are a source of anxiety or depression (Markus, 467). There are some steps to improve your best possible self. They are the visualization of yourself in the future having accomplished your goals and considering the character strengths you will need to deploy to implement your desires in reality. You should visualize your best possible self in a way you are interested in and which is the most pleasant to you. You even may to reverse the process by writing about the image before and playing it forward in your mind. Works Cited 1. Donovan, Elise. "Propranolol Use in the Prevention and Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Military Veterans: Forgetting Therapy Revisited." Perspectives in biology and medicine, 53.1 (2010): 61-74. 2. Ferguson, Christopher John. “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: A Meta-analytic Review of Positive and Negative Effects of Violent Video Games.” Psychiatric Quarterly 78.4 (2007): 309-316. 3. Herman, Judith L.; Schatzow, Emily. "Recovery and verification of memories of childhood sexual trauma." Psychoanalytic Psychology, 4.1 (1987): 1-14. 4. Hiroto, Donald S.; Seligman, Martin E. "Generality of learned helplessness in man." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31.2 (1975): 311-327. 5. Mackinnon, Donald W. "The nature and nurture of creative talent." American Psychologist, 17.7 (1962): 484-495. 6. Markus, Hazel; Nurius, Paula. “Possible selves.” American Psychologist, 41.9 (1986): 954-969. 7. Poole, Debra A.; Lindsay, D. Stephen; Memon, Amina; Bull, Ray. "Psychotherapy and the recovery of memories of childhood sexual abuse: U.S. and British practitioners opinions, practices, and experiences." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63.3 (1995): 426-437. Read More