Study Finds "Moral Learning" is Disrupted by Violent Games

[JoshGod]

The results also indicated that gamers who reported playing a variety of games consistently stuck with similar kinds of games.

This confuses me, although it may just be me as i'm exhausted. Would someone elaborate please?
OT
As someone who has played God Of war since about 11 years old I can say that I am desensitised more than most people, however I have far greater understanding and appreciation for other people's perspective than most. being less able to emotionally relate to a person and their situation doesn't mean i can't logically do so. Then again I may just be a minority that considers other people perspectives.

I think it means that even among children who played multiple games, they tended to stick to the same genre.

It's a pretty awful sentence though.

But that doesn't mean anything in regard to the issue. Besides what do you expect? People stick with what they know they like.

 

[4173]

The kids were already playing the games, I'm not sure what this hot coffee is.

An allegory/metaphor. If you're testing the idea that something poisons someone else, it's possibly best not to feed it to them.

I don't think the researcher did feed it to them. The kids were already owned the games and had played the games. Kids weren't made to play these games, they were just asked questions.

Social scientists have been measuring feelings and thoughts for a long time. It isn't perfect, but there are methods that provide the capability.

But it's the way he worded it that cripples the research.

"The research suggests" requires data, we were given just enough to see that it might, but not the tests used.
"The concern arises" is blind hypothesizing.

Whether the research's data suggests one thing isn't so much the factor, what is the factor is how the data was obtained, and what little evidence we have of that is flawed. This is Sociology, not Statistics, so treating it as hard science is a mistake.

It's the columnist's fault the data analysis isn't included in the piece. It is the columnist's fault if the data, and what Vieira drew from the data are treated as hard science. It is the columnist's fault if the columnist can't distinguish between a survey and a laboratory experiment.

But that doesn't mean anything in regard to the issue. Besides what do you expect? People stick with what they know they like.

Yeah, it was most likely found as a by product of the questions asked, not directly related to kids and violent video games.

 

[SanguineSymphony]

Morals and empathy are over-rated anyways. As long as you understand the law and society's expectations of you as an individual you'll be fine.

What if children who lack empathy just want to play games that match their way of thinking? This means it's from the child itself, not the game.

Besides, 15 year olds aren't allowed to play Bulletstorm, are they?

At 15 I was watching much much racier movies. I think that was around time I started watching stuff like Cannibal Holocaust and Maniac.

 

[Dastardly]

Study Finds "Moral Learning" is Disrupted by Violent Games

I have definitely noticed kids having a harder time with empathy/sympathy/considering the feelings of others. And yes, I do think gaming can be a contributing factor... but not for the reasons this study claims. It's not so much that gaming allows kids to be interactive with the violence. It's that it doesn't require them to be interactive with other people.

And the same can be said of many other forms of entertainment. Mostly, it comes back to parents allowing the kids to play alone too much. And sometimes even playing a game next to someone doesn't involve real interaction. But, as I said, the problem isn't the game--it's the parent allowing too much of a good thing.

We're programmed with the capacity to empathize with others... but we're not programmed to do so automatically. The first thing we understand about the world is me. My wants, my feelings, my needs. Only through interaction do we learn about the wants, needs, and feelings of others. That's when we start learning how to negotiate ours with theirs, and this is where empathy develops.

So, yes, gaming can interrupt this kind of learning, but only if parents allow the kids to do it at the expense of real interaction. Similarly, gaming can teach a child violent behavior, but only if no one else is teaching the child any alternatives. The game is just the subject of the problem--it is neither the cause nor the solution.

 

[RuralGamer]

Yeah, all this suggests is that there are some very poor parents out there; the rating on the box is there for a reason.

 

[Hydro14]

I would truly like to know a bit more about this study. The query has already been raised of how they gained their results. If the reaction of the subjects was measured based by showing them images or films of violence it would suggest that they were desensitized to violence in media, not necessarily violence in general.

Also, based on the words in the article: "frequent exposure to game violence has an impact on a child's perception that some kinds of violence are acceptable" is anyone else reading that this scientist is a total pacifist with an axe to grind?

 

[Frankster]

What if children who lack empathy just want to play games that match their way of thinking? This means it's from the child itself, not the game.

That's an interesting hypothesis actually and worthy of exploring as a followup to this experiment.

Speaking of which can we get a link to the experiment or at the very least its abstract?
LOL at people playing the science card or trying to show off their scientifical knowledge(or lack thereof) by criticizing a study for which we have no details on.

Seriously, it's awesome to report the outcome of experiments, but all we get is the headline grabbing results without even the context or commentary of the researcher who might have come to specific conclusions and explanations of the limitations/strength of the study.

 

[Frankster]

Also, based on the words in the article: "frequent exposure to game violence has an impact on a child's perception that some kinds of violence are acceptable" is anyone else reading that this scientist is a total pacifist with an axe to grind?

See Bandura's doll. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobo_doll_experiment
Young children imitate what they see and their morality is based more on punishment/avoiding punishment then later concepts of morality.
It seems a valid theory to think that a child who frequently sees an act of violence without there being negative repercussions or worst, being glorified, might get the perception that the kind of violence depicted is acceptable.

 

[Zay-el]

I've heard of a very nice, so far hidden, but blooming idea that might fix this problem. It's called PARENTING.

I have no sympathy for anyone decrying violent games, because they allegedly ruin your child. YOU ARE THE PARENT, ACT LIKE IT.

 

[Uszi]

I think that if you're letting your seven year old play violent games -- good lord, that's like, 1st or 2nd graders -- then you're reaping what you fucking sewed.

I imagine that a lot of parents feel pressured by their children to allow them to play "cool" violent games when they are too young. But tough shit -- being a parent involves saying no to your kids, especially because they are often unaware of what's really in their best interests.

I wasn't allowed to play M-Rated games until I was in Highschool, and even then my parents went out of their way to disapprove of my in game actions.

 

[Wolfram23]

Make your kids watch Star Trek The Next Generation instead of playing M rated games. They'll learn a thing or two about morality then, without having to soil your free time with teaching your kids how to be good people...

 

[Alar]

And that's why parents make sure their children understand that the violence in video games is fake, pretend, not real. Real violence is messy, painful, and full of consequences.

Make your kids watch Star Trek The Next Generation instead of playing M rated games. They'll learn a thing or two about morality then, without having to soil your free time with teaching your kids how to be good people...

Can't they do both? Of course, when I was a kid, the only M rated game I ever played was Diablo.

I mean really, Diablo? M rated? Yes, the mutilated corpses were gruesome, but the only thing I can think that made the rating go up (IN AMERICA!!!) was that the succubi were topless. Gasp, poorly pixelated breasts! Whatever shall we do?!

 

[KiraTaureLor]

Study Finds "Moral Learning" is Disrupted by Violent Games

A study conducted by communications professor Edward T. Vieira of Simmons College says long-term exposure to violent videogames can reduce the development of empathy and sympathy in young children.

Described as the first study to ever look at how violent videogames affect the development of "moral learning" on children aged 7-15, Vieira's survey found that frequent exposure to game violence has an impact on a child's perception that some kinds of violence are acceptable and that children who play a lot of violent games are more likely to find all types of violence acceptable - in other words, that children do run the risk of becoming desensitized to violence through exposure to games.

"Certainly not every child who continues to play violent videogames is going to go out and perpetrate a violent act, but the research suggests that children - particularly boys - who are frequently exposed to these violent games are absorbing a sanitized message of 'no consequences for violence' from this play behavior," Vieira said. "The concern arises when children are taking in this message and there is a convergence of other negative environmental factors at the same time, such as poor parental communication and unhealthy peer relationships."

The study examined 166 children, 66 percent boys and 34 percent girls, and also found that "many" of the children aged 7-12 reported playing M-rated games despite their being rated for gamers 17 and older. 71 percent of the games reported in the study contained "at least some mild violence," while 25 percent of the games contained "intense violence, blood and gore." The results also indicated that gamers who reported playing a variety of games consistently stuck with similar kinds of games.

At least two Bulletstorm [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101160-New-Study-Most-Teenagers-are-Unaffected-by-Violent-Gaming], I think what we're really looking at is not a problem with videogames, but a problem with parenting.

Source: Yahoo! News [http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20110404/pl_usnw/DC76717_1]


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Most of the boys that do play these games, will usually rarely be exposed, or be part of any violence out in the real world, the reason they are desensitized is because they never experience violence in their real lives.

Just a thought.

 

[gphjr14]

The argument really holds no merit given that the study group is below the recommended age by the ERSB or respective game ratings. Companies put everything from "drug use" to "gambling" on the back of cases. If parents are too lazy/incompetent to read the back and properly assess whether they want their child to be exposed to that content really have no grounds to ***** when their underage child emulates what they see on TV or in a game.

Annnnd that's totally besides the point. The study is about the effects of the games, once they've been wrongfully acquired. By your reasoning, we shouldn't examine the effects of alcohol and smoking on kids, either.

Annnnd the studies been done before, obviously since countries have already set ages for which content is appropriate to be exposed to. Also aside from wine most alcohol and smoking has a bad effect on any age group.

 

[punipunipyo]

okok...

first of all, get the hell off Bulletstorm's back!~ I enjoyed that game, it's fun, so STFU!

Second... Kids are NOT supposed to watch/play M-rated games! this is NOT the creator's(developer, artists)fault! it's like telling us "Hey! Hentai anime/game/manga are evil! they will turn our young children in to rapist! Therefor they should get banned!" well... these things are NOT made for kids! they are made for US! damn, shut the hell up already! blame the (retarded) "not ready parents", "money comes before moral" game shops, and stupid "we sell M-for teens games" (AKA"your mom will hate it" ADs from stupid companies that decided that it was funny to make it look like they are selling to kids...)

Third, it's okay to be desensitized, it's better than going insane the first time you see a dead person, leaving a scar for life, right? "violence? no consequences?" this is actually being adjusted in the games now, with the implemented "moral systems", "karma", good/evil meter...etc for more immerse experiences... Choice/Rewards should always go with the model: good people suffers, and have to work harder, bad people finds easy answers to overcome short-term problems, the end, good people will receive grace, will bad, will have to pay their dues...(each situations differs)

Fourth, violent video games don't promote violence! I played Duke Nukem when I was like 14!!! I played countless violence games prior to that one earlier! but in real life, I am a passive; I was Considered as nerd, geek, easy going, and perhaps easy target for bullying! by Chinese FOBS! I was taller than 80% of the people in my school, and yet, other than a few "nerd rage", I have nothing more than grade issues as school problem! (of corse, I haven't played "manhunt", but played mad-world/condammed/bullet storm, DeadSpace1/2 ..and such to the death!)

Fifth, I didn't get more violence, but my literature did suffer dramatically! I notice how much my vocabulary of English had becoming limited, and how my profanities had increased, not just the knowledge (or pile), but the frequency as well! BY A LOT~ it's the mind set, I am now trying to "fix" this issue by playing games such as "dragon age", to experience some thing less "Bulletstorm-y" so next time I speak to a (because I works at an after school) kid, I don't spam "shit", "dick" or "fuck"... (not that it happened...yet...I could soooo get fired for bad word usage...), yeh, this is the only problem i see so far, and I DO hope the future game dev, and script writers can take more creative approach than the shock factors of the word "FUCK" to show character, maybe this is a good topic for "extracreditz" episodes, the episode where they can talk about "language in games"!

 

[Clunks]

I don't really have a problem with this. Very young children shouldn't be playing M-rated games. Does anyone (aside from perhaps some of those children themselves) think that they should?

Me. Because if the next generation don't play M-rated games, how will they know what to do when Skynet takes over.

 

[geizr]

Videogames have ratings for a reason, and, if a seven-year-old is playing Bulletstorm, I think what we're really looking at is not a problem with videogames but a problem with parenting.

Just want to throw my hat of emphasis also on that last sentence, as it is the single most critically important, rational, and mature statement that could ever be made regarding video games and children. Ultimately, a parent has to actually be a parent, not pass the buck.

(Quoted statement was edited for grammar; the commas were misplaced and were creating a run-on sentence.)

 

[Feralbreed]

>"Videogames have ratings for a reason and if a seven-year-old is playing Bulletstorm, I think what we're really looking at is not a problem with videogames, but a problem with parenting."

Fucking thread ended right where it began.


Somewhere out there, there is a seven year old playing GTA. You know it to be true.

 

[A Curious Fellow]

Am I the only one who feels that a study with the term "moral learning" as a set parameter could not possibly be useful and objective? It's an ultimately subjective term, you can't test for it scientifically. No way.

 

[samsonguy920]

No, parents not doing their job leads to desensitizing in children.

Seriously, this is just one more bit of evidence that college actually makes you more STUPID!