Study Finds Similarities Between Videogame Addiction, Asperger's

[Andy Chalk]

Study Finds Similarities Between Videogame Addiction, Asperger's

A new study claims that videogame "addicts" exhibit many of the same negative personality traits as people diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome [http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/asperger/asperger.htm].

The research, conducted by Dr. John Charlton of the Whitman College [http://www.bolton.ac.uk/]in Walla Walla, Washington, found that individuals who showed more signs of addiction to videogames showed heightened personality traits of neuroticism, lack of extroversion and lack of agreeableness. All three are considered signs of Asperger's, described as "a variety of high-functioning autism."

The researchers clarified that videogame addicts "share some of the same characteristics because they find it easier to empathize with computer systems than with other people," not that they had or were more prone to have Asperger's, according to a British Psychological Society's [http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9841&Itemid=2] Annual Conference in Dublin, Ireland.

"The thinking in the field is that there is a scale upon which people, even those considered to be "normal," can be placed upon, and that people such as engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists are nearer to the non-empathizing, systemizing end of the spectrum, with people with Asperger's syndrome even further along again," Charlton said. "Our research supports the idea that people who are heavily involved in game playing may be nearer to autistic spectrum disorders than people who have no interest in gaming."


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[sammyfreak]

How very interesting, but hardly suprising. What i am curious about is if these symptoms are developed because the people game alot or do they game alot because they have the symptoms.

 

[Murray09]

I'm not addicted... i just have the sudden and unexplainable urge to blow something up with a large gun. (in the case of Chrome Hounds. a 200 ton gun with lots of high explosives)

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

I'd really love to have some info on their methodology for this, specifically their sample size, evaluation methods, and control groups, as well as the response from the researchers' scientific peers. A lot of news stories that begin with some variant of the words "new study" fail to follow up with additional reports after the studies are disputed or discredited. I get particularly suspicious when the research seems to echo popular bias. Will there be a follow-up discussing the similarity between sports fans and people with impulse-control disorders? Artists and schizophreniform disorders?

 

[Omnidum]

I am still curios on how they do this kind of research.

 

[sammyfreak]

Aspergers tends to be blown up by the public yes. A full blown case results in a person who tends to be extremely hard to communicate with. But using the term to describe someone who is anti-social or shy isent a good idea, some things are just personality.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

You didn't hear about the Phillipines saying that crucifixion is bad for your health?

But yes, it says Aspergers causes addiction rather than the other way around. Possibly the same way it might cause Photo-Epilepsy; because Rainbow road on Mario-Kart nearly makes me blow chunks.

 

[Nugoo]

As an introvert, I wouldn't say that a lack of extroversion is a negative personality trait.

As for agreeableness, the majority of people suck, so who's really at fault there?

 

[Kogarian]

As an introvert, I wouldn't say that a lack of extroversion is a negative personality trait.

As for agreeableness, the majority of people suck, so who's really at fault there?

I completely agree.

 

[Strafe Mcgee]

As an introvert, I wouldn't say that a lack of extroversion is a negative personality trait.

As for agreeableness, the majority of people suck, so who's really at fault there?

I completely agree.

As do I, but I cannot help but be intrigued by this report. My brother has Asperger's Syndrome and finds it very difficult to relate to people. For a long time I wondered whether I also had it due to my own social inadequacies and introversions. Still do, actually.

But I also agree with Mshcherbatskaya. If you seriously want us to believe this then give us some more information. I'm sick and tired of psychology reports which claim to find negative effects of videogames and then fail to back up their claims with further information that validates their claims.

 

[Scypemonk]

Asperger bassicly means, in short, that you have less developed social brainpart, and a more developed logical one. Ive learned alot about this, since im an asperger myself.

So bassicly i think that they mean, people who play, or work with computers, more than most people, have decreased social skills, but have a more logical way of thinking. I hardly think that gaming, rots your brain, and leaves nothing behind, but rather develops your logical skills, or other skills for that sake, rather than the social.

 

[xMacx]

I'd really love to have some info on their methodology for this, specifically their sample size, evaluation methods, and control groups, as well as the response from the researchers' scientific peers.

Sample size is in the original post and looks fine for what they're measuring. You can assume survey based methods given the description, and since it's a correlational study, there probably isn't a control group per se. You generally use a control group when you're trying to manipulate an independent variable, which it doesn't appear they're doing.

Of course, you don't have to take my word for it - call em up and let us know the details.

http://www.bps.org.uk/publications/proceedings/proceedings_home.cfm

I can give you a likely response from some of their scientific peers - meh. It's a correlation between a self-selected behavior and several generalizable traits used to classify a spectrum disorder. More an interesting armchair finding than anything else.

A lot of news stories that begin with some variant of the words "new study" fail to follow up with additional reports after the studies are disputed or discredited. I get particularly suspicious when the research seems to echo popular bias. Will there be a follow-up discussing the similarity between sports fans and people with impulse-control disorders? Artists and schizophreniform disorders?

I'm not following your sports analogies, but the best approach would probably be to follow up on your own. A new finding is interesting (hence newsworthy); scientists bickering over the validity of those findings is probably only interesting to those who are in the field or personally vested (not newsworthy). Can't blame the media for that one, really; if you're interested, follow up.

 

[xMacx]

But I also agree with Mshcherbatskaya. If you seriously want us to believe this then give us some more information. I'm sick and tired of psychology reports which claim to find negative effects of videogames and then fail to back up their claims with further information that validates their claims.

See post above. Where are all these video game studies that fail to back up their claims?

 

[xMacx]

To be sure, I'm not so much defending the validity of the study (Most gaming studies coming out of the UK make my eyes roll involuntarily) as arguing against the knee-jerk reaction of those not doing research to whip out their psych 101 experimental methods notes when research reports a result they don't like.

 

[Dectilon]

I don't doubt the report really. I've seen the effects of excessive gaming on myself ^^ After too long social the thought of social interaction creates thoughts of doubt and a fear of doing or saying something stupid. Also I know a guy who has no fear of interacting with people (he works in tech support), but he is well-known for rambling endlessly about games, movies and tv-series. He can reiterate entire episodes of South Park unless you stop him. It's not really that he's unaware of the discomfort he causes others, but he just doesn't care.

I recall Adams (as in Scott Adams ) second law (I think it was): "People like to talk, people do not like to listen". It's not Aspbergers, it's just a common human trait amplified by the lack of diverse stimulus. I even know a guy who does nothing but play WoW. He claims to have Aspbergers but he wasn't anywhere near as introvert as he is now before he started playing WoW, so it's just an excuse. At the same time I know a guy who actually has Aspbergers. He often has trouble reading peoples reactions to things he says, has trouble understanding sarcasm etc, but he's not introvert.

Basically, there are all kinds of people, and people are affected differently by games. Some aren't affected at all, while some do become addicted.

Then again, I didn't do a study, so I can't say these cases I bring up are significant. But I'm sure everyone at least know someone like the tech support guy : P

 

[Arbre]

I am still curios on how they do this kind of research.

They lock themselves into one room each and force themselves through a 72 hours marathon session of Halo 3 on Legendary, then come out grumpy, sweaty, bleak and swear a lot.

I need to make a nerdy T-shirt about Asperger now.

 

[Professor Ardwulf]

Sample seems too small, classification of "addiction" is somewhat questionable, and the link to Asperger's is very tenuous. People with this disorder, which has a neurological basis, tend to identify with machines, sometimes think of themselves as robots, and to have difficulty processing, for example, the facial expressions and body language of other human beings, and, sometimes, to 'shut out' the world to a certain extent as a result (not always, as plenty of people with this disorder work around it, are inspirational examples of working around a problem). As many of you have said, gamers who spend a lot of time not interacting with other human beings in person are at risk of the last one, and they may come to identify with machines easily as well -- they are completing routine tasks using sophisticated technology -- and they 'shut out' the world to a certain extent in order to make time for games. So? The comparison means very little.

.. this is like saying that people with limited social skills are similar to people who have limited social skills as a result a neurological disorder... yes, people can voluntarily adopt the characteristics of illness. We could all be paranoid by choice, but a comparison to paranoid disorders that are not voluntary would not be very useful.

People (like me) are going to read this thing, though, because it's about games. Gets these two researchers a moment in the sun, about all it's good for.

 

[Melaisis]

There's bound to be crossovers; there always is with any kind of damn personality disorder. However, its probably not a great correlation at all, and this study is only the first of its kind. I'd be surprised if these guys have even heard of damn Seay...