Human Observation Project Term Paper Examples

Statement of the Problem

As a result of the technological improvement, the number of the young people playing video games and watching movies has increased dramatically. Addiction brought by such media is increasingly becoming a global problem that requires an immediate response. On one hand, some suggestions claim that video games and movies, among other media, have a positive correlation with promotion of the violent behavior of the audience. On the other hand, various studies have revealed that video games and movies, such as horror and action movies have increased emotional outburst and aggressive behavior while decreasing inhabitation. A young person subjected to such media has high chances of experiencing both emotional and physical changes. Therefore, it is essential to carry out a study that shed light on the effects associated with video games and movies in order to help the policy makers regulate and mitigate this problem.

Theory

General Aggression Model
The general aggression model was used in the study to help the researcher understand how violence and aggression contribute to the psychological impacts.

Hypothesis: non-violent and violent video games and movies increases aggression and hence negative psychological effects on the young people

Procedure
Naturalistic Observation
This scientific methodology involves observing the behavior of the individual(s) in a natural setting without any intervention. In other words, the control or manipulation of the situation is limited to the investigator. However, it is important to conceal the reason for the study and avoid letting the participant know they are being observed. Consequently, this can help to aid reactivity which allows the behaviors of the subject to change when they realize they are being observed.

Sampling Method

The study utilized the situation sampling. The sampling method allowed the observers to observe the behavior of the subject(s) in multiple situations. This sampling method is important because it fostered the external validity of the study by allowing the observer to generalizing the findings in various situations.

Observation

The first observation involved the effects of the video game to two brothers aged twelve and ten years. The two brothers were playing FIFA 15, which is not a violent game. The video involves controlling the soccer players of the desired team to beat the opponents. For some point, as the game proceeded the two brothers were having a normal conversation, and everyone seems to enjoy the game. However, everything changed when the younger brother scored the first and the only goal in the match. Consequently, the older brother remained silent and seemed to be furious, as he struggled to equalize the goal. The younger brother was the one talking now; very happy and seemed to enjoy the game. As the game ended, the younger brother emerged as a winner, which was not anticipated by the older brother. At this point, the older brother left his seat aggressively, threw down the controllers and yelling insults to the younger brother. Were it not for my presence, the older brother should have beaten the younger brother. In another instance, when the younger was playing the same game alone, he lost the game and became aggressive too. He threw away the controller, started crying while yelling at the screen.
The observation involved the effect of watching a horror movie by 14 years old boy and 16 years old girl. The effects of the movies could be seen traumatizing as the two teenager could be observed unease and sympathetic to some scenes. There are some horrific instances that could force the teenagers scream with fear and cover their year to avoid seeing horrific scenes. However, the effects of the movie appeared to be more traumatizing to the girl than the boy. The girl appeared to have much thought for the buried memories and traumas due to the experiences of the movie. For instance, the girl was resistant to go to bed alone because of the overwhelming fear and terror associated with the horror movie exposure. Although the boys were also fearful, the movie caused minimal direct experience at the time movie ended.

Experiment

The study engaged in the experimental manipulation by subjecting the individuals to different types of the video games and movies. The movies and video games in the experiment were different in terms of violent content but similar in the way the respondent liked them. Subsequently, the impact on the physiological indicators of arousal was identified. When the children were introduced to the violent games, the level of excitement was higher than in the video games that were less violent. The children appeared to be more excited and dedicate to the violent game. This was as a result of the children shouting and celebrating their outstanding moves. When the younger brother lost to older brother, he aggressively threw his controllers to the extent of breaking. Later, he punched his older brother severely while crying. After the victory, the older brother imitated some of the action that he was performing in the video game. Another variable changed in the experiment was the absence of the observer. The respondent was subjected to the environment that no one else involved expected the one playing the game. However, secret cameras were installed in the room to capture the events as they happened. The video showed that the child the lost the game was more aggressive and furious at the end of the game. The losing respondent could aggressively attack the opponent with more abusive words and even fight ruthlessly.
The same case applied to the variation of movies in terms of violence. During the controlled experiment, the teenagers were exposed to less-violent movies such as comedies. The emotional attachment could be noticed from how the teenager’s eyes were glued to the screen. At some point, the girl could be seen shedding tears and sympathizing with the situation. The comedy movies were more exciting to the teenagers than the horror movies as they were discussing the anticipated events and tried to analyze the movies. When movie ended in unexpected manner, the two teenagers were more emotional probably because they were excited by the movie. The comedy movies were similar the horror movies in terms of buried memories and traumas due to the experiences of the movie. When the comedy movie ended the teenagers were asking each other different question such as why did it happen? Why did it end this way? This illustrated that they were emotionally affected by the comedy movie. Different teenagers, i.e. a boy and a girl were also subjected to the experiment, and they yielded the similar results.

Results

The observation revealed that the video games and the movies, irrespective of their violent content have a negative effect on the young people. On one hand, the violent video games have a stronger effect on the young people than the less violent video games. The children exposed to the violent movies were more excited and enjoyable than when subjected to less-violent movies. On the other hand, the teenagers exposed to the comedy movies were more excited and enjoying than when subjected to the horror movie. While watching the horror movie, the teenagers could cover their eyes to avoid seeing some of the events in the movie. Contrary, the respondents would not let any event pass unnoticed as their eyes were glued to the screen. Another important observation is that under environment that the respondent were alone, their behaviors were more enhanced and violent. In addition, the aspect of gender was applicable to the observation. Girls were seen to be more frightened by the horror movies and more attached to the comedies compared to the boys.

Discussion

The observation supported the research hypothesis by showing how non-violent, and violent video games and movies have negative psychological effects on the young people. In addition, the study suggested that variables such as excitement and enjoyment were the main factors that increased aggression and hence psychological effects. However, video games and movies had a different effect on the level of violence but both have similar effects on psychological effects. For instance, while the violent movie were more exciting and enjoyable, the violent movies such as horror movies were vice versa. Never the less, high excitement, and enjoyment level induced y non-violent movies and violent video games resulted to psychological effects such as increase emotional outburst and aggressive behavior while decreasing inhabitation.

Conclusion

It is evident that video games and movies have a negative impact on the young people, irrespective of their violent nature. The both media are, therefore, positively associated with psychological effects such as increasing emotional outburst and aggressive behaviors. The impact of the video games also inhibits the ability of the respondents to share their emotions like in the case of the older brother conceding one goal. Although, the exposure to movies have more impact on the girls than the boys, the fact that aspects such as excitement and enjoyment cannot be ruled out. As a result. Non-violent and violent video games and movies have negative psychological effects on the young people.