**Anderson, Craig A
1. fact- violent video games are “significantly associated with: increased
aggressive behavior, thoughts, and affect; increased physiological arousal;
and decreased pro-social (helping) behavior”
2. answered elsewhere- unneeded.
3. Laboratory experiments are relevant
Fact- Arguments against laboratory experiments in behavioral sciences have
been successfully debunked many times by numerous researchers over the
years. Specific examinations of such issues in the aggression domain have
consistently found evidence of high external validity.
4. field testing
fact/claim (not sure)- Some field experiments have used behaviors such as
biting, pinching, hitting, pushing, and pulling hair, behaviors that were not
modeled in the game. The fact that these aggressive behaviors occur in
natural environments does not make them "normal" play behavior, but it
does increase the face validity (and some would argue the external validity)
of the measures.
5. correlational studies
claim- correlational studies are routinely used in modern science to test
theories that are inherently causal. Whole scientific fields are based on
correlational data (e.g., astronomy). Well conducted correlational studies
provide opportunities for theory falsification. They allow examination of
serious acts of aggression that would be unethical to study in experimental
contexts. They allow for statistical controls of plausible alternative
explanations.
6. fact- High levels of violent video game exposure have been linked to
delinquency, fighting at school and during free play periods, and violent
criminal behavior
7. video games and children as apposed to adults
fact- here is not consistent evidence for the claim that younger children are
more negatively affected than adolescents or young adults or that males are
more affected than females. There is some evidence that highly aggressive
individuals are more affected than nonaggressive individuals, but this finding
does not consistently occur. Even nonaggressive individuals are consistently
affected by brief exposures. Further research will likely find some significant
moderators of violent video game effects, because the much larger research
literature on television violence has found such effects and the underlying
processes are the same. However, even that larger literature has not
identified a sizeable population that is totally immune to negative effects of
media violence
8. Unrealistic games are less harmful/ damaging
Claim/facts- Unrealistic video game violence is completely safe for
adolescents and older youths. Facts: Cartoonish and fantasy violence is
often perceived (incorrectly) by parents and public policy makers as safe
even for children. However, experimental studies with college students have
consistently found increased aggression after exposure to clearly unrealistic
and fantasy violent video games. Indeed, at least one recent study found
significant increases in aggression by college students after playing E-rated
(suitable for everyone) violent video games.
9. the effects of video games are small
fact- Meta-analyses reveal that violent video game effect sizes are larger than
the effect of second hand tobacco smoke on lung cancer, the effect of lead
exposure to I.Q. scores in children, and calcium intake on bone mass.
Furthermore, the fact that so many youths are exposed to such high levels of
video game violence further increases the societal costs of this risk factor
(Rosenthal, 1986).
10. arousal is the reason for aggression from video games
claim- Arousal cannot explain the results of most correlational studies
because the measured aggression did not occur immediately after the violent
video games were played. Furthermore, several experimental studies have
controlled potential arousal effects, and still yielded more aggression by
those who played the violent game.
11. If violent video games cause increases in aggression, violent crime rates in
the U.S. would be increasing instead of decreasing.
Claim- untrue claimThree assumptions must all be true for this myth to be
valid: (a) exposure to violent media (including video games) is increasing; (b)
youth violent crime rates are decreasing; (c) video game violence is the only
(or the primary) factor contributing to societal violence. The first assumption
is probably true. The second is not true, as reported by the 2001 Report of
the Surgeon General on Youth Violence (Figure 2-7, p. 25). The third is clearly
untrue
Unanswered Questions
-One especially large gap is the lack of longitudinal studies testing the link
between habitual violent video game exposure and later aggression, while
controlling for earlier levels of aggression and other risk factors
-Recent video games reward players for killing innocent bystanders, police,
and prostitutes, using a wide range of weapons including guns, knives, flame
throwers, swords, baseball bats, cars, hands, and feet. Some include cut
scenes (i.e., brief movie clips supposedly designed to move the story
forward) of strippers. In some, the player assumes the role of hero, whereas
in others the player is a criminal.
- Another gap concerns potential differences in effect sizes of television
versus video game violence. There are theoretical reasons to believe that
violent video game effects may prove larger, primarily because of the active
and repetitive learning aspects of video games.
- more research is needed to: (a) refine emerging general models of human
aggression; (b) delineate the processes underlying short and long term
media violence effects; (c) broaden these models to encompass aggression at
the level of subcultures and nations.
**Duran, H.B.
The article from daniweb is a personal excerpt about how a woman is unable to
connect video games to violent behavior… not so much for fact and claim.
Great quote- columbine killers “Harris and Klebold reportedly liked
playing Doom - as did my husband and I. We have yet to go on a
homicidal rampage, and so it was hard for me to relate to such a simple
connection.”
Look into  Blazing Angels or Resident Evil? Can Violent Video Games be
a Force for Good?—doctor’s study
Claim- What he found was that all video game information was based on
inconclusive evidence.
Same time when video games are increasing- violent crimes are
decreasing
Fact- Video games improves visual and spatial cognition
Fact- Teaming up with Stephanie Rueda (also of Texas A&M University),
Dr. Ferguson gave 103 young adults a "frustration task." Their results
showed that subjects who played violent games were "less hostile and
depressed." suggesting that such games "reduce depression and hostile
feelings in players through mood management."
**Harding, Anne
Questiondo children become more aggressive after playing video
games or are aggressive kids more attracted to violent videos?
fact- n the new study, Dr. Craig A. Anderson, Ph.D., of Iowa State
University in Ames, and his colleagues looked at how children and
teen's video game habits at one time point related to their behavior
three to six months later.
Factual study- The study included three groups of kids: 181 Japanese
kids12 to 15; 1,050 Japanese kids 13 to 18; and 364 U.S. kids ages 9 to
12.
Factual study- The U.S. children listed their three favorite games and
how often they played them. In the younger Japanese group, the
researchers looked at how often the children played five different
violent video game genres (fighting action, shooting, adventure, among
others); in the older group they gauged the violence in the kids' favorite
game genres and the time they spent playing them each week.
Factual study- Japanese children rated their own behavior in terms of
physical aggression, such as hitting, kicking or getting into fights with
other kids; the U.S. children rated themselves too, but the researchers
took into account reports from their peers and teachers as well.
Factual study- In every group, children who were exposed to more
video game violence did become more aggressive over time than
their peers who had less exposure. This was true even after the
researchers took into account how aggressive the children were at the
beginning of the study -- a strong predictor of future bad behavior.
Claim/fact (not sure)- There are two ways violent media can spur
people to violent actions
First is imitation; children who watch violence in the media can
internalize the message that the world is a hostile place, and being
aggressive is regular and ok.
Second, kids can become desensitized to violence. "When you're
exposed to violence day in and day out, it loses its emotional impact on
you," Huesmann said.
Claim- Dr. Cheryl K. Olson, co-director of the Center for Mental Health
and the Media at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, isn't
convinced.
Claim- "It's not the violence per se that's the problem, it's the context
and goals of the violence," said Olson, citing past research on TV
violence and behavior.
Her advice to parents? Move the computer and gaming stuff out of kids'
rooms and into public spaces in the home, like the living room, so they
can keep an eye on what their child is up to.
Claim- Dr. David Walsh, president of the National Institute on Media and
the Family, a Minneapolis-based non-profit, argues that the
pervasiveness of violence in media has led to a "culture of disrespect" in
which children get the message that it's acceptable to treat one another
rudely and even aggressively.
**Jenkins, Henry
1. The availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence-
FALSE
Facts- The overwhelming majority of kids who play do NOT commit antisocial acts.
According to a 2001 U.S. Surgeon General's report, the strongest risk factors for school
shootings centered on mental stability and the quality of home life, not media exposure.
The moral panic over violent video games is doubly harmful. It has led adult authorities
to be more suspicious and hostile to many kids who already feel cut off from the system.
It also misdirects energy away from eliminating the actual causes of youth violence and
allows problems to continue to fester.
2. Scientific evidence links violent game play with youth aggression.
Facts- Claims like this are based on the work of researchers who represent one
relatively narrow school of research, "media effects." This research includes some
300 studies of media violence. But most of those studies are inconclusive and many
have been criticized on methodological grounds. In these studies, media images are
removed from any narrative context. Subjects are asked to engage with content that
they would not normally consume and may not understand. Finally, the laboratory
context is radically different from the environments where games would normally be
played. Most studies found a correlation, not a causal relationship, which means the
research could simply show that aggressive people like aggressive entertainment.
But no research has found that video games are a primary factor or that violent video
game play could turn an otherwise normal person into a killer.
3. Children are the primary market for video games.
Claims with factual support- While most American kids do play video games, the center
of the video game market has shifted older as the first generation of gamers continues
to play into adulthood. Already 62 percent of the console market and 66 percent of the
PC market is age 18 or older. The game industry caters to adult tastes. Meanwhile, a
sizable number of parents ignore game ratings because they assume that games are for
kids. One quarter of children ages 11 to 16 identify an M-Rated (Mature Content) game
as among their favorites. Clearly, more should be done to restrict advertising and
marketing that targets young consumers with mature content, and to educate parents
about the media choices they are facing.
Commission has found that 83 percent of game purchases for underage consumers are
made by parents or by parents and children together.
4. irrelevant.
5. Because games are used to train soldiers to kill, they have the same impact on
the kids who play them.
Claim- Former military psychologist and moral reformer David Grossman argues that
because the military uses games in training the generation of young people who play such
games are similarly being brutalized and conditioned to be aggressive in their everyday
social interactions. Grossman's model only works if:
• we remove training and education from a meaningful cultural context.
• we assume learners have no conscious goals and that they show no resistance to what
they are being taught.
• we assume that they unwittingly apply what they learn in a fantasy environment to real
world spaces.
6. Video games are not a meaningful form of expression.
Claim with factual support- Federal Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner noted:
"Violence has always been and remains a central interest of humankind and a recurrent,
even obsessive theme of culture both high and low. It engages the interest of children
from an early age, as anyone familiar with the classic fairy tales collected by Grimm,
Andersen, and Perrault are aware." Posner adds, "To shield children right up to the age
of 18 from exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but
deforming; it would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it."
Many early games were little more than shooting galleries where players were
encouraged to blast everything that moved.
7. irrelevant
8. Video game play is desensitizing.
Claims- Play allows kids to express feelings and impulses that have to be carefully
held in check in their real-world interactions. Media reformers argue that playing
violent video games can cause a lack of empathy for real-world victims. Yet, a child
who responds to a video game the same way he or she responds to a real-world
tragedy could be showing symptoms of being severely emotionally disturbed. Here's
where the media effects research, which often uses punching rubber dolls as a
marker of real-world aggression, becomes problematic. The kid who is punching a
toy designed for this purpose is still within the "magic circle" of play and
understands her actions on those terms. Such research shows us only that violent
play leads to more violent play.
**Kubrick
This article is moderately useless, it just repeats the craig Anderson case and also is
from a biased Christian organization. I choose to not use this as a source and will be
taking it off my list. This source has nothing but Christian point of view on video
games and how they need to be less important in our lives.
**NAUERT, RICK
ALL CLAIMS (NOTHING 100% PROVEN)--New research in video games In
the study, researchers determined that competitiveness, rather than violence,
may be the main video game feature that influences aggression.
In review, researchers found video game violence alone did not elevate
aggressive behavior. However, more competitive games produced greater
levels of aggressive behavior than less competitive games, no matter how
much violence was in the games.
The study was conducted by lead author Paul J.C. Adachi, M.A., a PhD
candidate at Brock University in Canada with the findings published online in
the journal Psychology of Violence.
In a pilot study, both games were rated evenly in terms of competitiveness,
difficulty and pace of action, but differently in terms of violence.
After participants finished playing the game, a unique methodology was used
to measure aggression.
Participants were told they were going to take part in a separate food tasting
study in which they had to select a cup of hot sauce for a “taster” who they
were told did not particularly like hot or spicy food. The participants could
choose from one of four different hot sauces (from least hot to most hot) for
the taster to drink. The authors concluded that, in this study, video game
violence alone was not sufficient to elevate aggressive behavior.
In a second experiment, students played one of the following four video
games:
“Mortal Kombat versus DC Universe,” a violent fighting game rated as highly
competitive and very violent;
“Left 4 Dead 2,” a violent, moderately competitive first-person shooter game
in which the main character battles zombies using guns;
“Marble Blast Ultra,” a nonviolent, noncompetitive game where players
control a marble through a series of labyrinth-like mazes as quickly as
possible; and
“Fuel,” the highly competitive, nonviolent racing game from the first study.
Afterward, the students completed the same hot sauce tasting test from the
first study. Electrocardiograms measured the participants’ heart rates before
and during video game play.
On average, students who played the highly competitive games, “Fuel” and
“Mortal Kombat versus DC Universe,” prepared significantly more of a hotter
sauce than participants who played “Marble Blast Ultra” and “Left 4 Dead 2,”
the least competitive games.
They also had significantly higher heart rates.
“These findings suggest that the level of competitiveness in video games is an
important factor in the relation between video games and aggressive
behavior, with highly competitive games leading to greater elevations in
aggression than less competitive games,” wrote Adachi
**Phil, Dr.
Fact- A recent content analysis by the research organization Children Now shows
that a majority of video games include violence and about half of the violent
incidents would result in serious injuries or death in the "real" world.
Claim- Dr. Phil explains, "The number one negative effect is they tend to
inappropriately resolve anxiety by externalizing it. So when kids have anxiety,
which they do, instead of soothing themselves, calming themselves, talking about it,
expressing it to someone, or even expressing it emotionally by crying, they tend to
externalize it. They can attack something, they can kick a wall, they can be mean to a
dog or a pet."
Claim- Children spend a great deal of time with violent video games at exactly the
ages that they should be learning healthy ways to relate to other people and to
resolve conflicts peacefully.
Fact- And, according to the National Institute on Media and the Family, it's not just a
concern when it comes to young children. Teenage brains are in the midst of growth
spurts, making teens very impressionable
Claims- How can parents minimize any potential harm?
Psychologists have found that when parents limit the amount of time as well as the
types of games their children play, children are less likely to show aggressive
behaviors. Other research suggests that active parental involvement in children's
media usage — including discussing the inappropriateness of violent solutions to
real life conflicts, reducing time spent on violent media, and generating alternative
nonviolent solutions to problems — all can reduce the impact of media violence on
children and youth. If you play video games with your child, Dr. Phil suggests
alternative activities that allow you to have more interaction with your child, such
as playing a board game together or going for a walk and exploring together.
**Sebhatleab, Natan.
Claim- Many reputable sources such as the Harvard Medical Center for Mental Health, the
Journal of Adolescent Health, and the British Medical Journal have concluded there is no link
between playing violent video games and acting in manners shown in the game. The Palo
Alto Medical Foundation have found many positive attributes to playing video games. Two
positive attributes are that these video games “improve a player’s manual dexterity and
computer literacy.”
Fact- Taking on virtual identities allows people to express themselves where they wouldn’t
have the courage to in real life. Violent video games allow people to take their anger out
virtually, which is much safer than physically
Claim- Another point to be made is many people don’t play video games alone. Video games
are one of the true ultimate bonds, whether it be parent to child, friend to friend, or friend
to foe.
Claim- Violent video games will always be a controversial topic. All I want to say is don’t be
so quick to look at the negative of something. There has to be a reason these games were
created, obviously many people have fun playing them. After many powerful
establishments have proved there is no relationship between these violent video games and
violent actions there should be less if none at all controversy about these video games.