And Now They Say Violence In Video Games Does Create Violent Kids
from the where-are-the-parents? dept
While we were focusing on the question of video games and indoctrination, it looks like the American Psychological Association was going back to the old issue of youth violence and videogames, declaring that there's is absolutely a connection between the two -- despite the fact plenty of studies have shown no such link and the incidents of youth violence appear to have dropped consistently as violent video games have become more popular. The APA's findings weren't based on any new study (in fact, as we noted, the latest study doesn't support their position). Basically, it looks like the APA picked which studies it wanted to believe and completely ignored all the others. Anyone else think it's becoming abundantly clear that either side can come up with some data to support their position on this one? What seems likely, however, is that all of this really misses the point. Whatever impact video games actually have on users, it's likely to be significantly less important one way or the other than many other factors in a kid's life -- such as how their parents have raised them and whatever else is going on in their lives at the time.
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that darn violence
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Re: that darn violence
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No Subject Given
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Re: No Subject Given
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I blame wildlife documentaries
BTW note that they said "teaches youth" rather than "makes youth believe". They are not actually claiming cause-and-effect, just using weasle-words that give that impression.
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confusing cause and effect
Good parents give their children discipline, feed them a varied quality diet, and a wide variety of experiences to make them fulfilled people... and probably limit the time spent watching tv and playing video games.
Bad parents let their kids misbehave all the time, give them a bad diet, and let them fill their lives with TV and video games and otherwise have poor interaction with people.
Thus, if bad parents bring up kids who misbehave and watch "bad" (whatever that means, sex or violence?) TV and play "bad" video games, therefore you can make a link between two of the effects which are not directly related. Thus bad video games --->>> bad people. QED.
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Re: confusing cause and effect
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Nahh people don't get influnced by video games, mo
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No Subject Given
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APA, ha, ha, ha!
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Missing the point
I think the video game industry has done an awfully good job of pointing out games that aren't appropriate for younger children. They have no argument or reason to continue this debate.
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Perhaps..
But yeah... video games influence me! I just played frogger and I have a sudden urge to go dodge traffic.
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Re: Perhaps..
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japan
It is clear that there are other factors that are far more important.
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This has been debunked many times
Dick Cavett had a telling remark about violence on television: "I see more comedy on television than I do violence, but I don't see people complaining about comedy in the streets."
Michael Moore's documentary "Bowling for Columbine" debunks the "fact" that violent video games and Marilyn Manson, which were enjoyed by the perpetrators, were parts of the root cause of the shooting. The documentary notes that one of the last things the boys did before shooting up the school was go bowling. Using the logic of "guilt by association," bowling should therefore be just as much responsible for their violent acts as video games or rock and roll.
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Re: This has been debunked many times
finally:
"Dick Cavett had a telling remark about violence on television: "I see more comedy on television than I do violence, but I don't see people complaining about comedy in the streets."
Are you f-ing kidding me? This quote is moronic and you are a moron for quoting and respecting it. Comedy is a positive in general, violence generally is negative. and in general people dont complain about good things. Come on, think....
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Lets take a step back and think, rather than compl
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Re: Lets take a step back and think, rather than c
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Re: Lets take a step back and think, rather than c
Again, i will reiterate: "While the military is an example of areas of violence in our species, the debate is about whether or not kids act more violent after playing video games as a result of their time playing it. The existence of a military does not do that."
obviously i dont advocate war in most situations, i believe in diplomacy as the best method. But war does happen and it has for a long time. We can all be idealists and say "Lets stop all violence and get rid of all militaries" but thats not going to happen and you know it. The debate is around regulation of video games. But while we're on the military debate, and its negative effects, lets bring in the bible and its references to violence. Maybe lets bring in history class and its references to violence. Oh wait, lets bring in this discussion because we are discussing violence, thus making violence more salient in our minds, which may cause us to be more violent. You can extend this to a lot of things. But the fact is video games make kids more violent. If you really want i will explain the experimental set up and get you all of the relavent statistical proofs of its level of violent arrousal increases. I'm a psych major who stands firm in being a realist, i study this shit all the time, and see the experiments first hand, and THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.
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Re: Lets take a step back and think, rather than c
Yeah, so does working out, sports, abusive parents or siblings, and the feeling of being an outcast to your peers...
Do you realize, Mr psychology major (peter kruger), that psychology is still in its EARLIEST STAGES. Do you really think the field is accurate enough to confirm a ridiculous theory like 'video games are the reason kids are violent' without incorporating any of the other billions of possibilities.
Maybe you should also be minoring is sociology or politics, then you'd understand why BS studies like these make it to mainstream media and people like you eat them up.
There is absolutely no way for you or anyone else to prove at this point (even with your fancy educations paid for by mom and dad) that the violence in any individual couldn't have come from something besides video games.
Here's a great question for you Peter (and everyone):
WHY ARE THERE NO FINGERS BEING POINTED AT SPORTS???
Football is a great example and it is aimed at children. And in football, the kids are ACTUALLY PARTICIPATING IN VIOLENT ACTS and not just pretending like they are as they do with video games.
All I'm going to say is if you're going to blame video games, blame violent sports as well. It's all competition involving violence.
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Re: Lets take a step back and think, rather than c
We aren't talking about Football... We are talking about video games.
I think what this boils down to is that people are looking for an escape. They see our children being violent and instead of saying "hey... I was a bad parent" they say "Holy shit! Rockstar games is to blame!"
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Re: Lets take a step back and think, rather than c
I agree completely, and i mentioned this in my first post. Parents need to take responsibility. Violent video games can be fine, they just have to be paired with proper parenting that promoted well-being and level-mindedness in a kid's life.
As for the "psychology major" aspect. Its part of my major. I'm a Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology major (basically cognitive science) with a concentration in Artificial Intelligence. I do agree that many psych studies are bullshit. However, the ones regarding violence in the media and their aggrevating effects on children are very real and every time you will see a drastic shift in most childrens' behaviors as a result of direct exposure. Psychology is never going to be a perfect field because its a science of interpretation. The only reason its a good indicator is due to the math and (hopefully) the rigorous scientific method used during a study.
Finally, sorry if ive seemed like an asshole, but honestly, some of the quotes used on here were pretty piss poor. And deny it as much as we want, video games to lead to heightened violence-related arrousal in children. I am not saying that other things dont either, but video games just do it in a realitvely accute manner. WE debate this because video game content is something that is controllable where as the existence of militaries is not.
And regarding sports. God help our country, we're turning into a bunch of pussies. The male is getting killed in our society and especially in our schools. This is not being done by banning violent video games, but by restricting more male activities. but this is a whole different issue. Football is good for kids, it fosters a sense of competition. Shows them first hand that if they mess up, it could lead to some pain. And also, sports, such as football, lead to the body releasing endorphins which are a mood booster. There is a reason you feel great after a good work out, and it has to do with its effect on the chemicals in the brain.
Video games do not cause the release of endorphins, but rather adrenaline, which could either lead to positive, or negative arroused mental states. If the wrong mindset is inhabiting a kid at a given point due to whatever social factor it may be, and that kid plays a violent video game, it will heighten that negative arrousal level as per the adrenialine and cause an increase in violent behavior. Especially when coupled with loosing in the game. This effect does exist and we cant deny it. I do not believe censorship (generalization) is the answer, but rather good parenting and positive social reinforcements. Bottom line, a violent video game can either be cathartic fore a child, or reinforcement for negative behavior. This matters completely based on the individual. Kids with great demeanors are mildly to not affected by violence in the media, whereas kids predisposed to violence are heavily affected. Argue all you want about this, but i believe it to be extremely true. And if youre still unsure, Go out, do some research (whether reading research or conducting your own experiment) and you will find the same outcome.
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Re: Lets take a step back and think, rather than c
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Re: Lets take a step back and think, rather than c
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Re: Lets take a step back and think, rather than c
And you, sir, appear to be an effete asshole.
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Re: Re: Lets take a step back and think, rather th
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Re: Lets take a step back and think, rather than c
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Re: Lets take a step back and think, rather than c
But luckily we all do agree on one serious issue. That issue being how parents affect their children, and how bad parenting is the worst thing for our society.
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Re: Lets take a step back and think, rather than c
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As my father always said ...
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It's BS
what happened? The kids were *still* violent. They'd lash out with anything that they could. Sticks, utensils, anything became a weapon. this was without *any* interaction from video games or television.
I think blaming video games is just stupid. It's misdirected attention.
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APA
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it could go either way
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Violence
Some impressionable youngsters, given certain influences and environmental factors, will display an inclination towards violent behavior when exposed to violent media content.
Others, however, will not.
This might lead to a non-scientific conclusion that states that:
Some children will react to certain intellectual stimuli while others will not.
The question then is: how far do we go to remove exposure to violent content from possible viewing by "at risk" kids? How far do we allow censorship in the name of children's safety, or public safety in general?
The formula works out something like:
In order to ensure maximum public safety, the government is required to place legal limitations on the public in general, resulting in the outlawing or strict limitation of certain materials deemed threatening to the development of impressionable minds.
Among these may be digital content, printed materials, broadcast media, or any other source of information transfer (including those intended primarily for entertainment purposes) that could possibly fall into possession by at-risk members of society.
As government, we are charged with the task of ensuring the safety of the general public. Therefore, materials expounding rebellious or threatening attitudes towards government entities shall also be censored prior to certification for general dissemination or publication.
Is that a better way to handle things? Or should we skip the knee-jerk reactions and realize that the influencing and shaping of young minds is so complex and varied that the possibility of violence - proven, unproven, scientific or swag - is a necessary evil in a free society?
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Violence in Video Games
"Funny how they leave Japan out of these studies. They are the home of ultraviolent video games, comic books, animation, and other "childen's entertainment." Yet- there is far less violence there than here.
It is clear that there are other factors that are far more important."
"Gang members don't commit drive-by shootings simply because they played a video game, nor do school kids shoot others simply because they played a video game.
The factors influencing such violent acts are far more complex than that. Hundreds of thousands of kids who play video games, the vast majority of which do not portray violence, will never assault, attack, or otherwise harm anyone." (http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0801/p09s01-coop.html)
"The flaw in that reasoning is that no one has ever been able to prove through independent research that video games are harmful to children or to show that they cause violence.
There have been some contrived laboratory experiments that purport to show a correlation between viewing video games and increased aggression in some people, but aggression is not the same thing as violence, and correlation does not equal causation." (http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0801/p09s01-coop.html)
The EPA is not to blame nor the people who make video games for creating violent people. Ratings are put on games for a reason.
another site i saw that had some good points was
http://gr.bolt.com/articles/violence/violence.htm
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Reasons
1)Protect self from harm
2)Gain power
3)Protect others
4)Test power (like football, or any other sport)
5)Enertainment
The list goes on...
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one thing people forget
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hi i am 16 hear me out
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I can say that I never got anything out of video games, but frustrated or angry , especially if I didn't master the game, or had to keep starting over.
Honestly, kids are becoming more obsessed with the fictional, when they should be going outdoors playing and socializing like a normal human beings.
And staring constantly at the T.V screen all day drains your health as well as strains the eyes. It's no wonder why the child is more aggressive after.
This also brings to the issue on why kids are so obese these days. Kids parents need to enforce the rules on video games, and take apart in their childs lives, such as being active with them. They shouldn't leave the raising up to a video game.
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monkey
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