Video games have been found to have positive effects in encouraging helping behaviour, increasing social communication and understanding, also in providing therapeutic effects. Multi-player games that involve other players increase socialisation. Kahne et al found that the majority of those who played The Sims also described learning about the problems in society and learning about social issues while playing.
Lenhart et al found those who played Halo or The Sims were more committed to civic participation. Also those who engaged in social discussions e.g. online forums, were more civically and politically committed. Suggesting video games and computer used can promote such behaviour which is beneficial for society. Surveys were used which lack control it may be those with civic participation interests chose games which fit in with this established interest and it may not have been the game encouraging behaviour. This is correlational data which limits our ability to draw cause and effect of how video games influence the development of pro-social behaviour. However, this was a large scale survey therefore results may be reliable.
Gonzales et al argued that Facebook wall have positive influences on our self-esteem as they tend to be overwhelmingly positive. In a study where participants either had to look at their Facebook wall or a mirror, those who looked at their wall rated themselves more positivity than the other group. A methodological issue is that self-report measures were used and participants reported on how they felt. This may not have been a reliable measure as it is subjective to their feelings that day and other extraneous variables may have influenced feelings of self-esteem. These are not considered therefore results may lack internal validity and reliability.
Video games have been successfully used in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, helping individuals relieve psychological trauma in a low threat environment. Games such as Tetris have been found to limit the minds tendency to flashback to traumatic events. As, it is thought these games use the same sensory channels.
Video games have been found to have potential negative effects with some studies finding increased physiological arousal, hostile feelings and aggressive behaviour. Other studies have found players to be more verbally and physically aggressive while some meta-analysis suggests a consistent link between violent game play and aggressive behaviour. Experimental studies by Stone et al found short term increases in physiological arousal and hostile and aggressive behaviour following sessions of violent game play compared to sessions of non-violent game play.
Gentile and Anderson found as video games have become more violent the level of aggression shown by both adults and children has increased. However, research has not found a definitive link. Gentile et al proposed a bi-directional model where although violent video games may increase aggressive behaviour, it is just as likely that those who have aggressive personality traits will orientate themselves towards them. Aggressive behaviour cannot be studied directly to ethical grounds therefore other form of behaviour are used e.g. participants blasting opponents with white noise. This is not representative of real life violence therefore the study lacks external validity as results may not generalise to real life. The role of personality and biology is not considered as an influence of the behaviour copied from video games, therefore the study is reductionist.
Karpinski et al found the majority of university students that used Facebook everyday underachieved by up to an entire grade compared to those who did not use the site. Facebook users were found to spend 1-5 hours a week studying, while non-users spent 11-15 hours a week studying. This highlights negative effects of computer use suggesting too much can effect negatively of education. Karpinski acknowledges this may not directly link to excessive Facebook use and lower grades, but there is a clear link between the two. Personality factors may be involved and perhaps Facebook users were more prone to distraction regardless of computer use.
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