|
|
Study: Games and TV make adults more violent
Author: Joe MartinPublished: 6th December 2007
Gruesome games like Postal 2 can have a negative effect on adult behaviour.
The study, which was set over thirty-year and looked at 856 children, found that violent games and TV shows have a very dramatic and detrimental effect on the behaviour of the test subjects - more so than other factors.
"[The study found that] repeated exposure to violent television shows and video games have a stronger influence on aggressive behaviour than being poor, having substance abuse or growing up with abusive parents," said the report, which was revealed to Fox Business, of all places.
Researchers universally agreed that the results had "profoundly serious implications for society."
The report found specifically that men who were exposed to gruesome television shows or computer games became more likely to assault their partners physically. Women became more likely to attack other adults by throwing things or entering into aggressive behaviour.
It isn't all bad news though and the researchers also point out that, although violent video games have increased in popularity since 1990, crime levels have decreased consistently and that European countries have lower crime rates still, despite having access to the same content.
Do games make you more violent or angry? What's the most violent game you've ever played? How do we tackle this problem and can we take this report seriously? Let us know what you think in the forums.
Related articles on bit-tech.net
Comments (35)
Stats: 0.077 seconds
The drop in crime since the 90's is of course more to do with Roe vs. Wade. And the lower crime rates in Europe despite exposure to the content suggests that access to means still outweighs motive. One for the sociologists and the gun lobby, me thinks.
And another thing. Your saying that a person who grows up with parents who beat the **** out of them is less likely to be a violent person that someone who regularly plays violent games or watches violent TV, but has normal parents? B ****ing S.
*goes on a violent rampage down the street attacking totaly random people.
ERRR yea!, I dont really see that happening tbh!!!
Games don't make me violent though, they just make me less bored.
To put it specifically: about 20% of abused childred grow up to become abusive adults. That leaves 80% who don't (and in fact make a special effort not to). Being the victim of abuse can make you identify with other victims just as much as with abusers. You may learn that the only way to avoid being a victim is to be an abuser yourself, but that is not the same as valuing violence as a positive lifestyle choice.
Bad parenting can take many different forms. There are plenty of households which are not explicitly abusive, but which just normalise (or even glorify) violence in general. The child gets exposed to plenty of examples of might-makes-right, violence as the main way to resolve conflict and assert oneself.
The child may get some beatings, but that is not the main dynamic. The main dynamic is the messages it gets about one's relationship to the world: life is war, dog eats dog, get them before they can get you, violence maketh the man. Violence is normalised and even glorified. Little Johhny gets to play Postal and watch violent movies simply because the parents don't see anything wrong with it. They may even think it is a normal, healthy interest for a boy growing up to be a man, not a pussy. But playing those video games and watching those movies is not what makes little Johhnie a violent thug when he grows up; it is the family environment that allowed or even encouraged him to do so.
Bonus alternate post:
Stupid ****ing researchers, I should stab them all up! Lies, lies lies... games don't make people violent and I have a large knife here that will back me up! Yeah...
I watch the news and see the stupidity of the government and the world and it really PISSES ME OFF.
But virtual violence? Call me _not_ crazy, but I can separate the virtual from the real.
BOOOM HEADSHOT!
Considering that people on this forum are generally pretty games-friendly, I'd be curious to know: if you have children, do you limit their access to violent video games? I'm asking about only violence here, not other mature content. In other words, do you think there might be anything to the 'games cause violence' thing, and if so, do you personally act on it? And why?
I don't have kids, but when I was growing up my parents never really limited our access to violent video games. Then again, we never got any more violent than Halo, so there wasn't much to worry about. They might have reacted differently if we'd been interested in gory stuff. ;)
Ok, so did the report look at children or adults? Or was this children growing up over 30 years? In this case, 30 years ago they were playing pong... not exactly a violent game.
I have played video games for a good portion of my life. From the original Doom on my 32X when I was around 9, to Quake 3 on my Dreamcast when I was 15. I also watched Terminator 2 when I was only 8 (though, my mom wanted to kill my dad for letting me see it). I didn't watch/play violent things constantly though because it wasn't the violence that drew me in. I also watched a ton of cartoons and the discovery channel a lot.
My parents taught me that what is on the TV isn't real and the I should never try and mimic it. I never did. There is too much blame on other things. Parents need to step up and start taking better care of their kids. They are the only ones to blame. just because their are violent things on the market doesn't mean your kids need to have it. You can say no. As for retailers selling the game to young kids, I don't see that anymore. I know 4 people who work at 2 local Game Stops and they have a strict policy against selling to M rated games to underage kids.
In that respect, when Emjay asks:
In short, I think that playing violent games and watching violent movies is not the cause of violent behaviour, but a symptom.
I hate these studies, bunch of tossers doing it.
The games I listed were the most violent for the time. They are considered cartoonish now, but they weren't back in the day. Also T2 was considered to be very violent as well, Arnold didn't kill anyone, but Robert Patrick sure as hell did. I do suppose there are movies like the original Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead movies which were far gorier (also saw those in my mid teens).
But I don't think most people play violent games simply because they like violence. They play them because they are good games. I mean who the hell plays Postal anyways? Not many. It did not sell millions of copies because quite frankly they are pretty shallow games. I love FPSs because of the competition, not the violence. I hardly ever play single player FPS campaigns anymore. Multiplayer is where it's at. I like competing.
My point is everyone only looks at the violence present in the game. As if that is it's only fun factor, and the people who say it don't know because they don't play the games.
QFT ;)
My brother started playing GTA San Andreas at 8 years old, of course I didn't know, sneaky bugger, but he's not affected by it, and doesn't even want to play it.
And he isn't violent.
I played that game a while ago, couldn't stop laughing from how violent and messed up it was.
Hasn't affected me in the least though.
I wonder what games Jack the Ripper played?
But I do think it`s wierd that as a society we are awed by guns`n` stuff. Most of my favourite games and the content of most games involves maiming and killing as many people as possible.
This makes me ANGRY!!!!!
Just becasue I played postal doesnt mean I am and ANGRY PERSON!!!!!
**** YOU Michigan U! :(
So everyone, get a grip, on the Word of God, your life and be a positive influence on those around you. The reward is AMAZING!
Do read or listen to Freakonomics by Steven Levitt about fall in the crime rates.
Playing more games may be a symptom of some deeper or broader issues, and it may not. It is easy to use statistics to draw whatever conclusion... sample size, randomness in sample population, age distribution, criteria shaping and definition, etc.
I can also statistically prove that the most religious people are more violent than less religious gamers who play violent games.
This one goes down with mobile phone cause brain cancer.
These people are 'Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc' idiots
Lol.
I think human nature is violent, so these games are not making us more violent, just expressing it in a relaxing way. People like Jack Thompson look at the rise of crime in the last decade, and say "There is a slight rise in violent domestic crime. There are also lots of violent games. obviously, they are connected." That's a rather large conclusion to draw. How about a rather simple, more logical possibility? A bunch of morons grew up in the 60s/70s, had kids, two jobs, and no time for the former. as a result, kids went along the path of human nature, as expressed in the above paragraph. Id, THQ, Bioware, Valve, Activision, and similar companies are just capitalizing on a generation's poor job raising their kids. Consider that, and let me get some headshots in peace. :)
Games if anything will stop violent thoughts, as you get rid of your anger on the game, instead of on real people.
so if you can not tell the diff between killing some one in a game and in real life, then your need to be put in a mental home on lots of wacky drugs. :(