Video Games Don't Cause Violence, But Bad Mothers Do
The March issue of Criminal Justice and Behavior, a relatively sober-sounding zine, reports research out of Texas A&M and the U of Wisconsin that supports those who argue that there are far more dangerous things in the world than video games. Each university contributed a study here, one finding that students who'd just played Medal of Honor: Allied Assault were no more aggressive than students who'd just finished up a bloody, ultraviolent round of Myst III. So unless peaceful puzzle-limbos are also making our children death machines, there appears to be little link between game content and aggression.
The second study was a survey of hundreds of students that focused on diverse issues such as domestic violence, criminal history, aggression and of course - gaming. The results?
Results indicated that trait aggression, family violence, and male gender were predictive of violent crime, but exposure to violent games was not. Structural equation modeling suggested that family violence and innate aggression as predictors of violent crime were a better fit to the data than was exposure to video game violence. These results question the common belief that violent-video-game exposure causes violent acts.
There. So while you're enjoying your disbarment, Mr. Jack Thompson, you can take solace in the fact that your efforts have all been a complete and utter waste of time.
Study: Games Don't Spark Violence but Dysfunctional Families Do [GamePolitics]
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany on 25 March 2008
Other stuff like this: dysfunctional families, research, study, video games, violence
