Video games linked to aggression in boys
Teachers of 600 8th and 9th graders, aged 13 to 15, said children who spent more time playing violent video games were more hostile than other children and more likely to argue with authority figures and other students.
Are the games the cause or are children who are already more hostile more likely to play violent games? There's not enough information about the research in the article to tell if there is a direct cause and effect. Just finding that two conditions - hostility and playing violent games - exist together does not prove one is caused by the other.
Have any other similarities among those who are more hostile (as determined by their teachers) been studied? The age of the onset of puberty and an increase in testosterone would be one thing that I think would be worth considering here. How about family background? Or would it be too un-PC to consider that the home environment might have something to do with hostility and violence?
The students attend school. Maybe school causes violence. I bet they also brush their teeth. Maybe fluoride causes violence. What other envirnomental factors do they share? Any genetic/physical factors? What's different among them? Each human life is different. If you can't control (or ignore) all of the variables, how can you be sure of your conclusion?
"[O]nly a handful" of the studies she and colleagues examined found no connection between violence and violent video games.
That's a problem with "soft" sciences. How many studies/experiments do you need to prove or disprove something? With "hard" sciences you only need one good study that has opposite results to make you question the validity of a theory. Science isn't democratic, it shouldn't be a matter of the "majority rules".
Perpetrators of violence go unpunished 73 percent of the time in all violent scenes, the group said. "Showing violent acts without consequences teach youth that violence is an effective means of resolving conflict," said psychologist Elizabeth Carll, who helps direct the group's Committee on Violence in Video Games and Interactive Media.
Perhaps they would like to bring back the Hays Code.
More about studies on video games and aggressive behavior here.
Posted by marybeth at August 21, 2005 12:46 PM Science