I can't vouch for some of the studies here, but the findings about emotional desensitization to violence are reliable. Investigators of different schools are finding the same thing, especially those who study the effects of violent media (not only games, but television and movies, too) on kids.
When violence is a steady diet, those who watch become immune, are no longer surprised by it. Aggression ceases to have an emotional impact. Our emotional systems take it for granted. It is good to the brain, the path most frequently traveled.
This explains tolerance of bullying and the bystander effect, why people can see other people being insulted or attacked, and shrug, walk away, or even encourage the behavior. Violence is nothing new, ceases to stimulate our moral center, the thinking part of the brain, the cerebral cortex.
Obviously, it isn't only kids who change for the worse with a steady diet of violence.
Have a read through..
therapydoc
Via: Online Universities Blog
