News Study: Games and TV make adults more violent

[Tim S]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/12...more_violent/1

A new study from the University of Michigan reveals that exposure to violent media has a radical effect on behaviour.

[Nexxo]

I'd have to read the actual research article, but I think the direction of the relationship is not as clear as is presented. It could be argued that it is the sort of environment that fosters a culture of violence (by normalising or even glorifying it, or allowing casual, uncontrolled exposure to violence) that raises violent adults. What may matter most is not if little Johnny plays violent video games or watches violent TV, but whether he is interested or allowed to do so because he grows up with the sort of parents who don't see anything wrong with violence.

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.

[Drexial]

for the love of god..... not another study. i beg of you bit-tech... its not worth reporting these anymore.

[Hells_Bliss]

meh, violent fps's etc. are my stress relief. I'd rather shoot some n00bs in virtual games then shoot some ****ing twats in real life. but hey thats just me

[TreeDude]

Wait a sec. They say it makes us more violent and then tell us crime has gone down? Isn't that kind of contradicting?

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.

[Delphium]

rarrrrrargggg, these results are lies I tell you, LIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*goes on a violent rampage down the street attacking totaly random people.








ERRR yea!, I dont really see that happening tbh!!!

[Lowsidex2]

Games don't make me violent.. they make me lazy. Otherwise I'd bother to find the report that said the exact opposite a short time ago. All these studies from global warming to aids epidemics are skewed to show exactly what the researchers what to show. There's no impartiality anymore so don't believe any of it.

[specofdust]

Games don't make me violent. People make me violent. Stupidity makes me violent. I make me violent.

Games don't make me violent though, they just make me less bored.

[Nexxo]

Originally Posted by TreeDude

Wait a sec. They say it makes us more violent and then tell us crime has gone down? Isn't that kind of contradicting?

Exactly. They have found an association, but assumed the direction. And they haven't found a plausible explanation to fit their observation.

Originally Posted by TreeDude

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.

That's exactly my point: who says that someone who regularly plays violent games and watches violent TV grows up in a "normal" household?

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.

Originally Posted by BBC News

Zara Olver, 21, her 48-year-old mother Carole, and sisters Serenza Olver, 29, and Danielle Olver, 19, all admitted child cruelty at Plymouth Crown Court.

In the footage, a boy in a nappy was called a "wimp" for not hitting his sister back after she struck him.

The women laughed as the children hit each other with brushes and magazines.

But the footage was found by chance by the toddlers' father, on leave from the army, and he told social services.

The boy, aged two, is seen crying after being punched in the face by his three-year-old sister and is told by one of the four women in the room "not to be a wimp or a faggot" and to hit the girl back.

The court heard that, when interviewed by police, Carole Olver said: "I didn't see any harm in toughening them up - I done the same with my own children."

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.

[capnPedro]

Correlation is not causation.

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...

[Bungle]

Well I take all these reports with a pinch of salt. I've seen more cases of Violence linked to the game of football (which is our national game) than any computer game. Never heard anyone try and Ban football, yet there's pretty much a culture of Hooliganism built up around the game. If you look carefully you'll see the political scape Goat.

[Lazarus Dark]

TV does make me violent.

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.

[pendragon]

ugh, this is just more useless fodder for Jack Thompson

[Bungle]

Originally Posted by Nexxo

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.

Maybe we should do our own report and push to get bad parenting Banned.

[will.]

I just shoot a cat every so often.

BOOOM HEADSHOT!

[EmJay]

I was going to say something about cause, effect, and bad assumptions thereof, but it looks like that's already been done.

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.

[TGImages]

The study, which was set over thirty-year and looked at 856 children

The report found specifically that men.... Women became

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.

[Rebourne]

Ahhhhhhrrrrrrr I'll kill them all, that will teach them to release reports like this.

[TreeDude]

Originally Posted by Nexxo

That's exactly my point: who says that someone who regularly plays violent games and watches violent TV grows up in a "normal" household?

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.

[Nexxo]

Originally Posted by TreeDude

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.

Exactly: you were not specifically interested in violence. Doom was hardly violent (unless you consider the merciless slaughter of blocky pixels violent) and Quake 3 was hardly, well, realistic. Terminator 2 was not very violent either --Arnie doesn't actually get to kill anyone and you see T2 at work perhaps three times --and even then not explicitly. You could argue that all these examples fall under "cartoon violence".

In that respect, when Emjay asks:

Originally Posted by EmJay

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?

my answer would be that I'd like to think that I'd raise my kids not to be interested in violence. I wouldn't have to limit their access to violent games simply because they wouldn't be very interested in playing them.

In short, I think that playing violent games and watching violent movies is not the cause of violent behaviour, but a symptom.