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"When it's my turn, I'm going to rip out his guts."
"No! Break open his skull and pull out his brains."
"That's dumb. He'll die too fast."

I've actually heard conversations like this from my own children. This is in spite of the fact that I've never allowed any kind of video games in my home. I've never tried to control whether my children played video games at their friends' houses because I can recognize a hopeless battle when I see one.

There is ever increasing evidence that suggests repeated exposure to violent video games and television shows can contribute to increased incidents of aggressive behavior in children and adults.

However, there are critics of this research. For example, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation says, "(R)esearch which exposes children to short clips of violence and observes their behavior immediately afterwards does not have the potential fully to contribute to our understanding of such a complex cultural product."

Earlier this year, a new book, "Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents," was published. Co-authored by Craig A. Anderson, PhD; Douglas A. Gentile, PhD; and doctoral student, Katherine E. Buckley, the book describes the results of three different research studies. At the same time, they address some of the concerns of the Guggenheim Foundation. According to a press release from the Iowa State University, "it is the first book to unite empirical research and public policy related to violent video games."

The first study focused on the types of games children played. The researchers found that less graphically violent video games intended for younger children, like "Captain Bumper," had the same "short-term effects on increasing aggressive behavior as the more graphic teen (T-rated) violent games."

The second study in the book analyzed the effect of violent video games. "Respondents who had more exposure to violent video games held more pro-violent attitudes, had more hostile personalities, were less forgiving, believed violence to be more typical, and behaved more aggressively in their everyday lives." The researchers were more or less expecting those results. However, they were surprised to find that "exposure to violent video games was a better predictor of the students' own violent behavior than their gender or their beliefs about violence."

The third study examined the relationship between violent video games and school. The researchers found that children who

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