Science Links Videogames to Heightened Creativity

[Andy Chalk]

Science Links Videogames to Heightened Creativity

A Michigan State University study says that boys and girls who play videogames, even violent ones, tend to be more creative than those who don't.

Remember when we told you about the University of Queensland study [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113971-Australian-Study-Confirms-Dangers-of-Violent-Videogames] that "confirmed the dangers of violent videogames?" Well that was yesterday, and even though the authors of the study sounded like they had the world in their hands, today, while it's not the end of the world, there's a slight change of plans. Because today, a new study from a different university claims that videogames, including violent ones, are directly linked to heightened creativity in both boys and girls.

Researchers using the Torrance Test of Creativity - Figural [http://www.ststesting.com/ngifted.html] looked at 491 12-year-old boys and girls, and found that the more they played videogames, the more creativity they exhibited in tasks like drawing pictures and writing stories. Boys were found to prefer violent and sports games while girls tended to prefer games "involving interaction with others," but regardless of the type of game or other factors, a direct correlation between game playing and creativity was found.

Professor Linda Jackson, who led the project, said the study "appears to be the first evidence-based demonstration of a relationship between technology and creativity" and will hopefully motivate designers to zero in on those aspects of videogames that are responsible for the effect.

"Once they do that, video games can be designed to optimize the development of creativity while retaining their entertainment values such that a new generation of videogames will blur the distinction between education and entertainment," she said.

Stupid scientists. I wish they'd make up their minds.

Source: Science Daily [http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111102125355.htm]


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[ssgt splatter]

Wow. I just got done reading that other article from University of Queensland like 10 minutes ago now I get slapped with this.

God damn science, make up your mind.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Says the same thing about hallucinogens, but you don't hear that very often.

 

[CosmicCommander]

Where's the paragraph or two analysing and critiquing the methodology and terminology of the study that you put in the Queensland article?

May this be a sign of (shock, horror) a fundamental bias on your analysis of content? I would think the respected people at The Escapist would never stoop to the point of...-

Sorry, sorry, I can't maintain that façade- despite how hilarious the sarcasm was. Andy, even if you don't mean to favour studies that are pro-games, you do. At least put some critical analysis on both the articles, instead of only putting it on the ones that are contrary to your position.

 

[Sagacious Zhu]

So if video games make people more violent AND more creative, then the next generation of kids will all grow up to be supervillains

 

[thiosk]

I've been saying this for years. I started playing videogames at 5. I was flying missions against the Kilrathi by 7 or 8. I was managing a mercenary combat squadron by 11. I'd conquered the world as the russians, the french, and the romans dozens of times by age 12, and was glassing planets from orbit by 13 to make way for my mighty Klackon empire. As I turned 14, I was defending the planet against alien invasion by turning their own weapons against them, and pushing out to mars to destroy the alien hive mind itself.

I've got a phD in chemistry now, and it was some of those early experiences that molded my personality and set me on the path to nerd-dom. I consider my primary attribute to be creativity, which I apply to complex problems in nanoscience, neuroscience, and fundamental chemistry.

[sub]and to writing warhammer 40k fan fiction, but don't worry, thats not published anywhere[/sub]

 

[Woodsey]

Indeed, I am very creative when I go on my game-induced killing sprees.

 

[Rallus]

I wouldn't know since I'm English but does Michigan State University have a particularly good reputation? Also I would like to see how they measured 'creativity' because of course these children are not blank slates, they would have had some influence from their parents or their ordinary social lives so measuring creativity (which is subjective) would be very difficult.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

SEE MRS OGG!
i'm not procrastinating, i'm helping my creative brain-juices pour out of my ears onto my essay.

Says the same thing about hallucinogens, but you don't hear that very often.

exactly. they say that when you smoke weed you get creative (i know a guy who did an entire Product Design folio freehand totally stoned and did pretty fucking well...) yet they say it might give you a slightly different kind of cancer from normal cigarettes and therefore is worse than giving illegal weapons training or killing people with your car(all three are Class B offenses is the UK).

 

[Bobic]

Where's the paragraph or two analysing and critiquing the methodology and terminology of the study that you put in the Queensland article?

May this be a sign of (shock, horror) a fundamental bias on your analysis of content? I would think the respected people at The Escapist would never stoop to the point of...-

Sorry, sorry, I can't maintain that façade- despite how hilarious the sarcasm was. Andy, even if you don't mean to favour studies that are pro-games, you do. At least put some critical analysis on both the articles, instead of only putting it on the ones that are contrary to your position.

Well, I was gonna basically write this but someone apparently beat me to it, probably in a much more creative way.

Guess he plays more games than me. . .

 

[Phenakist]

We've aaaaaaaaaaaaall been saying this for yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeears, but did anyone believe us? no.

There's no such thing as fair research on topics like this, all those committees governed by menopausal women who do what their psychics, therapists and gossip mag's tell them is "best" for their kids get research commissioned to "prove" an opinion they had.

Thankfully this isn't one of those cases. I can honestly say I'm more creative playing my wide ranging tastes in games and fiction, far easier to spark ideas. However if I were only reading the works of Shakespeare or some other classical writer (like the aforementioned committees would select for me) I'd be stuck in the same thinking pattern my whole life.

 

[Yopaz]

Now all the people bashing the previous study released today will come and praise this one.

Seriously social and psychological science is impossible to prove because we're shaped by more than one factor! God damn how I hate every study saying "Bleep leads to bleep".

 

[Andy Chalk]

Where's the paragraph or two analysing and critiquing the methodology and terminology of the study that you put in the Queensland article?

The University of Queensland report said absolutely nothing about its methodology, while the Michigan State study was very clear about the number and ages of children involved, and the methods used in the research. I think that as far as that goes, the matter speaks for itself.

 

[dragongit]

Science is a fickled thing. One day it says Videogames promote violence, other days it promotes creativity.

 

[Smooth Operator]

So they make us violent and creative... I guess crime scenes will come with much more artistic merit in the years to come.

 

[CosmicCommander]

But why no critical analysis, Andy?

Those are all relevant factors to critique in the other article, but why no analysis of this one? You seemingly just throw it out as an infallible proclamation of the glory of games; you don't dedicate any text to discussing it's relevance, factuality, and reliability. You just plant it on the desk, say "LOOK, THESE GUYS SAY GAMES ARE COOl", and don't give any editorial opinion.

The University of Queensland study said absolutely nothing about the methodology involved, while the Michigan State study was very clear about the number and ages of children involved, and the methods used in the research. I think the matter speaks for itself.

Wrong. You haven't read or cited the University or Queensland study. You cited Game Politics in the article in that study. Which in turn cited the news bulletin [http://www.uq.edu.au/news/?article=23987] saying Dr. Bastian published this study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, which you didn't cite because you didn't have a copy of it.

So no, you're not in a position to say the study "said absolutely nothing about the methodology involved"- you damned the study without even reading it, based off a press release.

Critical analysis for the stuff you don't like, praise or wordless encouragement for the stuff you do.

EDIT: Also, not meaning to be pedantic- but I just read the title: "Science Links Videogames to Heightened Creativity". Thus implying every branch of science has linked games to creativity. They've found a link in one (relatively) small study. There's a difference between "Study suggests link between videogames and heightened creativity" than "Science links videogames to heightened creativity".