Kotaku
Researchers at the University of Michigan have "found that repeated exposure to violent television shows and video games have a stronger influence on aggressive behavior than being poor, having a substance abuse or growing up with abusive parents", according to a Fox Business report on the findings. Based on over thirty years of research on a sample set of 856 third graders, the study contends that exposure to violent content has "a stronger influence on aggressive behavior than being poor, having a substance abuse or growing up with abusive parents." Virtual violence, researchers found, has "profoundly serious implications for society."
The University of Michigan researchers findings indicate that men who are exposed to violent television in video games were more likely to assault their spouses. Women were comparably more likely to have thrown things at their spouses or assaulted another adult.
The study's fact sheet makes note of the fact that as the popularity of video games has increased since the 1990s, violent crime has decreased. Furthermore, it points out that European gamers, who also enjoy the same content, have a much lower propensity for crime.
A very interesting study, one that I'll have to read more closely after I've finished prepping the mailman for the woodchipper.
Researchers Link Video Games to Adulthood Violence [Fox Business]
Comments
Dear God when will people just stop and think about things. People can be crazy and violent thats their nature violence. while exposure to violence may get me pumped with adrenaline I dont go kill people. The problem is not the media the problem is how people raise their children. Maybe if they set strict limits or said "no" sometimes their kids wouldnt be so f*cked up.
wait wha "you'll be more violent by playing games!" and at the same time "oh no lol just kidding"?
That doesn't make sense. If violent crime has decreased and Europe has less crime even though video games have increased in popularity, how can that prove video games are more likely to influence aggressive behavior? And that's pretty messed up to expose third graders consistently to violent video games. Shouldn't third graders not be playing that regardless?
Besides, I save more money beating my girlfriend than beating my controller and risk having it break.
I mean....
Since it's from FOX, I'm skeptical. I don't know many violent people, and I'm in a game design/animation program at college.
All I heard was blah, blah, blah.
I guess that explains why crime rates continue to fall...oh wait...
So what's their point again?
I find any study done is Michigan to hold any weight really... Their test subjects, presumed college students, are more violent after walking, let along video games.
Prove that increased violence is caused by exposure to violent media, rather than an increased tendency towards violence attracting people towards violent media?
*raises her hand* I'm confused. They did this research on third graders, yet somehow their results are for more violent adults. That is either one hell of an extrapilation, or I'm wondering what exactly violent video games was shown to those third graders thirty years ago? Pong with bone paddles and a skull instead of a ball?
I just tazered an orphan after reading VG Cats SOMEBODY QUICK LOCK ME AWAY BEFORE I TAZE SOME MORE!!!!
Jesus Christ, those are some serious accusations. I play many, many violent video games and I would never, ever hit a woman (hell, I'd never hit anybody). Although my evidence of the contrary is anecdotal, I still have never met anyone who played a bunch of violent video games (or watched a ton of violent television) to be any more violent than someone else.
Can we please stop making videogames a scapegoat for all of society's evils, please?
OMG it's SOOO true!
My friend who just happens to be a girl can play Soul Calibur very good.
Well like 2 years ago one halloween, she assulted this grown man! He had a cigar or something!
The only thing that makes me feel violent is death metal. And that's just because I want to slam my sibling's face into the keyboard for a) Listening to that tripe and b) Having the nerve to have it so Goddamned loud.
But hey, that's just me.
How can someone perform a study like this? Did they take four babies, put one in a violent household, another in a box on the street, get the third hooked on meth, leave the last infront of a 360 and leave them alone for 18 years?
Study: No shit.
@Kuraudo: That would actually work. But they can't do that, because it's illegal. So instead, they compile a bunch of barely related instances and try to make a categorical statement of fact out of them.
To those confused, the article mentions that the study had started conducting around 1960's.
I think you guys should take a look at this exchange:
[gonintendo.com]
It looks like Fox was playing a bit loose with these researchers actual study... especially considering the only game their test subjects had access to in that era was basically Pong.
@zombiefrank:
had begun around the 1960's
@ajay42: Are you freaking kidding me? Pong is the most violent game out there. Jack Thomspon hasn't gone after it because he's frightened of it.
I can't imagine the results of a study with this small a sample size is relevant to society at large. It would be less of a leap to say that because my car is red, everyone's car in my town is red.
Maybe this study says more about people from Michigan...
*runs away*
The people who wage/start wars; I don't think they play video games at all.
Minority Report; if you think about killing someone and you are about to kill someone doesn't make you a murderer. It can condemn your credibility but you still have a choice of whether to commit or not.
Even though you play video games and might be more violent than those who don't, it doesn't make you a murderer.
You know, being yelled at in real life makes me more violent than being yelled at in a game.
But I guess that fixing real life isn´t good, we must fix games, music and art. Make em all blank screens with no sound or whatsoever, or maybe some ponies and butterflies, since those doesn´t seems to offend anyone.
Now THAT´s important.
jajajaja PONG PONG PONG KILL KILL KILL jajajaja
OMG it is influencing. it's just like saying Would you kindly !!jeje
Study: Humans have always hated dwarves and elves!
A friend of mine went to UM, so I'm going to go punch him in retribution (none of this is true).
What a typical reaction from a bunch of gamers taking all this way too personally.
Can none of you admit that there's even a possibility that this is true?
Or have we finally all been completely brainwashed into not believing science? Because this was a scientific study; in fact it was a study of a whole bunch of other studies, sort of a "meta-study" that took all the data collected over the last 30 years and collated it together. It's pretty hard to dispute the results.
Just because you don't want to believe something doesn't mean it's not the truth.
At the very least, you can no longer start off an argument by saying "no study has ever shown a link to video game violence and real life violence". This one has, and it's the largest study of the issue ever done.
Violence should never be a substitute for creativity.
OMG! I am going to punch someone in the Fawking neck! Then I'm going to hold their head in a toilet and violate them.
Did the study show a correlation or a causation? Correlation is easy but meaningless in these situations. Violent people seek out violent images so the fact that they were exposed to violent images and games doesn't prove such things were the CAUSE of violent behavior.
btw, those who are looking at the part about Europe and seeing a contradiction there are missing the point. For every Europe in the world, I can easily point to a Japan, which has fewer violent games and even lower rates of real-life violence. The point is there are other factors at work, but that doesn't discount video games and other entertainment (and this study included TV and movies as well) as one of the factors that influence real-world violence.
Y'now ... this whole metrosexual/desensitize masculinity movement out society is starting to embark on will bite our nation/world in the ass come major World War times prediction in the next decade ... since there wont be masculinity left in men to fight for their life, afraid of breaking a nail!
(dunno if I am serious or not after typing that myself)
@badasscat: Excuse me, but are you using logic and reason on the internet? That is not allowed.
@TrettOff: Correlation is not "meaningless", otherwise the word wouldn't exist. Correlation means there is a link.
If you don't believe violent culture begats violence, then what is your explanation? What is creating all these violent Americans? Something is, because an American born of European descent is no different genetically from a European, and an American born of African descent is no different genetically from an African. So what is making us so violent? Seriously - let's hear your explanation for what's breeding this culture of violence.
Unemployment? Europe's is higher than ours. Poverty? We're about the richest country in the world. So what is it?
@badasscat:
But it IS the truth.
It´s just that there are more important things to mankind to fix, other than burning books and changing games into boring "Mario Teaches typing", like giving food to starving people and banishing real guns, instead of banishing virtual guns fron virtual worlds.
But I guess that you can just burn each book about nazism and each movie with a gun (probably those by Guy Ritchie since those are good),
so the real Nazism and real guns would just dissapear out of thin air and cease to exist!
Well, there´s hope. at least no one bans pornography and the desire of sex so mankind won´t go extinct.
"Men in their early 20s who had a healthy dosing of violent TV and video games from ages 6 to 9 were twice as likely to push, grab or shove their spouses and are three times more likely to be convicted of criminal behavior, according to the research."
ORLY?
So you are saying if I let my kids watch gritty violent films when they are 6 to 9 they are going to grow up as messed up individuals? Didn't think of that, thanks for telling me.
@badasscat:
Dude, didn't you see my study's headline?
There is definatly a link between violent video games and violence. I just don't care. Nobody should care. There's a link between everything and violence. It's called stupid people. And it just so happens that lots of stupid people play lots video games.
People are incredibly dismissive of any research into the link (if there is any) between violence and violence in videogames. The tone of responses here have a striking similarity to the Creationist attitude towards evolution - ie. complete rejection of empirical evidence and an irrational disposition to your own 'gut instinct' about these things.
I can understand why of course. Having one of your past times labelled as harmful can feel like a personal attack. However, what if it turns out that (down the road) a mountain of empirical evidence proves beyond reasonable doubt that there is a causation between violent games and violent/aggressive behaviour in adults - should we not re-evaluate our attitudes towards violent games?
I love how everyone thinks that violence is something that was created just a few days ago. Apparently most people are not up on their history. Violence is part of life. Men, women and children have been maiming and killing each other since the beginning of time. This whole idea of a "culture of violence" is ridiculous to me. Are people violent in today's culture? Yes. Have people always been violent? Without a doubt. That simply isn't going to change. American is not the most violent country in the world, we just happen to wring out hands in disgust at it.
"Can none of you admit that there's even a possibility that this is true?"
Violent crime has dropped every year since the 90s, around the same time that violent games became prevalent.
So, we've got actual real-world evidence versus a Fox News article that doesn't even bother to link to the study in question.
"Fox Business report"
Legitimacy lost. Story finished.
@badasscat: I'm going to rip off your arms and beat you with them. I've never seen that done in a video game, but if there was one with it, I'd buy it.
Fox News seem to have added in some false information and other things. One of the researchers spells it out clearer:
[gonintendo.com]
I want to find these researchers and give them a bloody nose!
Anyone got a link to the actual article? I have some new reading for the lab tomorrow!
@badasscat: You're on a gaming site, so even if the results are significant and verifiable, people will bitch and moan. There's so many conflicting results on video game violence research, though, that it's tough to say. I'd like to read the actual journal article for myself.
The measures of aggression and timeline, etc. matter a lot. So many studies have found no effect, and many have found effect. Meta-analysis has found effect, but even the meta-analysis I saw was a little wonky. It's a tricky subject!
Of course there is a correlation. Duh, glorifying violence to 6 year olds isn't a good idea, however they classified "violent entertainment" in the study (Like, Superman the Animated series, or the 60's equivolent of Hostel?).
Not to mention...Exactly how violent were video games back in the 60's (Especially considering the crime rate dropped off before we even had polygons)?
And really...it's been 30 years. It seems far fetched to me to follow people through decades of massive cultural change and try to claim that media from when they 6-9 is responsible for it. Even if did, it only encourages parental responsibility. Move on to much more important factors that cause violence.