A new academic study has been released, claiming that game players are more aggressive than non-game players.

Quote: Originally Posted by Next Generation The research was conducted by Bruce Bartholow (pictured), assistant professor of psychological sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia. His study was based around showing images to people and measuring their reactions. He showed young men images that were violent or non-violent, and asked them to rate their feelings on the image. Game-players were more likely to be nonchalant about the violence than non-game players, suggesting that they are immune to such images. Full Story at NextGen.biz

Hmmm...i'm not sure that i entirely buy this. Solely based on this article, it seems to me that the the research is a bit too limited in scope to draw conclusions. I'm not necessarilly disputing the findings of the research, just how they seem to be interpreted.

The arguments about desensitization can easily be applied to other types of graphic media ( something that Bartholow doesn't seem to address). IMO, desensitization is desensitization regardless of whether or not it comes from movies, television, videogames, etc, or a combination thereof. IMO, it's irresponsible to try to draw conclusions about behaviors without asking "why" or "how" a behavior came to be in place and whether or not outside factors may also influence it (something that this study doesn't seem to address). Indeed, Bartholow doesn't even seem concerned that videogames are not the sole purveyors of viloent content:loser: .

Furthermore, i think that the research on aggressive behavior ( game-player vs. non game player) didn't go far enough. What is essentially being talked about is competitive behavior, and, unfortunately, there was no research done to determine whether or not the same sort of behaviors are present in people who participate in competitive activities other than videogames. In other words, instead of claiming that something that can be seen as aggressive behavior is due to playing videogames, research should have also been done to determine whether or not similar behavior is also present in other types of competitive activities. By seeing if similar behaviors are present in other competitive activities, the researcher can then narrow or broaden the scope of the research accordingly. Then again, he/she could just make sensationalistic and usupportable claims based on lopsided research :loser: (NOTE: i'm not blaming videogames or sports for poor/aggressive behavior; that ultimately rests squarely on the shoulders of the individuals who take part in said behavior. All i'm suggesting is that the study appears to be a bit short-sighted by not addressing whether or not similar behaviors are found in competitive activities that use a medium other than a videogame).

I think that the sort of interpretation of the results that this study claims is both innacurate and irresponsible. IMO, all that study actually says is: It may be possible that aggressive behavior is linked to competitive activities, and that some people are being desensitized to violent images. OH BOY, what a shocker! :biteme: