The link between violent media, such as violent movies and video games, and real-life aggression and violence, has been discussed and analyzed since these types of media have existed.
In a recent study published in Frontiers in Psychology, Dr. Gregor Szycik of the Hannover Medical School, and colleagues, investigated the long-term effects of playing violent video games. "The research question arises first from the fact that the popularity and the quality of video games are increasing, and second, we were confronted in our clinical work with more and more patients with problematic and compulsive video game consumption," explains Szycik.
The participants in the study were all male, as playing violent video games and aggressive behavior are more prevalent in men. The gamers were compared with control subjects who had no experience with violent video games and did not play video games regularly.
o avoid the short-term effects of playing violent video games, the gamers refrained from playing for a minimum of three hours before the experiment started, although the majority refrained for much longer than this. "This geared the study towards finding the long-term effects of playing such games. To evaluate their capacity for empathy and aggression, the participants answered psychological questionnaires" Szycik.
The psychological questionnaire revealed no differences in measures of aggression and empathy between gamers and non-gamers. This finding was backed up by the fMRI data, which demonstrated that both gamers and non-gamers had similar neural responses to the emotionally provocative images. These results surprised the researchers, as they were contrary to their initial hypothesis, and suggest that any negative effects of violent video games on perception or behavior may be short-lived.
The team acknowledge that further research is required. "We hope that the study will encourage other research groups to focus their attention on the possible long-term effects of video games on human behavior," says Szycik. "This study used emotionally-provocative images. The next step for us will be to analyze data collected under more valid stimulation, such as using videos to provoke an emotional response."
"violent video games found not to affect emphaty" adapted of Science Daily-Gregor R. Szycik
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Taken from Pisterest-images. 12
Taken from Pisterest-images.13
Taken from Pisterest-images.14