Supernanny Tries to Prove Violent Games Are Bad

[Video Gone]

To add to the points against this experiment I actually watched the show on TV last night.
Firstly the average resting heart rates (Beats per minute) for the non-violent group was apparently 80ish and just over 90 for the violent lot. Not only is the difference a little large for a test on heart rate jumps if the kids resting heart rates are that high I think finding out why should have been priority over doing this experiment. I mean 0.0.

The other half of the experiment involved in them being interviewed and the interviewer intentionally knocking down a pot of pens. The hypothesis was that the non-violent group would be more inclined to help. Whilst this was the case the procedure was in no way standardized as the researcher leant over to pick up the pens himself in 2 of the 4 shown from the non-violent group before they offered to help. Whereas in the violent group he was quick to ignore it and ask another question. Either they didn't help or otherwise would have been labelled ignorant etc. The test was biased to begin with.

I also fail to see the relation between helping to pick up pens and being desensitized to violence (Whilst it is worth research it isn't related to violence >.>)

I'm not a neuro scientist either but I am a psychology student well educated enough to notice bias and lack of standardization.

Summary: The experiment was too flawed to be considered valid. Another pop at videogames. Move along.

(What will be interesting is next week with the kid with an 80 (Something around there I believe) hour per week game addiction)

We need more people that can wave fancy degrees around on the Escapist. And not like art degrees or philosophy or anything, I mean the mean green stuff, like medicine and psychology, biochemistry.
Also, 80 bpm resting? What the fuck is this, were they shot at while playing football, then punched and thrown into the room within 2 seconds?
I'm no doctor, but either those results are skewed beyond proportion or these kids need some morphine and a good diagnosis, stat. That many beats per minute in an idle state could, if I'm correct, severely lower life expectancy if untreated.
Oh, and as regards to the pens, just absolutely and completely controlled and directed testing there.
I expected more from you, Supernanny.
I expected more.

 

[azncutthroat]

Why do we keep posting articles like these?

There is always some idiot saying video games are evil, what are we suppose to discuss?

If those agenda-pushing dipshits can talk shit about gamers, then we can talk shit about those agenda-pushing dipshits

 

[benbenthegamerman]

How about she tests it on those who have never played games? Then we could actually see if ordinary people can really be turned violent via video games.

 

[Magnalian]

Yes, because we can trust the Supernanny to correctly conduct scientific research.

Well, she's called 'super' for a reason, right? That would be kinda cool to put on your resume, though.

'SuperNanny'

 

[ninjajoeman]

yea well the news makes you desensitized to violence.

other people make you a dick...

Yahtzee makes you like fedoras.

 

[The Daft]

Just though I'd throw out this Quote, though I'm sure many of us have already heard it


Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music.

- Kristin Wilson, Nintendo, Inc.

 

[bob-2000]

Bullshit, I've been gaming most of my life ans still can't bring myself to kill an innocent spider no matter the size.

 

[Julianking93]

Why the hell don't real psychologists and unbiased people ever do these studies?

Oh wait, they do and they've shown no correlation between violent video games, the sane mind and violent behavior.

Dipshit cunts like this ***** are just trying desperately to no avail to ban videogames.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Why do we keep posting articles like these?

There is always some idiot saying video games are evil, what are we suppose to discuss?

Simple, we make fun of said idiot for temporary amusement.

Not a very mature thing to do though, we should be supportive of these people's obvious mental handicap.

 

[Mojojuxxy]

why do people make the assumption that desensitization leads to violence? Firstly there is little evidence to suggest that video games 'desensitise' people any more then mainstream media outlets do (regularly showing bloody scenes at times when small children are watching TV). And secondly, just because blood/gore doesn't bother me too much doesn't mean I'm more likely to be violent, in fact it allowed me to watch a great many medical/biology/surgery related shows whilst eating dinner which has greatly influenced the choices I've made in education (I'd say for the better, as I'm now much more likely to end up in a 'caring' profession).

 

[Yopaz]

Of course she's right about that violent video games does make you care less about watching a violent video clip afterward. I play violent video games and I am a pacifist. I would never hurt a person without a good reason, that reason probably being me getting attacked and being in fear for my life, but even then I doubt I would have killed the person if I held a gun in my hand at the time. Real violence and distant violence we're not really a witness to is different. If she made the one group play an eroge and then showed them a pornographic clip their heart rate would increase less because they had already seen something similar and it wasn't that shocking after that. Also people are different. A research with 40 people isn't called research in sociology and it's not called that in science. This is an experiment where the result was already written down when it started like every other one.

My protest against this claim: There are more kids playing violent video games than kids with violent behavior.

 

[cainstwin]

To add to the points against this experiment I actually watched the show on TV last night.
Firstly the average resting heart rates (Beats per minute) for the non-violent group was apparently 80ish and just over 90 for the violent lot. Not only is the difference a little large for a test on heart rate jumps if the kids resting heart rates are that high I think finding out why should have been priority over doing this experiment. I mean 0.0.

The other half of the experiment involved in them being interviewed and the interviewer intentionally knocking down a pot of pens. The hypothesis was that the non-violent group would be more inclined to help. Whilst this was the case the procedure was in no way standardized as the researcher leant over to pick up the pens himself in 2 of the 4 shown from the non-violent group before they offered to help. Whereas in the violent group he was quick to ignore it and ask another question. Either they didn't help or otherwise would have been labelled ignorant etc. The test was biased to begin with.

I also fail to see the relation between helping to pick up pens and being desensitized to violence (Whilst it is worth research it isn't related to violence >.>)

I'm not a neuro scientist either but I am a psychology student well educated enough to notice bias and lack of standardization.

Summary: The experiment was too flawed to be considered valid. Another pop at videogames. Move along.

(What will be interesting is next week with the kid with an 80 (Something around there I believe) hour per week game addiction)

We need more people that can wave fancy degrees around on the Escapist. And not like art degrees or philosophy or anything, I mean the mean green stuff, like medicine and psychology, biochemistry.
Also, 80 bpm resting? What the fuck is this, were they shot at while playing football, then punched and thrown into the room within 2 seconds?
I'm no doctor, but either those results are skewed beyond proportion or these kids need some morphine and a good diagnosis, stat. That many beats per minute in an idle state could, if I'm correct, severely lower life expectancy if untreated.
Oh, and as regards to the pens, just absolutely and completely controlled and directed testing there.
I expected more from you, Supernanny.
I expected more.

1st off, i do no tknow a genuinely violent gamer, however i have met violent non gamers. Also i remember reading a story about an ex robber who used video games as the equivalent of a nicotine patch. my main reason for quoting tho was that if the groups chosen were say below 16 which they probs were, then theyd have higher rest rates than an adult, and 80 is fairly normal. soz if this doesnt really add anything, i just like to randomly correct people =P
edit: just to clarify, shes a (insert proffanity here)

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I prefer the Pen and Teller Bullshit experiment. You see, in the American television show Bullshit, Pen and Teller did have the violent video game episode and what they did was, find a 9 year old boy who loves FPS games [the notoriously violent ones] and they sent him to an actual shooting range to fire off an actual gun. Not a pistol but an M4 ... I think ...

This clip has some bad language

Spoiler: just watch the damn clip

I love this show ^^;

It's extremely informative and, covers all sorts of areas, issues and other such things

 

[Danglybits]

Oh dear, another celeb-type trying to step outside of their area of expertise (read: relevance). I would like to see someone conduct a number of repeated, reproducible scientific experiments on this for once. I'd like to see some parameters and definitions of things like 'violence' and 'desensitized'. Are we as gamers hardened toward fictional violence? Probably, but I'll bet if you took the same kids that played these games and convinced them that you were going to kill a dog right in front of them, you'd get a very different reaction.

I have watched the show and there are a lot of truly fucked up and violent kids on it; most of them don't play videogames. Their violence seems to come from them doing something violence and not being taught that such behavior is not acceptable, and they keep doing it. I would think that in the case of most normal, healthy children; being taught good behavior from bad and avoiding the bad because of consequences would rule out a lot of the things that people are worried about when it comes to videogames.

I wonder what age empathy starts appearing in kids? It would be neat to see someone study onset of empathy and how it affects behavior and how they contextualize things they are exposed to.

 

[bladeofdarkness]

wasn't there already a discussion about this topic ?
wasn't it already decided in the poll (by a 80% majority of a few hundred people) that she's a stupid cow who was wrong ?

 

[ShadowKirby]

Sure, reality tv science.

According to a study based on Jersey Shore, 100% of Italian-American are dumb...

 

[The Rockerfly]

If those agenda-pushing dipshits can talk shit about gamers, then we can talk shit about those agenda-pushing dipshits

That is actually a brilliant way of looking at it. I salute you sir

Simple, we make fun of said idiot for temporary amusement.

Not a very mature thing to do though, we should be supportive of these people's obvious mental handicap.

Yeah I suppose you're right, I wonder how many of these people watch fox?

 

[Video Gone]

To add to the points against this experiment I actually watched the show on TV last night.
Firstly the average resting heart rates (Beats per minute) for the non-violent group was apparently 80ish and just over 90 for the violent lot. Not only is the difference a little large for a test on heart rate jumps if the kids resting heart rates are that high I think finding out why should have been priority over doing this experiment. I mean 0.0.

The other half of the experiment involved in them being interviewed and the interviewer intentionally knocking down a pot of pens. The hypothesis was that the non-violent group would be more inclined to help. Whilst this was the case the procedure was in no way standardized as the researcher leant over to pick up the pens himself in 2 of the 4 shown from the non-violent group before they offered to help. Whereas in the violent group he was quick to ignore it and ask another question. Either they didn't help or otherwise would have been labelled ignorant etc. The test was biased to begin with.

I also fail to see the relation between helping to pick up pens and being desensitized to violence (Whilst it is worth research it isn't related to violence >.>)

I'm not a neuro scientist either but I am a psychology student well educated enough to notice bias and lack of standardization.

Summary: The experiment was too flawed to be considered valid. Another pop at videogames. Move along.

(What will be interesting is next week with the kid with an 80 (Something around there I believe) hour per week game addiction)

We need more people that can wave fancy degrees around on the Escapist. And not like art degrees or philosophy or anything, I mean the mean green stuff, like medicine and psychology, biochemistry.
Also, 80 bpm resting? What the fuck is this, were they shot at while playing football, then punched and thrown into the room within 2 seconds?
I'm no doctor, but either those results are skewed beyond proportion or these kids need some morphine and a good diagnosis, stat. That many beats per minute in an idle state could, if I'm correct, severely lower life expectancy if untreated.
Oh, and as regards to the pens, just absolutely and completely controlled and directed testing there.
I expected more from you, Supernanny.
I expected more.

1st off, i do no tknow a genuinely violent gamer, however i have met violent non gamers. Also i remember reading a story about an ex robber who used video games as the equivalent of a nicotine patch. my main reason for quoting tho was that if the groups chosen were say below 16 which they probs were, then theyd have higher rest rates than an adult, and 80 is fairly normal. soz if this doesnt really add anything, i just like to randomly correct people =P
edit: just to clarify, shes a (insert proffanity here)

80 bpm... doesn't seem normal to me, but I'll follow along for a while on this one. After all, anyone here could know more about this stuff th-
ANAEMIA IS A CONDITION CAUSED BY A LOW AMOUNT OF IRON, THEREFORE REDUCING THE AMOUNT OF HAEMOGLOBIN AND, AS A RESULT, RED BLOOD CELLS IN CIRCULATION O-
Dammit, there I go again.
Just kidding, though, seriously.

 

[Aardvark]

If you need to learn parenting from a TV show, you've already failed as a parent.

 

[BloodyThoughts]

Well, first we need to know how the kids behavior is naturally, if she choose the hell spawns to play the shooter, of course they are not going to be polite, or are going to not react so much to violent news. What we need to do, is get the sweetest children (if that's possible) you can get, Have them play an FPS, then see what happens.