Article on Media Violence by Brian LaBonte of the Duncannon Record

Violent Games can Condition Children for Violent Behavior

By Brian LaBonte, Duncannon Record Staff Writer -- As printed in Duncannon Record March 16, 2000

They looked like the usual suburban teen-agers on the outside: young faces, pleasing smiles, upscale clothes. Yeah, they look like regular kids. On the inside, however, they were as hard as Marine drill instructors.

Unlike the Marines, however, they had no concept of right or wrong, they just killed.

Michael Carneal, Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, and the others who killed for the sake of killing; a bunch of no-name nobodies until they massacred their fellow students and gained cheap and sleazy celebrity.

"We have raised a generation of barbarians who have learned to associate violence with pleasure, like the Romans cheering and snacking as the Christians were slaughtered in the Colosseum," said Lt. Col. Dave Grossman in a speech at Bethel College in Kansas.

Grossman is a former infantry officer, Ranger and psychology professor at the United States Military Academy. His book "On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society" was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1996.

He has advised military units and police departments, and directs the Killology Research Group in Jonesboro, Ark. He has also been an expert witness in numerous court cases, including United States v. [Timothy] McVeigh, et al, the Oklahoma City bombing case.

Grossman says that violence in the media is to blame for much of the actual violence perpetuated by juveniles. His theory that violent films, television shows and interactive "shoot-'em-up" video games use the same psychological conditioning techniques used by the military.

Add this to what psychologists call enabling factors (factors beyond one's control, such as poverty and dysfunctional family lives) and you get kids who kill without remorse.

The difference between kids who use violence and the military use of violence is that military tempers the violence with discipline and a deep sense of duty and tradition. That is, the military teaches that killing is a necessary evil for survival and victory on the battlefield. The kids don't get this message in the media.

Shoot-'em-up video games are particularly dangerous, Grossman said, because they have a psychological effect called operant conditioning on the kids' minds.

Operant conditioning is a form of psychological conditioning that involves voluntary actions (such as firing a weapon) reinforced by events that make a person respond automatically, in a prescribed way, even under stress.

Astronauts go through this type of conditioning in simulators. They're exposed to every conceivable problem that can occur in space.

If something goes wrong for real, they react reflexively, not allowing fear to stand in their way. Marksmanship training in the military is also a form of operant conditioning.

Shoot-'em-up video games do the same thing: the enemy comes on the screen, the player must kill the enemy or get killed himself. Over and over the skill is reinforced.

Video games also offer classical conditioning. Classical conditioning causes a permanent change in an individual by making the person associate a certain behavior with an experience or feeling.

For example, in video games, when you kill the enemy you are rewarded with points or the opportunity to move on to the next level. The player learns to associate killing with victory or happiness.

The military rarely uses classical conditioning because it's considered barbaric and the effects are difficult to reverse.

Grossman says that killing is the learned skill, that the willingness to kill members of one's own species is something that's not natural. It must be taught and ingrained in a person's mind. Violent movies, video games and television teach kids that killing is associated with victory or pleasure.

Unlike the military, there are no safeguards built into the system. For kids, killing equals power; killing equals justice; killing equals fame. These are the messages kids get from the media.