New Study Finds Violent Games Do Not Desensitize Players

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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New Study Finds Violent Games Do Not Desensitize Players


A new study conducted by Ryerson University [http://www.ryerson.ca] in Toronto has found that long-term exposure to violent videogames may not desensitize people to violence and negative situations after all.

Conventional wisdom has long held that exposure to violent media will eventually desensitize the consumer, rendering him or her numb to the incidence and consequences of real-life violence. My parents used to worry, back in the day, that when I got older I'd cut my hair into a Mohawk, buy a big black van and find myself utterly unable to kill a person no matter how many bullets I fired at him. It didn't work out that way, however, (although I did end up with a deathly fear of flying) and there may be a good reason for that.

A study [http://www.ryerson.ca/news/media/General_Public/20110215_RN_videogam.html] conducted by PhD candidate Holly Bowen at Ryerson University recently found that among young adults, "violent videogame exposure was not associated with differences in players' emotional memory or their responses to negative stimuli."

"Emotional long-term memory helps us avoid negative situations," Bowen explained. "This has significant implications for public health. For example, if you remember the negative experience of being involved in a bar fight, you will avoid future situations that may lead to an altercation."

The study looked at 122 male and female undergrads, 45 of whom had "some videogame experience" within the previous six months and 77 of whom did not. The most popular games among both males and females included Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy and the NHL franchise (this was a Canadian study, remember); male gamers also reported Call of Duty and Tekken among their top five favorites, while females leaned more toward Mario Kart and Guitar Hero/Rock Band.

Participants were shown a series of 150 negative, positive and neutral images, and then an hour later were shown them again, in random order, along with "distractor" images, and asked to say whether or not they'd seen them previously. At the end of the experiment, they completed a "self-assessment test regarding their state of emotional arousal."

The end result ran contrary to what the researchers were expecting: gamers and non-gamers displayed no difference in terms of memory or emotional arousal. "The findings indicate that long-term emotional memory is not affected by chronic exposure violent video games," Bowen said.

Further study is needed to determine whether the same results will apply across all age groups, the researchers said. "While we are working with young adults, there may still be differences among kids who play violent videogames," added psychology professor Julia Spaniol, the study's co-author. The team has launched a new study looking at the brain activity of violent videogame players as they are exposed to emotional stimuli, and also plans to investigate the impact of "chronic exposure" to game violence in a non-lab setting.


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imperialreign

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Mar 23, 2010
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I'd like to see some more in-depth studies like this come out of the scientific field . . . it would help to comabt the scapegoatism and witchhunting going on within our media and political realms.

At least this is a start.
 

manythings

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Nov 7, 2009
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Can I just point out that games don't render people unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality? It's too small a correlation to call it anything right now, if they had a 10-15 year study starting with 4-5 year olds and ending in the 19-20 range about how games and other media sources impact the mind then we can take a result for granted.

imperialreign said:
I'd like to see some more in-depth studies like this come out of the scientific field . . . it would help to comabt the scapegoatism and witchhunting going on within our media and political realms.
Well he problem is that a scapegoat just has to exist in the field of view regardless of the evidence that proves it isn't the cause of problem X. Witch hunts didn't take place because they were founded on sensible principles.
 

Swerve

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Jan 25, 2008
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Astonishing, the ability to distinguish reality from non reality does not turn you into a psychopath!

can you read minds manythings or do you live 1 minute in the future?
 

Waaghpowa

Needs more Dakka
Apr 13, 2010
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Funny, becaused someone on the forums posted this study as response to the "Games cause rape" Article(s).
 

Sonicron

Do the buttwalk!
Mar 11, 2009
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Common sense, really. I've been killing pixelated abominations in all sorts of ways for many years, and I'm still quite sensitive to violence, e.g. when I see a character commit suicide by applying a needle to his eyeball.
 

DTWolfwood

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Oct 20, 2009
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Needs a way larger sample size b4 we can jump to any real conclusions here. As much as i like to shove something like this in all the anti-gaming politians faces, the study itself is woefully inadequate to be qualified definitive.
 

Mr. Socky

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Apr 22, 2009
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Ironically, if I showed a survey like this to my anti-videogame mom, she'd be the one getting violent.

Somewhat more on topic, I'm really not surprised. People being hurt in a game is fine, but it really bothers me in real life. *gasp* Playing games hasn't turned me into a psychopath!!!
 

Cherry Cola

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Jun 26, 2009
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Misterpinky said:
People being hurt in a game is fine, but it really bothers me in a game *gasp* Playing games hasn't turned me into a psychopath!!!
They do seem to have affected your brain in some way though. Or was your post meant to not make sense at all?
 

Cursed Frogurt

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Aug 17, 2010
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"While we are working with young adults, there may still be differences among kids who play violent videogames,"

I know it's just anecdotal evidence, but I played plenty of "violent" videogames as a kid. When my 12-year-old self witnessed one of my friends get hit in the head with a metal baseball bat I freaked out. It's wasn't like, "Cool! Extra points!"

I used that same story in a paper I wrote for a psychology class about whether or not violent videogames influence violent behavior. I got a 98/100 :-D
 

anthony87

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Aug 13, 2009
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So hang on a sec....you're saying that there's a slim possibility that playing games WON'T cause me to eventually turn into a psychopath?

The fuck have I been playing them all these years for then?

OT: Seriously though this doesn't surprise me at all. In fact isn't what we've all been saying for years? I mean I just finished an hour of Dead Space 2 and as much as I hate little kids, the game doesn't compel me in the least to take a circular saw to the little fuckers in real life.

No...that's a privilage saved for when I'm a parent ^_^
 

Mr. Socky

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Apr 22, 2009
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Hubilub said:
Misterpinky said:
People being hurt in a game is fine, but it really bothers me in real life *gasp* Playing games hasn't turned me into a psychopath!!!
They do seem to have affected your brain in some way though. Or was your post meant to not make sense at all?
I have fixed it now. Oops. For the record, this had more to do with being distracted while writing. Video games have nothing to do with me being stupid.
 

hansari

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May 31, 2009
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Keyword here being "some" gaming experience.

The alarmists will claim that desensitization occurs among those who play games very frequently, putting a good 10+ hours every week.
 

Daemascus

WAAAAAAAAAGHHH!!!!
Mar 6, 2010
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See? People can figure out the differnce between realife and video games. And now we have scientific proof.
 

Rainboq

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Nov 19, 2009
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lostzombies.com said:
Yeah thats bullplop, video games desensitized the shit out of me.
Okay, now try watching someone get seriously injured or worse, see how you feel about it.

I play violent video games all the time, and I still can't watch someone get injured
 

dakorok

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Dec 8, 2010
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I'm still just as squeamish with violence in real life as I was all those years ago before I started playing games. I can't stand those horror movies where people lose arms and stuff. Hell, it still freaks me out in Fallout.
 

Veloxe

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Oct 5, 2010
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I think I'm becoming desensitized to studies telling me the obvious.

It's like a couple years ago my parents were worried that when I was starting to drive I would be trying to preform Burnout style takedowns on the highway. Thanks for the concern mom, dad, but there is a difference between a video game and reality.
 

nipsen

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Sep 20, 2008
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..what a strange general statement. Obviously some situations and some experiences will desensitize you to violence to some degree.

Frankly, reality dulls you eventually. .. could easily be that some people find fiction in general is a way to poke those feelings they think they still should have, for example. Horror is a way to experience fear in a controlled and safe way - but it's also a way to remind yourself that you know what it's like to really be scared.

But hey, I don't know..