New Research Indicates That Violent Games Rub Off On Kids

Diego Diaz 23 Aug, 2005 at 1:27am ET Article published in Tech

New research proves that violent video games rub off on kids. This research has been going on for the last 20 years, the results have just been released to the public and many other important organizations.

According to a recently released study covering the last 20 years of psychological research on the subject, exposure to violent games can increase aggressive behavior in children and adolescents in the short-term and long-term. The findings were presented to the American Psychological Association on Friday, the final day of its convention in Washington, DC, by Jessica Nicoll, BA, and Kevin M. Kieffer, PhD, of Saint Leo University.

Source: Gamespot

Comments

23 Aug 2005 ~ 1:56am ryko but what about this article that says the exact opposite???

http://www.physorg.com/news5758.html
23 Aug 2005 ~ 1:57am entropy What? Goddamn, are you serious? And how many of those were probably paid to say what they were told?

I just read yet another article today, stating that violent games do not make violent children. And it was from the head of the ESRB, no less. Less crime, more games. If nothing else, it keeps some of the freaky-deakys indoors playings games

I think this ALL has to do with the ****ing media (once again). Ho noes!!! Someone killed someone else because of an online game! Someone DIED because he was too stupid to sleep! Someone killed themself because they were too stupid to recognize reality!!!zomg

Sorry if that's harsh, but it's cold, hard facts. Oh, and if you haven't noticed (not you, Jengo, just anyone), the people who say, "GTA made me do it! Blame them!" are usually the ones who are truly guilty and need a scapegoat. ****ing pussies.
23 Aug 2005 ~ 2:08am tcith Yes lets get those kids outside to health pastimes like playing Cowboys and Indians .........
23 Aug 2005 ~ 2:23am Leonardo My opinion? I'd be sceptical of anything coming from the American Psychological Association:

1. Psychology is a mix of science and philosophy. It is not a hard science. There are too many ways to manipulate data.

2. There are political agendas at work within the APA leadership.

3. I'm sick of blockbuster studies being overturned two decades later by the next blockbuster study.

4. Psychology in general is as much interpretation as it is scientific diagnosis.

I am not disparaging psychologists or their discipline. It has it's place. It has done the world much good...and in my opinion, harm at times. Unfortunately, it is not a science such as chemistry, where the experiment will produce the same results every time as long as the test conditions are the same. Psychology will never be that easy or that precise.

But with that said,

by Jessica Nicoll, BA, and Kevin M. Kieffer, PhD, of Saint Leo University.

Coming from a college with a name like that, at least Ms. Nicoll and Mr. Kieffer must be pretty sharp!
23 Aug 2005 ~ 7:25am Preacher HOLY COW...Not only is Leo a saint which we already knew (A Herculean feat after decades in the Army), but he has his own university?!?!?
23 Aug 2005 ~ 9:11am jradmin

Leonardo wrote:

My opinion? I'd be sceptical of anything coming from the American Psychological Association:

1. Psychology is a mix of science and philosophy. It is not a hard science. There are too many ways to manipulate data.

2. There are political agendas at work within the APA leadership.

3. I'm sick of blockbuster studies being overturned two decades later by the next blockbuster study.

4. Psychology in general is as much interpretation as it is scientific diagnosis.

I am not disparaging psychologists or their discipline. It has it's place. It has done the world much good...and in my opinion, harm at times. Unfortunately, it is not a science such as chemistry, where the experiment will produce the same results every time as long as the test conditions are the same. Psychology will never be that easy or that precise.

But with that said, Coming from a college with a name like that, at least Ms. Nicoll and Mr. Kieffer must be pretty sharp!

You sound like a scientologist
23 Aug 2005 ~ 9:22am Armo

Preacher wrote:

HOLY COW...Not only is Leo a saint which we already knew (A Herculean feat after decades in the Army), but he has his own university?!?!?

lol boooo
23 Aug 2005 ~ 10:06am Garg Eh. There will always be conflicting studies. Each side will selectively quote the articles that suit them (as in every other issue).

My opinion? (everyone on the edge of their seats yet? )
Blaming violence on video games is a get-out-of-jail-free card for bad parents.
23 Aug 2005 ~ 10:15am Cyclonite I completely agree with Gargoyle. Parents are just trying to find a scapegoat when their kid does something bad. Video games just happen to be it.
23 Aug 2005 ~ 10:58am TheBaron

jradmin wrote:

You sound like a scientologist

nah, he's just taking a more concrete scientific stance

scientology is a different beast entirely
23 Aug 2005 ~ 2:05pm Thrax I want to be a crappy parent that blames my failings on fantasy too...
23 Aug 2005 ~ 4:50pm QCH I think the violent kids that play violent games are violent.... Take the games away, they still are violent...

Bad kids can be directly put on the parents. 90% parents, 10% environmental. So, please send me my 4 million dollars for my research....

QCH University of behavioral Research
23 Aug 2005 ~ 5:40pm Preacher

Thrax wrote:

I want to be a crappy parent that blames my failings on fantasy too...

Don't worry. One day soon, you too can blame all of your foibles and failures on something totally unrelated to the real cause....politicians and parents are great at this feat.
23 Aug 2005 ~ 8:06pm Komete I'd agree with QCH there.. I think it can add to a bad parrented kid but myself I had great parants and game like a super geek and am not a violent person. Parrents should be monitoring their kids anyways.
24 Aug 2005 ~ 12:12am Leonardo I think any pursuit that involves a concentrated, high level of competition will just get about anybody keyed up. I've become furious before while playing Need for Speed! Had I grabbed something heavy and bashed in my monitor, I wouldn't have blamed it on the game. It would have been my fault for not controlling my emotions. Isn't that what diffentiates us from animals with small brains - our ability to overcome instinct and emotions with reason? OK, enough on personal philosophy.

I have not read the study. I wonder if they compared the aggression of those playing violent video games with those playing intense, but non-violent video games? There are those who are predisposed towards inappropriate aggression. Was that predisposition factored in? I just don't see how they could rule out so many variables in the study.
24 Aug 2005 ~ 1:32am profdlp Remember the Columbine shootings? A couple of kids who were described as "nerds" murdered a bunch of their fellow classmates. They particularly targeted the jocks and the "cool" kids.

What if it had been the other way around and the killers were co-captains of the football team? These same "researchers" would have undoubtedly wasted years of study and as many dollars as they could get their hands on "proving" that violent games like football lead to aggressive behavior in kids. And it would have all seemed so logical.

It's easy to come up with a cause-and-effect explanation after the fact. Until these nitwits are capable of identifying problems before they happen they are just as clueless as palm readers - maybe less.
24 Aug 2005 ~ 10:37am GooD True prof ! Anyway even if a video game give to someone ideas of destruction and he finaly decide to make some kills in real life, he will not be a 'victim of violent video game effect'... He will only be too dump to be able to recognize that what is in game must stay in game sometimes. I know, there's a lot of dump people in this wonderful world but why would we be force to stop making or playing violent game BECAUSE of them ? For our own security maybe but if it's not game that will give him some killing ideas, it'll be another thing... Like metal music or gore pictures heh

My .02
24 Aug 2005 ~ 6:15pm Preacher Rhetorical question, but....How come Japan has one of the most violent gaming and entertainment industries yet rarely has school shooting or violence period?
24 Aug 2005 ~ 6:27pm GooD I'll try an answer... 'because Japanese are in average smarter than the rest of the world' ?
24 Aug 2005 ~ 7:00pm profdlp

Preacher wrote:

Rhetorical question, but....How come Japan has one of the most violent gaming and entertainment industries yet rarely has school shooting or violence period?

I know that one is not supposed to answer rhetorical questions, but...

Fear of being stomped into cream cheese by Godzilla?
25 Aug 2005 ~ 6:06am NLichtman One word: Bull