Question 1
“The [effect] model is one of stimulus-response, not conscious reflection” (Jenkins 22).
Henry Jenkins suggests that the effects model lack any conscious cognitive activity and can be
compared to something such as the Pavlov’s Dog experiment where the dog is conditioned to
salivate in expectation of receiving food after being exposed to a certain stimulus. In the reading,
Jenkins argues that young children playing violent, mostly shooting, video games are similar to
militaristic boot camp-like training. The idea is that kids who are playing violent video games are
becoming “brutalized” and “conditioned” through constant exposure “at an age when they cannot
yet distinguish between representation and reality” (Jenkins 21). They have the ability to shape
our “reflexes, impulses, and emotions almost without regard to our previous knowledge and
experience” (Jenkins 22). Like soldiers, the kids who play this game rehearse what they are
going to do in specific in-game situations until their response become second nature and they no
longer need to think about how to respond. I believe this is a pretty accurate argument. The most
important aspect of it is the fact that the children who are playing violent video games are not yet
old enough to understand that what they are doing in the game is not only not acceptable in real
life, but completely immoral. Their overexposure to violence makes them almost immune to it.
In these video games, children are rewarded for honing and mastering their skills by becoming
increasingly conditioned to the mechanics of the game, which include its violence. When
comparing the skill mastery to real life, Jenkins make an interesting point that “Soldiers have
signed up to defend their country with their lives, so there are clear consequences for not
mastering those skills” (Jenkins 23). This is particularly important to consider when children or
the mentally challenged play shooting-style video games. They may not understand the “real-
