Researcher Links Media and Violence

[Elf Defiler Korgan]

Yet another study where the conclusions were drawn up before the criteria.

Damn straight. I especially liked the claim of the thesis that it will make people view the world as more violent than it is, which is not actually a position of being violent or aggressive. A war reporter can be accurate in conveying how violent and grim the world can be, that doesn't make them violent. We can read the news and be struck by how tragic life can be, that isn't to be more violent. I don't think this researcher gets the big picture. Violence is down across most of the world, less conflicts, less war, but it is still a very nasty place. I'd say especially nasty outside of the big comfortable cities, but ever there you can find a lot of crime, stabbings, kidnapping, murder over time. The world is dark and full of terrors.

I come from a rural Australian town, with a lot of ethnic violence and theft. You've got to understand the world, understand when violence is necessary and when it isn't, and only then do you have your head stuck on straight. Head in the sand the world isn't that way statements are folly.

 

[Andronicus]

I really don't understand people's need to weigh into these arguments with a vague "I play violent videogames, and I'm not violent". Do you actually think that makes a difference? As much as I loathe myself for saying this, it's the children we need to be thinking of. Children's minds are still being wired, and the point being argued is that constant assault by this sort of material may have detrimental effects to the intricate process of the developing brain. Retorting that you've played videogames all your life is a self-defeating argument, because the debate is in regards to the highly graphic modern titles available today, not the poorly textured games in the early to mid nineties, available when you were at the age of topic.

Furthermore, to those people attacking researchers with knee-jerk reactions; you don't appear more smarter by comparison, just because the science contradicts your opinion. Do you seriously think researchers set out on a crusade against games when these studies are performed? Victimising scientists because you don't agree with empirical observations is stupidity on a medieval-level. Researchers generally go where their interests intersect with funding. This is a hot topic at the moment, with no immediately clear conclusion (as you all well know), so there is great interest in finding one. He isn't calling for a ban on all violent videogames or media, or anything like that; he's just trying to make sense of the data, and there is a lot of it to make sense from. It's politicians, journalists and activists who make the sweeping generalisations for whatever agenda they're pushing.

As a psychology student, as an empiricist, and as someone who has actually read many of these studies, I've really come to detest my fellow gamers. It annoys me that people make sweeping grandiose statements about how media consumption obviously cannot have any affect on someone at any level, despite repeated evidence to the contrary that they refuse to read. It annoys me when people use the same, tired, "common sense" arguments which have been refuted by empirical evidence. It annoys me when I'm forced to remember that, no matter what is done to demonstrate this connection between media and aggression, there will always be these mocking and condescending articles in every gaming magazine saying just how stupid we are. But most of all, I hate that people will call into question the integrity of researchers whose research they know nothing about and will never bother to actually read, simply because they have nothing but an ad hominem to add to the discussion. It hasn't happened yet in this thread as of the time of writing this post, but it's early in the day. I see it happen in every thread, so I'm sure it won't take more than a day to have one happen in this one.

Also, everything this guy just said.

 

[LordFish]

snip

Strayed slightly from my point but well said.

Bottom line; This guy makes money selling his book about the danger of violence media on children. So when he publishes a scientific study should we believe it's mere coincidence that the findings support his stance and persuade people to buy his book.

To be honest I totally believe that a saturation of violent media from a young age will totally screw you up, however the Russian airport scene in CoD is hardly going to make serial killers since it's balanced and part of the story.

Games have ratings for a reason, stick to them, and don't play to an addictive level and everything will be ok... Probably ;P

 

[Stripes]

I wish people would stop acting as if this was a shut and closed debate, with the view that violent media = violence being factually false. Furthermore people decide to deride any expert (who has vastly greater qualifications to comment on the matter) who disagrees with their preconceptions because the other view is difficult to consider/give credit. Im not saying either is right, I cant say that because I lack the qualifications, Im just saying others who lack any expertise should stop behaving like they do.

 

[DanDeFool]

As usual, more "would be" professors peddling anti-gaming garbage. The world is a scary place and most violence comes from bad parenting and other smaller influences.

Besides, aren't humans naturally violent anyway?

Case-in-Point: Sub-Saharan Africa.

I've heard that in particularly bad regions, upwards of 80% of women have been raped, in addition to all the other violence that goes on there. Somehow, I doubt all the child soldiers are spending their nights playing COD in the jungle.

Games and other media may cause some modicum of an increase in violent behavior, but I figure hating and fearing your fellow humans will do that a thousand times better.

I think the reason we get so uptight about these sorts of things in the developed world is that our standards for acceptable behavior are so high. In America, we think little Jimmy coming home with a black eye after a rough day at elementary school is the end of the freaking world, when mostparts off the world would be happy just to get him back with both arms still attached.

It's just like how people get afraid of flying, and feel completely fine when driving their cars. The risk of developing violent tendencies out in the real world may be much higher, but just like how TWA 800 going down in flames makes some people think that flying is unsafe, people see violence in video games and think they MUST cause violent behavior. It comes down to an inability to understand and process relative risks. Never mind the fact that if video games really did cause the kinds of viol we're afraid of, all 10 million people who bought COD4 would be overthrowing their local municipalities as we speak. All it takes is a perceived association between our fears and a thing to make us panic.

 

[Vault101]

this guy was on today tonight last night

I'm not going to dispute it, but I do think "well..we have the rating systm for a reason" I think it really depends on the parents discretion

 

[sumanoskae]

I've played through God of War, GTA and Mortal Kombat and never batted an eyelash.

I can barely stand the sight of blood in real life.

Very few of the violent people I've met play a lot of video games

My best friend in the world, who's the least violent person I've ever met, has played through all of the games listed above, multiple times.

The ability to differentiate fiction from reality is a basic and deep rooted ability of the mind, it has to be, we make things up all the time, and we have a name for people who can't; schizophrenics. I'm going to need more than his word to dismiss this basic ability.

You can see it even within fiction. Heavy Rain has one of the most unnerving scenes in gaming, and it's nowhere near as violent as Mortal Kombat; it's unnerving because it's a realistic event happening to a character we can identify as human; it's much more intense then the ultra violence in MK, which is easy to recognize as not real, and is inflicted on equally unrealistic characters.

Well adjusted, sane human beings don't react to cruelty with apathy or delight. In terms of kids, have you met kids? They'e some of the most violent people I've ever met, sometimes they're outright horrible to each other.

Humans are not totally lacking in violence by nature, look no further than your canines.

But they aren't monsters, and no game will change human nature.

 

[Jumplion]

So, this guy says that studies have shown that violent media (i.e.: not just video games) can have a noticeable temporary effect on children, with cumulative effects over time. He says that media is only one influence, and that there are plenty of things to do to take care of it, citing parenting first. He says that his book is ultimately to let other people judge for themselves.

The "gaming community" then responds with statements like:

"Violence has always existed." Which is not contrary to his statements.
"He shouldn't just pick on video games!" Which he didn't.
"We should focus on better parenting!" Which he suggested.
"He's shoving his pre-assumed ideals down our throats!" Which he is not.

I get it, "us" vs "them". Team mentality. Tribal warfare. Polarization. Groupthink. It is the most effective way to "protect" oneself. Of course, it assumes that we are all on different "teams" and need protection, instead of working together with an open discourse for the betterment of all.

Not everyone who has come forward indicating that exposure to violent media can affect violent behavior is saying that anyone who plays a violent video game is a murderer waiting to happen, or that all video games should be banned. All they are trying to say is that we should be aware of it and act accordingly. Responses like "videogames didn't turn me violent" and "another attempt at censorship" are ignoring the issue and aren't really helping anyone.

Gamer Science

Slander versus Pander.


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People just don't have any reading comprehension on the internet. It gets tiresome after a while.

 

[somonels]

Yet another newspiece which the confuses and terrifies the poobrained masses, just like evolution to creationists.

 

[spartan231490]

Why can't people just realize that all behavior is the choice of the person who commits it? He's wrong. They've all been wrong. They will always be wrong. I would give specific reasoning, but this is so fundamentally obvious that I feel no reason to give any credence to any alternate possibilities by doing so.

 

[WarCorrespondent]

No, just no. I'm Australian, and I am all for criticising video games along with any other medium, so it's a little hard for me to say that this research sounds bulldust.

'"Over the long term it's just like eating fatty food," he explained. "One hamburger won't kill you but there is a cumulative effect."'

That is not how psychology works. Humans have agency. When you put a ball on top of a hill, you can use physics to predict where the ball will go almost exactly. When you put a human on a hill, they can do anything. They can pick their nose, they can eat the grass, they could roll down the hill.

You've made a statement about how aggressive behaviour can linger for 15min after playing certain games. That's good and it's as valid as any other good research, but that is all you know. You can't predict further in any reliable way.

Do the research on how regular playing of certain games make you steadily more aggressive over 20+ years and we'll talk.

 

[Thistlehart]

Short response: LOL

Long response: LLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLL

Hey, maybe we should get him on that God question. Certainly he should be able to offer definitive proof one way or the other.

After all, he's "proved" what no one else has apparently been capable of "proving". Maybe he's the guy to put the God question to bed.

 

[Comando96]

Breaking News: Don't let your 12 year old play on an 18 rated game.

In other news trolls, troll. Bears shit in the woods and the Pope is etc etc.

-------------

Don't let kids consume violence media, yes sure we know that now... please stop trying to ban the stuff, start funding advertising campgains so parents don't buy a game with a number on it bigger than their child.

Some parents have common sense but there seem to be plenty of whiny children on these games who shouldn't be on them.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Wow.... if its true that violent content makes us more violent we would still in the 15th century....

 

[Reyold]

Researcher Links Media and Violence

Warburton, the deputy direction of Macquarie's Children and Families Research Center, said the results of MRI brain scans of kids exposed to violent media were similar to those of kids who'd witnessed real violence, and that kids who played violent videogames were more likely to display aggressive behavior in the real world for up to 15 minutes after they stopped playing.

"Over the long term it's just like eating fatty food," he explained. "One hamburger won't kill you but there is a cumulative effect."

Based on what, exactly? You can't say violent games cause long-term effects if you don't have evidence for it. You can't base the long-term solely on the short-term.

Well, I guess you could, but wouldn't that be kind of unethical?

 

[Xanadu84]

Warburton, the deputy direction of Macquarie's Children and Families Research Center, said the results of MRI brain scans of kids exposed to violent media were similar to those of kids who'd witnessed real violence, and that kids who played violent videogames were more likely to display aggressive behavior in the real world for up to 15 minutes after they stopped playing.

15 minutes? My god...if they are really fast runners, they might actually do something about that!

You know, assuming this study has external validity. Which it doesn't.

What counts as aggressive behavior? Because you know, in some situations, aggression translates into things like passion, strong belief, or desire. Aggression is not bad in and of itself.

Oh, and how does this compare to watching, lets say...football? Got a control group? How about another violent activity to make this data meaningful?

I'm sure you were VERY impartial in this study though, right?

Seriously, I'd be less cynical if every study that tries to establish a causal link between video games and violent behavior wern't textbook examples of how to NOT do a Psychological study. I am more insulted as a person with a degree in Psychology then I am as a gamer.

 

[BNguyen]

So playing violent video games is worse than what WOULD have happened, which is me snapping and violently murdering every single motherf*cker that bullied me for 10 years of school with gratuitous amounts of stabbing?
Obviously, right.

Gaming can provide a safe outlet for emotions, but it's just the target of the times these days, just like 'violent' music such as rap and metal (Or rock, if you go back further) once was, and violent comics before that.

and dancing, going back further than rock
how does no one see that violence will go on even without influence of the media, like say, large portions of Africa and the Middle East? Violence has been around longer than video games have and will continue to be here so long as humans are alive. Humans are inherently violent without or without media influence. Taking away a safe means of lefting off some social steam will not help anyone.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

"Although media is just one of many influences in our children's lives, it is a powerful and pervasive force and it's one that we can do something about, from parenting, to professional practice, to the making of policies and laws," he said. "We hope that by presenting a series of chapters that provide a summary of research evidence to date, readers will be able to judge for themselves."

Is this implying that they're actually going to educate parents and people with a significant amount of power, like politicians, about how to properly approach violent video games and disturbing media? If so, then I'm on this guy's side.

... If he's just going to blame the developers and us for playing the games, though, then I'd like to pull out Bungie's 7th Step Slingshot and send him into the sun.

 

[Zetona]

The first instinct of a community like this is to of course say that other influences are far more important than video games in this regard, but we're all missing the mark here. The term used here is MEDIA. Books, movies, music, video games, etc. Video games are certainly mentioned, but they are not singled out to the extent of some other studies. And I can't exactly disagree with what the study says about how media might affect young kids. Unless I was a much stranger child than I was led to believe, I can't be the only one who sometimes imitated what I saw on television. If a kid sees/reads/hears violent stuff, I expect they might act a bit more violently afterwards.

Obviously, even the research misses the point somewhat. The onus is on the parents to do the best they can to keep their children from harmful exposure to stuff like this and teach them that violence is wrong. The violence in the media is there because that's what society wants, etc. Games, being the least accepted medium at this point, get scapegoated by the news media. They are not blameless, but neither are they the only or the biggest culprit.

 

[Something Amyss]

Meh, none of this "A Makes You Violent" crap would matter if parents got off their asses and parented like they're supposed to.

At 7-10 years old:

Your kid should not be reading "Lolita"

Your kid should not be watching "The Silence of the Lambs"

and

YOUR KID SHOULD NOT BE PLAYING CALL OF DUTY

Eesh.

Isn't it odd that the last one is both the most scrutinised and the most permitted?