Video Games Linked To Child Aggression 500
the4thdimension writes "CNN is running a story this morning that explains new research showing a correlation between video games and aggression in children. The study monitored groups of US and Japanese children, asking them to rate their violent behavior over a period of several months while they played video games in their free time. The study concludes that it has 'pretty good evidence' that there is a link between video games and childhood aggression." Stories like this make me want to smash things.
Comment removed (Score:2, Informative)
"Aggressive" play = violence? (Score:3, Informative)
I don't understand why people waste money and time doing these kinds of studies. Invariably they depend upon untested, questionable assumptions, such as equating "aggressive" play with violence. And it is all directed toward solving a problem that doesn't exist, because the violence statistics have consistently shown that as games have gotten more realistic and more violent, real-world violence has steadily decreased [wired.com]. In fact, it has decreased most precipitously in the very demographic that is the biggest consumers of videogames. Now of course, this doesn't prove that games don't make people aggressive, or even violent. What it does prove is that the violence-inducing effect of video games, if any, is so small that it is swamped by other social and demographic factors that influence violence.
Craig Anderson sees "aggression" everywhere (Score:4, Informative)
Anderson has never done a study where he didn't find that something caused aggression. He sees aggression everywhere.
The problem with this? At least in the papers of his that I have read (and it is hard to read them all because his name gets put on a lot of papers as co-researcher) he has never defined what he means by "aggression." The closest I have ever seen him define the term is in a table in one article where he gives examples of aggression. One of those examples was, "raising one's voice."
Now I'm no psychologist but I think that there is a big difference between yelling and physically hurting someone.
Re:parents are becoming afraid to discipline (Score:3, Informative)
It depends. If you have an experience like me, where a cop shows up accusing you of stealing & B&E, when you clearly were a 30 minute drive away in another city, doesn't let up, then finally figures out that they mis-spelt the name they got from one of the other kids they caught.. and then are told "it's our policy not to applogize." Well, lets just say I don't have any great respect for cops... espcially since I was told these same cops wouldn't respond to a break in (or worse) at my house, because we were "just outside town lines," and would have to get the state police to respond.. which would take an hour..
Re:So, beat it out of them! (Score:3, Informative)
If spanking is such a violent discipline that breeds violence -- then why is it only in the last 10-20 years that school violence has reached unprecedented levels?
You have to prove that assertion before your question is valid.
http://youthviolence.edschool.virginia.edu/violence-in-schools/national-statistics.html [virginia.edu]
This site indicates that school violence is going down since the early 90s, drastically.