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Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

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Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#241

Post by andrewflnr »

Here's my hypothesis: in healthy individuals, video games do not lead to violence. But in an unhealthy person who is already looking for an outlet, shooter games provide a template to follow, that may allow unfocused anger to turn into an actual plan. Is there any good science on this idea?

Guns and mental health problems had already been present in America for decades before mass shootings started happening. Video games are the only new ingredient I can see. I can't take seriously any full dismissal of their role until that timing is explained.

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#242

Post by dmix »

longdefeat wrote: post #215
kiliancs wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intuitively, it's hard to believe that witnessing and using violence doesn't have any negative effect on a person, even if in videogames. I think that rather than asking ourselves "does this have a negative impact?" we should ask "what can I do that has a positive impact?". Personally, I would never work on a game with significant violence. From my point of view, there are so many other things a human being can contr…

-we should ask "what can I do that has a positive impact?"- That's part of the point of this essay that was on HN last year: "Fortnite and the Good Life," which seems relevant here. https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/the-convivial-soc...

That's an excellent article, thank you.

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#243

Post by ineedasername »

yazboo wrote: post #80

I have noticed that many social science articles posted on Hacker News bring out critical comments about study design, doubts about the strength of the study's conclusions, that kind of thing. This submission, on the other hand, is a link to some kind of gaming news website, which links to an abstract for an article in a Cyberpsychology (?) journal which costs $60 to access, and there is widespread and uncritical agr…

Probably because it's a 10 year longitudinal study, which is significantly better than the endless stream of small sample limited observational studies. Also without the full contents and methodology, we can't acty evaluate the study very well.

Thise leaves bias from confirmation of existing beliefs along with more anecdotal evidence not directly connected to videogames, such as decreasing crime rates over the period of time that videogames have become more violent. However relying on that correlation alone is a post hoc ergo proper hoc fallacy.

In short, we simply don't know enough about the study to overcome comment with substance, at the same time that the study corresponds to conclusions based on similar research. I'm hesitant to declare "confirmation bias" though when it does ostensibly confirm other research, though it's not really a replication, so I'd withhold final judgement.

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#244

Post by TaylorAlexander »

I’d really like to see a similar study comparing modern military combat video game playing with attitudes about war and overseas military occupation and invasion.

The US military partners with games like Call of Duty and uses them as recruitment tools. I’d be surprised if they didn’t contribute to a sense of dehumanization of our proclaimed enemies.

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#245

Post by hombre_fatal »

saba2008 wrote: post #228
wwtrv wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The third paragraph kind of contradicts the second one one. I mean why don’t they pretend to be businessmen, politicians or investment bankers then?

Because there are no successful businessman, politicians or investment bankers in their social circle.

You also don't see banda music where the guy with the big house and women and drugs and cars is singing about how he just oversaw a successful corporate merger.

Everyone likes some intrigue and mystique. James Bond will always have more of it than a claims adjustor.

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#246

Post by crawfordcomeaux »

I wonder how they define "aggressive behavior." In learning about and practicing nonviolent communication, I've come to realize there's a lot of normalized behaviors out there in terms of interpersonal interactions, but without physical violence or even the threat of it.

Someone who's choosing to ostracize another person within a social group is a bit more covert and difficult to detect. Is this considered "aggressive behavior"? This is one example of a type of behavior that I'd consider to be aggressive and likely not fitting the definition of the study. There are many others out there. And I'm betting some of them are impacted by the games.

Why? Because I'm recovering from gaming/media addiction and I would adopt behaviors and lines from things I played/watched to use in real life.

I'm waiting for the study that actually detects me and people like me. I suspect it'll take about as long as the tobacco industry took to conduct and release studies showing tobacco can cause cancer.

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#247

Post by d33lio »

If only we could conduct a similar study to understand why criminals (yes - individuals with intent to commit violent acts or felonies) overwhelmingly prefer stolen serialized firearms to 80% "ghost guns"?

A curious compromise could be agreeing to defund and dissolve both the ATF and ICE. Constitutionally, both are "unnecessary" and infringe on the rights of citizens.

For The Children TM

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#248

Post by noobermin »

afandian wrote: post #117

I'm one of those people who is entirely bemused by violent videogames and films (I'm sure there are plenty of people who would be bemused by my pastimes too). I'm not trying to argue to stop anyone doing it, but I would really like to understand it better. Many video games are essentially simulators of things that we're prevented from doing in reality, because of the laws of nature or society. Whether that's dropping…

It's more or less a western culture thing. The overvaluing and focus on sex of being something amazing or interesting.

EDIT: sorry, not western culture, American culture, particularly.

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#249

Post by 908B64B197 »

CodeGlitch wrote: post #143
yazboo wrote: post #80

I have noticed that many social science articles posted on Hacker News bring out critical comments about study design, doubts about the strength of the study's conclusions, that kind of thing. This submission, on the other hand, is a link to some kind of gaming news website, which links to an abstract for an article in a Cyberpsychology (?) journal which costs $60 to access, and there is widespread and uncritical agr…

Perhaps it's because it's confirming something that we all knew anyway? I'm sure most of the HN crowd have played all sorts of video games, and we lead pretty non violent lives (I have to assume).

It's funny how some folks have been trying to prove there's a link for 30 years now? And every step of the way there's really nothing to show for.

Reminds me of the Dungeons and Dragons moral panic of the 80's [0]

[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/us/when-dungeons-dragons-...

Re: Ten year study: No link between violent video games and aggressive behavior

#250

Post by noobermin »

dx87 wrote: post #139
afandian wrote: post #117

I'm one of those people who is entirely bemused by violent videogames and films (I'm sure there are plenty of people who would be bemused by my pastimes too). I'm not trying to argue to stop anyone doing it, but I would really like to understand it better. Many video games are essentially simulators of things that we're prevented from doing in reality, because of the laws of nature or society. Whether that's dropping…

I think the difference between acceptance of violent and sexual depictions in media is based on how likely it is to affect people's lives. Almost nobody has a natural tendency to act on violent thoughts, so playing a violent video game is unlikely to cause issues in real life. Most people will have sexual encounters at some point in their life though, so getting an unrealistic expectation of them can cause serious is…

If you think violent depictions in media won't make people more violent then how can you then think that sexual depictions make people more sexual or not? People don't have violent encounters in life (or any even that could escalate into violence)? Really?

Seems like you're making the OP's point, something is special about sex in your mind.

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