*Muthukumaran Kanasan

Abstract:

Currently, action video games have emerged as the most popular form of entertainment among young individuals. The recent COVID-19 pandemic and the enforcement of movement control order (MCO) led to a significant increase in the regular engagement of young people with action video games, often through portable devices like smartphones. Owing to their widespread appeal, video games have significantly shaped contemporary society. Various elements contribute to aggression and violence. The potential impact on aggression, even if relatively small could be significant considering the substantial number of individuals participating in these action video games. The social learning theory, developed by Albert Bandura in 1965, was employed as the basis of this study. The main objective of this study was to examine the dimension of violent behaviour among diverse demographic backgrounds of young adolescents and to establish the relationship between this dimension and frequency of violent behaviour following action video game exposure.

Keywords: Video games genre, action video games, adolescents, violent behaviour, social learning theory