stories filed under: "research"
Studying Violent Video Games Causes Unnecessary Extrapolations! News At Eleven!
from the sigh dept
It's hard to go more than a few weeks without seeing yet another article claiming some kind of "dangerous" impact from people playing violent video games. Of course, almost every study that suggests this is true has been debunked. What the studies actually tend to show is that while playing violent video games your brain acts emotional and may get desensitized to the violence being witnessed -- but that makes total sense. You should actually be surprised if playing a game didn't get you emotionally invested in the game and seeing the same thing over and over again didn't shock you as much as the first time. What none of the studies actually shows, however, is that playing these games later leads to violent activity. In fact, the ongoing decrease in violence just as these games have become increasingly popular certainly hints that they're not a major cause of violent activity (this is further supported by a study showing that violent movies seem to decrease incidents of violence). However, that doesn't stop researchers and the press from extrapolating their findings out to conclude that violent video games must lead to violence, despite the lack of proof.The latest is some new research out of Taiwan, found via the Raw Feed, suggesting that playing violent video games decreases the flow of blood to your brain. There could be any number of biological reasons for this, but it doesn't stop the researchers from claiming that those playing these violent video games may "risk damaging brain function and affect their learning and emotional control." Again, that sounds like quite an extrapolation from just looking at the rate of blood flow to the brain -- and luckily people are already questioning the results of the study.
Filed Under: brains, research, violent video games
Another Study Showing The Impact Of Violent Media On The Brain
from the been-there,-done-that? dept
Almost exactly a year ago, we wrote about some new research showing how violent video games impacted the brains of children as monitored using fMRI equipment. The end result was basically that there was an effect -- but it was basically what you'd expect. Violence made stimulated parts of the brain corresponding to being "emotional," which is what anyone would expect. Slashdot is now reporting on a similar study that really doesn't seem all that different (even if the press release about it claims that there hasn't been such evidence "until now"). Basically, the finding shows that when viewing violent media, the part of the brain that suppresses inappropriate aggression is less active. Again, though, that seems perfectly reasonable. If you're witnessing violence, it seems perfectly natural that your brain would prepare you to be ready for violence yourself if needed. What it doesn't show is that it actually does make you more violent. Unlike some research, this seems like perfectly good research and the researchers don't seem to be pretending it says more than it actually does. However, for those looking to support the idea that violent video games makes people violent, they won't find it here (unless they extrapolate out well beyond what the study covers).Filed Under: fmri, research, violent video games
New Report Claims Violent Video Games A Huge Public Safety Threat... But Fails To Actually Provide Evidence
from the not-this-again dept
Some psychologists are getting a bunch of press today for putting out a report claiming that violent video games and TV are the greatest threat to public safety, short of cigarettes. Of course, we've been seeing claims about the threats of violent video games for years, but every time you dig into the research, you find that what the research actually found isn't at all what's being claimed. Most of the research claiming that violent video games leads to more violence has been dismantled as it usually shows that while people are playing a violent video game, they're likely to be more aggressive and emotional -- but that makes sense. You are aggressive and emotional because you're tied up in the game and you're channeling that aggression and emotion towards the game. What none of the studies seem to show is that this aggression and emotion then carry over into violent acts after the game is done. Some studies suggest people become desensitized to seeing more violence -- but again, that doesn't mean they go out and commit violent acts. In fact, as we've noted repeatedly, as violent video games have become increasingly popular, we've actually seen violent acts dropping. That, alone, isn't enough to say there's no impact, but it certainly raises questions about anyone claiming that violent video games are a threat to society.So is this new research that has finally found a link? Unfortunately, not at all. This is simply a psychologist who has published some of the dismantled research above claiming that he's "reviewed" all of the research on the topic (apparently, much of which is his own research) and declared that the sum of all that research means violent video media are the number two threat to public safety. That's pretty hard to take seriously. Basically, he's cherry picking research, much of which has already been shown not to say what he thinks it says, and then jumping to a conclusion that doesn't appear to be supported by the research. But, of course, it generates plenty of headlines.
Filed Under: research, rowell huesmann, violent video games
Professors Learning To Embrace, Not Hate, Wikipedia
from the editing-professor's-views dept
There are plenty of Wikipedia haters out there -- but they often seem to miss the point of the site. We've certainly heard of plenty of students who are told that they're not allowed to cite Wikipedia, which seems silly. As long as people recognize what the source is and how it's written, there's nothing wrong with using Wikipedia as one source among many. It appears that at least a few professors are figuring this out -- and one has taken the typical Wikipedian response to charges of incorrect data (that response being: well, if it's wrong, fix it!) to the next level. Rather than having students just research something using Wikipedia, University of Washington-Bothell professor Martha Groom has them write up a totally new Wikipedia article or substantially improve an old one. In other words, if you think that Wikipedia isn't very good, why not improve it? Not only is it probably a valuable exercise in learning how to present certain types of information, it helps the students have a better understanding of how Wikipedia content comes to be.Latest Phishing Scam... Actually University Research
from the gotta-trick-you-to-understand dept
Lots of people are trying to research phishing scams in order to better understand them and come up with better ways to protect against them, but some folks are apparently a bit upset at research coming out of Indiana University that involved actually phishing a variety of people to con important information out of them in order to understand what kind of phishing scams work. The researchers and the university are defending the practice, saying they learned a lot from it, and it's legal to be deceptive for the purpose of research so long as the deception is no different than what a person might come across normally and the risk to the person is minimal. Still, if any of the information is eventually misused or gets leaked, it certainly could create some problems for the university (and universities are no stranger to leaking data). The university still claims that this kind of research is key to preventing phishing... but oddly, the article seems to highlight what works for phishing scams, rather than what works to stop phishing scams. So, right now, the research seems to be telling scammers how to be more effective scammers, rather than coming up with ways to stop phishing.Filed Under: phishing, research, scams
Companies: indiana university
