Male Brains 'Wired for Videogame Obsession' 125
thinkzinc notes a story indicating that, according to a new study, men have a harder time putting down a controller than women do. Researchers at Stanford did brain imaging work on a group of young test subjects while they played a simple PC game. Besides the 'obvious' conclusion that men were more 'aggressive at gaining territory on the screen', the tests also indicated that male brains showed more activity in the reward and addiction components of the brain. "The lead author, Dr. Allan Reiss, noted that most of the video games that are popular with men are territory and aggression-type games. 'These gender differences in the brain may help explain why males are more attracted to, and more likely to become hooked on video games than females,' he said. Other recent surveys indicate that about 40 percent of Americans regularly play games on a computer or console, but young males are two or three times more likely than females to feel addicted to video games, Reiss said. "
Isn't it the other way around? (Score:4, Insightful)
What is wrong with males' strengths (Score:5, Insightful)
I call bull! (Score:4, Insightful)
It has more to do with the person then the gender! She can wale on me in UT and I make rockin' brownies.
Re:studies (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is it not controversial to investigate whether certain races are more prone to certain illnesses, but it is controversial to offer a drug that seems to have more health benefits to one race than another?
Well I'll answer my own question. Some of the concern is based on justified anger over past atrocities committed by people who called themselves 'scientists' (e.g. infecting blacks with Syphilis). But when that anger translates to 'In 2008 I won't accept a drug that is targeted for my race because it might be a plot to harm us', I think we're talking tinfoil hat time.
Why is it not controversial to suggest that one gender has more physical strength than another, but it is heresy to even wonder whether one gender might have more intelligence/compassion/aggression/addiction than the other?
My suspicion is that people get more sensitive when we're talking about the mind vs. the body, because then the subject is the core of who we are. Fine, we're all sensitive about that. But what justifies a knee-jerk reaction that this is just 'junk science'? As a scientist would say, prove it!
By the way, personal anecdotal evidence suggests that this study is on to something. I know that my son and I are certainly prone to being hooked on territorial/aggressive games, while my daughter and wife don't show such tendency. And this pattern extends to other people I know. This is not proof, just commentary.
Re:I call bull! (Score:3, Insightful)
Says more about Slashdot editors than brains. (Score:5, Insightful)
That is VERY offensive. Men in the U.S. are the targets of an extreme amount of hostility. I'm guessing that the person who wrote that headline knew that being hostile toward men is in fashion, and wrote it to get attention for the advertisements.
Quote: "These gender differences in the brain may help explain why males are more attracted to, and more likely to become hooked on video games than females," he said.
Fraud: He has not shown any gender differences in the brain. He has shown that, at the time, those particular subjects were using their brains differently.
The article does imply something useful about brains, however. The fact that Slashdot editors wanted us to see it may be an indication that the editors are not in touch with reality. Maybe that's because the editors spent so much time playing games rather than trying to relate to reality.
If you want to experience a society where men aren't hated, go to Brazil. However, don't fall in love with the first woman you meet, like many of my acquaintances.
Re:and in other news. (Score:4, Insightful)
They only ran the test on 22 people, and all they did was play a single video game. How can they possibly draw any meaningful conclusions from that?
And how is the an issue with "the male brain" rather than, for example, "men living in America who have had previous exposure to video games." How can they be even a little sure that the entire history of guys liking games more than girls isn't cultural (I'm not saying that it is, btw. Just that this study does nothing to account for anything like that).
He might as well be basing his study on Phrenology, for all the science that he's putting into this.
Re:What is wrong with males' strengths (Score:5, Insightful)
It just goes along with how men are portrayed in most commercials and sitcoms as bumbling, sex starved idiots who have to be set straight but the level headed woman.
I like being a barbarian. (Score:3, Insightful)
I see nothing wrong with that. I like being barbaric. I like to scratch my nuts when I first wake up in the morning. I like to just shrug it off when women talk about their feelings (Here's a clue, ladies. If you're not my wife, I don't give a flying fuck about your feelings). I like to eat leftover pizza for breakfast and wash it down with a colder beer. I like porn. I like loud, nasty rock 'n roll. I like sex and violence.
After I'm done with my day's work I like to fire up a game and beat the everloving shit out of anything that gets in my way. I don't see anything wrong with this. After all, it's not like I'm at a bar getting drunk and picking fights with other patrons. I'm not hurting anybody or damaging other people's property. Of course, now it's an 'addiction', so I'm sure that there are women and some men who are traitors to their sex who will think that I and other gamers 'need help'.
I don't need help, and I sure as hell don't want any. I like being a barbaric, sex-crazed, gamer who eats too much, drives too fast, and has the volume up way too high. I'm an asshole, and I'm proud of it!
Re:Haven't found the games addictive for females? (Score:3, Insightful)
Can't really study something so heavily biased and expect the bias to go away.
Try them on a game like Animal Crossing or Nintendogs or something and if guys are still more likely to get addicted than I'll buy the verdict.
For some anecdotal evidence one of my relatives is a total anti-gamer except for 3 games, Diner Dash, Animal Crossing, and Guitar Hero. If you were to test her addictedness on, say, Team Fortress 2 or Galactic Civilizations 2 vs. my own addiction I have no doubt you'd find these exact results. Try it on one of the aforementioned games, especially Animal Crossing as both of us were addicted to that for a while (it was a good game), and I bet you'd find the opposite to be true...
Re:studies (Score:3, Insightful)
While people can absolve themselves by citing some scientific report about their behavior, it would just be an excuse like any other. Conversely someone could become more aware of their nascent nature and try to more consciously control it. Like anything else, it's up to the individual to decide what they choose to do with the information at hand. For an easy example, someone could claim he beats his wife since he and his mom were beaten when he was a child. While there is a clear correlation between being beaten as a child and then beating a spouse as an adult, it would still just be an excuse. If the guy had been aware of this relationship at a younger age he may have sought treatment for anger management before letting it get out of control.
There's several branches of science built on almost nothing but human behavior including economics, sociology and criminology. It is notoriously difficult to test economic theories due to the complex human behavior as you describe (and even Greenspan has admitted that the Federal Reserve has a difficult time of predicting when a recession will occur and doesn't do it well), but there really is no alternative than to try to use a scientific approach and build various models, adjusting them to meet reality as time goes on.
Re:It's about use vs. abuse (Score:3, Insightful)
I agree that a study of 'intelligence' comparing races using various metrics probably isn't a good idea though. However, if, for example, one socio-economic group of elementary school students is underperforming it is probably worthwhile to become aware of the problem (through standardized tests) and then attempting to postulate the causes and try to adress them.
Give me a fucking break! (Score:3, Insightful)
What I do suspect is that you love your women to be submissive, to accept the man as the head of the household, and to believe in serving him. This is your prerogative - if you find a woman who is like that, go for it.
However, lack of submission has absolutely nothing to do with social breakdown, hostility against males or any other crap like that. If anything, I'd argue that the social breakdown that you see around you and the hostility that is expressed against you is the result of your chauvinistic, self-centered and egotistical attitude. You just can't handle an independent woman.
Seriously - prostitutes were nice to a man? No wai! Getouttahere! Wouldaneverguessedthat. Brazilian and Thai women are nicer? Wouldn't have anything to do with the fact their society is about as male dominated is it could possibly be, right?
Personally, I find that most brazilian women are either crazy or wallflowers. Thai women who made it out of Thailand seem to have adapted fairly well to western habits - but you can still tell who just arrived and who grew up here.