Interesting Study

Cyclone62 · 03-23-2007, 08:07 AM

Well, some ISU professors just released the results of their studies on violence in the media (video-games, tv, movies, etc.) and aggressiveness in youth. Pretty interesting read. LINK

bostinelosd · 03-23-2007, 08:16 AM

I for one think that its all BS. It really comes down to parenting and direction of moral mind. I grew up watching violent movies and playing violent games and I am the farthest from violent. Sometimes I think the kids that snap were going to snap anyway. Some other trigger in their life and no discipline probably aided. You cant blame video games for serial killers and rapists can you? Humans for centuries have been violent. Some eggs are just bad.

Cyclone62 · 03-23-2007, 08:23 AM

Originally Posted by bostinelosd

I for one think that its all BS. It really comes down to parenting and direction of moral mind. I grew up watching violent movies and playing violent games and I am the farthest from violent. Sometimes I think the kids that snap were going to snap anyway. Some other trigger in their life and no discipline probably aided. You cant blame video games for serial killers and rapists can you? Humans for centuries have been violent. Some eggs are just bad.

Apparently, you didn't read the article.

It doesn't talk about kids who would turn out bad; more about the way that aggressive tendencies form. The show a positive correlation between playing violent videogames and a short-term aggressiveness (ie: you feel more aggressive after playing Mortal Kombat than Guitar Hero). It really doesn't say that it will change anyones personalities and views, just that those who see more violence in videogames and other media see it as more typical, which can possibly lead to a false belief that it is more acceptable.

mwitt · 03-23-2007, 08:30 AM

I don't put much stock into it, either. Correlation is not equivalent to causation.

Jerry1982 · 03-23-2007, 08:58 AM

Originally Posted by mwitt

I don't put much stock into it, either. Correlation is not equivalent to causation.

Of course the statement "correlation is not equivalent to causation" needs to be respected, it often is found to be incorrect. I'm in the larger group who never liked stat class, but I do remember one or two things.

I don't find the study's findings too hard to believe. We are what we eat.

cardinal&gold · 03-23-2007, 09:18 AM

Originally Posted by bostinelosd

I for one think that its all BS. It really comes down to parenting and direction of moral mind. I grew up watching violent movies and playing violent games and I am the farthest from violent. Sometimes I think the kids that snap were going to snap anyway. Some other trigger in their life and no discipline probably aided. You cant blame video games for serial killers and rapists can you? Humans for centuries have been violent. Some eggs are just bad.

I'm with you. I played every Mortal Kombat game since they came out and I am not in the least violent. People are just looking for an excuse for bad, poor, or absent parenting. I have often found violent games to be a release for aggression, rather than a builder-upper (shut up, it's Friday). Children aren't raised in a vacuum where all they have are violent video games. Quite clearly there are many, many, many, many other social factors involved.

Next they will tell us that rock music makes us want to take drugs and kill baby animals.

Kyle · 03-23-2007, 09:41 AM

These results shouldn't be dissmissed so readily. One of the studies was scientific in nature with control groups, random assignment, the whole schebang. I don't know what they did as far as statistical analysis, but it is possible to control for a lot of things (although its also possible to get stats to say a lot of different things depending on what is controlled for).

Its important to note what these studies are and are not saying. No one is saying that if you play violent video games you are going to go out and kill people. What they are saying is that playing such games will likely make you more aggressive than you otherwise would be. There are clearly numerous other factors that also affect one's level of aggressiveness, and video games are probably not one of the larger ones.