Evidence Lacking On Any Connection Between Video Game Violence And Real Violence
from the so-says-the-research dept
Two professors have taken the time to go through all of the various research over the years that has tried to connect violent video games to actual violence, and discovered many problems with it. They found that research that concludes some sort of connection between the two seems to not use any recognized measure of aggression (allowing for substantial fudging), and that the media attention seems to lead more researchers to study the subject and (perhaps subconsciously) push them towards sensationalizing their findings. Hurray for technopanics. Among the findings:Of course, that won't stop lawyers and politicians from grandstanding on the issue...
- In the last 10 years, video games studies have been overwhelmingly popular compared to studies on other media.
- Less than half of studies (41%) used well validated aggression measures.
- Poorly standardized and unreliable measures of aggression tended to produce the highest effects, possibly because their unstandardized format allows researchers to pick and choose from a range of possible outcomes.
- The closer aggression measures got to actual violent behavior, the weaker the effects seen.
- Experimental studies produced much higher effects than correlational or longitudinal studies. As experimental studies were most likely to use aggression measures of poor quality, this may be the reason why.
- There was no evidence that video games produce higher effects than other media, despite their interactive nature.
- Overall, effects were negligible, and we conclude that media violence generally has little demonstrable effect on aggressive behavior.
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Filed Under: research, violent video games
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I'd like to see a study on the connection between the rise of violence among kids and the campaign to discourage parents from using any kind of unpleasant discipline on their kids.
When I was little, I was afraid of making my parents angry. I knew I'd get slapped by my mother for using bad language, or smacked on the seat of my pants for doing something stupid. I was also afraid that my father, who liked to break things when he got mad, would lose his temper and smash my toys. Today, children are taught that if their parents touch them in any way as a form of discipline, it's child abuse and they should report it.
I'm not advocating beating children, but it's gotten so that many parents are afraid to discipline their kids and the kids know it. Look at all those talkshows that ran "My Kids are out of Control" episodes where the teens called their parents every name in the book and said they were going to do what they wanted.
Many kids are growing up with no respect for authority, is it any wonder that they have few inhibitions about violence?
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Re:
Desensitization and becoming more violent due to a video game are different.
Being desensitized means that if you see violence after playing violent video games, you won't be filled with the same level of horror and disgust than you would if you weren't previously exposed to such things through experience. But, the same desensitization effect could be seen in movies, television news, or if you live in a violent area. It refers to a sensitive level of reaction to exposure, which lessens with experience.
The point that politicians are making is that violent video games make kids violent. It goes beyond desensitization and into nurturing violent tendencies leading to violence becoming a more frequent reaction to situations where the person would not have previously been violent.
I'm on the fence about desensitization, because from my own experiences (which are mine, and not everyone else's), I find that I'm still as horrified at real violence. I've been an avid watcher of horror movies since I was 8, but seeing someone actually attacked or injured still fills me with pain. But, then again, I actually have the ability to differentiate fantasy from reality.
In terms of the idea of violent video games making kids more violent ... I still hold to the belief that the statement is false, and the real answer is that violent kids play violent video games. Though I would accept that an extremely small percentage, talking less than .0000001%, actually do get more violent from playing violent video games. And I don't mean aggressive, I mean violent.
I would equate the aggression from violent video games to road rage, and probably about as common. In the moment, the adrenaline is intoxicating, but a couple minutes later, after a cool-off period, they would return to normal. We're creatures of chemicals, and when the adrenaline and other hormones start flowing from stress and excitement, the brain functions actually change so that they are thinking differently then they would normally. It's the old flight or fight mechanism.
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On the subject of the people actually doing the research
These two individuals have produced a pretty stunning portfolio of anti-gaming research over the years, with professor Anderson having started in the field of anti-film research. Bushman, on the other hand, started off his career doing real research and actually won awards for academic and research excellence back in the 1980s; he hasn't won any more of those awards since he started his anti-gaming work.
Strange, that...
::grinds axe::
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Re: On the subject of the people actually doing the research
Bushman's awards pre-1990 were for excellence in research, his later awards were for teaching.
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a German Perspective
It is clear that playing violent computer games cannot be sufficient explanation for what happened, but coupled with ready access to guns, and media glorifying Columbine as part of global youth culture, it might be a necessary condition.
It took over 50 years to prove the link between cancer and cigarette smoking, because life is never mono-causal. But really, did anybody believe smoking was good for you in the 1970s?
Does this mean we should be absolutist about gaming/smoking? Of course not.
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I agree that the studies linking violent behavior to video games are usually bad science. However, it is very interesting listening to how we gamers talk about these studies. "Of course, I almost flunked out of college because of World of Warcraft, but the games haven't made me violent. And I did fail Calculus that year."
I think we should acknowledge and study the real problems that come from gaming. We dismiss the gaming-violence propaganda, but also joke about losing girlfriends, wives, and jobs. THAT is what people should be concerned about and studying. I do not want to use the word “addiction” because it’s overused and misleading. But my sense is that it’s better for a kid to play Grand Theft Auto for an hour and then have to go outside, than play “Snuggle Bear’s Math Cavalcade of Edutainment Fun” for four hours and go to bed.
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Waow, Craig Anderson and Brad Bushman really are quacks
"Some of the causes of increased violence have been identified. For example, the accessibility of guns (O’Donnell 1995), global warming (Anderson et al. 1997) [...]"
They continue by stating: "Recent psychological research has yielded promising new treatments [...]"
source: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbushman/02AB.pdf
Uhu, want to guess that part of the "treatment" is a pill?
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Re: Waow, Craig Anderson and Brad Bushman really are quacks
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um well i think this.
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Re: um well i think this.
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Re: not lol man
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Re: lol man
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sign in
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Videogamer with a voice
its just more proof that most of the tests and experiments done that "prove" videogames = violence are rigged from the beginning.
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