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No Evidence to Support Link Between Violent Video Games and Behaviour :
In a series of experiments, with more than 3,000 participants, the team demonstrated that video game concepts do not 'prime' players to behave in certain ways and that increasing the realism of violent video games does not necessarily increase aggression in game players.
The dominant model of learning in games is built on the idea that exposing players to concepts, such as violence in a game, makes those concepts easier to use in 'real life'. This is known as 'priming', and is thought to lead to changes in behaviour. Previous experiments on this effect, however, have so far provided mixed conclusions.
Researchers at the University of York expanded the number of participants in experiments, compared to studies that had gone before it, and compared different types of gaming realism to explore whether more conclusive evidence could be found
[...] "The findings suggest that there is no link between these kinds of realism in games and the kind of effects that video games are commonly thought to have on their players.
"Further study is now needed into other aspects of realism to see if this has the same result. What happens when we consider the realism of by-standing characters in the game, for example, and the inclusion of extreme content, such as torture?
"We also only tested these theories on adults, so more work is needed to understand whether a different effect is evident in children players."
Journal Reference:
David Zendle, Daniel Kudenko, Paul Cairns. Behavioural realism and the activation of aggressive concepts in violent video games. Entertainment Computing, 2018; 24: 21 DOI: 10.1016/j.entcom.2017.10.003
(Score: 5, Interesting) by acid andy on Monday November 19 2018, @08:04PM (5 children)
First off, I don't have a problem with responsible adults enjoying violent video games. If someone is going to perform a violent act, then they clearly have other problems. However, I doubt these sort of experiments are going to pick up any significant change in behavior from playing the games, as there are too many other factors involved. I think the games are just a small part of the wider culture of guns and killing becoming very socially acceptable in a fictional context in America. The Hollywood action movies did it first. So you'd have to isolate your test subjects from all those other variables and have 3,000 people that had never seen a violent movie or played a violent game be tested, then have them play the games for a year or two, then run the tests again. The effects would probably be subtle and I suspect an adult brain would be less impressionable than the developing brain of a child.
Intuitively, I think the culture probably makes it slightly more likely for someone to develop an interest in guns--simply because it's harder to become interested in something you are not exposed to. But whether it would increase violent tendencies, I suspect it depends on how impressionable the person is. The behavior of peers can influence someone's own behavior and values but for someone to actually bend their own values based on those in fiction, I think they'd have to be someone who has trouble distinguishing reality from fiction. I think violence in games and movies probably has a very mild desensitization effect--in that people might feel shock the first time they see these, that later diminishes--but as I understand it the military have done experiments that show you can't desensitize people through exposure to real violence beyond a certain point.
You also have to weigh the above effects against the fact that for many people I think violent games could be an outlet for aggression to blow off steam which would actually make violent behavior less likely in the real world.
This study tried to test violent tendencies through word association. Is that even a reliable way to test it? Couldn't they have got them boxing or something?
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by IndigoFreak on Monday November 19 2018, @10:34PM (4 children)
Slightly touching on one of your points. I think our culture in the USA is to blame for our gun problems. If guns weren't so glorified in movies, music, video games, and language, we would have fewer problems.
People will always kill each other, but in the states you solve your problems by grabbing a gun.
You can argue that the availability is an issue, but if the desire is there all you will get is a black market.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by acid andy on Monday November 19 2018, @11:57PM
I always figured the glorification might be a deliberate strategy to churn out a nation of willing soldiers. When you look at the budget, the military is always a very high priority. </tinfoil hat>
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 20 2018, @09:58AM (2 children)
As a European I think so to, for Western Europe, with possible the exception of the island people, it always amazes me the amount of outrage and anger following a nipple slip or whatever irrelevant nude thing happening. Followed by complete immunity to blood, guts & gore in the evening news.
Your ratings for films and games follow this to; be-headings, blood & gore splattering all over the place, torture, all fine, everything goes as long as the actors are clothed. Take of their clothes and they're not even allowed to raise their voice anymore.
And is that censorship thing still going on so strong? Watching "whose line is it anyway" back in the day, it annoyed me to see blocked out hands and beeped over words.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday November 20 2018, @04:32PM (1 child)
As an American I must say it's choice for people from a continent with a history like Europe's to have anything to say to anyone on the subject of violence.
Americans have a long way to go before we equal the violence and depravity of Europeans. Holocaust? Inquisition? Normal jurisprudence in the Middle Ages? Heck, Vlad the Impaler out-Turked the damn Turks and single-handedly set the bar waaaaay higher than America has even approached.
(This comment also applies to Russians, anyone from the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, or China also). So give us a break and think a bit before throwing stones.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 20 2018, @06:24PM
Eh? Where the hell do you think the (non-native) Americans came from?