News: Study finds zero link btwn. violence in media and real life

hooky

Quote:

Long-term study finds zero link between violence in video games and real life

The first long-term study has been completed on the link between the consumption of violent media and real-life violent acts, and has found... there is none. In fact, the only possible trend that cropped up over the last century was that an increased consumption of violent video games correlated to a decrease in youth violence.

The debate over how violence in video games, films and television correlates to a higher rate of violence in society has been raging since the 1920s, and it’s only gotten more heated with the increase of mass shootings in the US. But a new study by clinical psychologist Christopher Ferguson from Stetson University in the US has shown that across several decades, there have been no significant links between the consumption of media violence and instances of societal violence.

In the past, researchers have investigated this issue by conducting lab experiments that test the aggression levels of people playing violent video games and watching violent films. But Ferguson argues that these lab tests aren't helpful, as they don’t accurately mirror what goes on in real-life. So he decided to take a look across several recent decades to see if he could spot any trends.

First off, Ferguson analysed the instances of movie violence and actual homicide rates between the years of 1920 and 2005. He used independent rating experts to evaluate the frequency and level of violence in the most popular movies released during these decades and then correlated the data to homicide rates in corresponding years. No link could be made, he found, except perhaps in the mid-20th century.

At this point in history, homicide rates and instances of violent movies both increased briefly, but then the trend reversed after 1990, to the point where movie violence became correlated with fewer homicides. This was also the case during the two decades between the 1920s and ’40s.

Read more: http://www.sciencealert.com/definiti...youth-violence

Clock the haters!

Timber

I wrote an essay about this.

MrDeeds

BS, we all know it's totally related.

hooky

Quote:

Originally posted by MrDeeds

BS, we all know it's totally related.

ok, but the data don't lie.

Tim£

Bookmarked to show the parentals

Goosey

Pfft, does it matter? People obsessed with carrying out virtual acts of violence wave these studies around but it doesn't matter when our schools are being shot up over the sake of some video game. There's no good reason to own these games.

Newt

You're right, the data DOES show nothing, the haters will SEETH *continues to murder the hoes online*

I don't know the literature too well but I've also heard that certain personality traits mediate the relationship between violent behavior and violent video games. So there's a small portion of people that are predisposed (presumably anti-social behavior) to subsequently engage in potentially violent behavior after playing games. In which case, is the problem really the games as the triggering factor or the nature of the individual?