Politicians and parents have been warning for years about the potential dangers of violent video games, claiming that young people who play them become more aggressive in adolescence and adulthood. A new study appears to overturn that thinking.
Research, Computers in Human Behavior The journal outlines the findings, which scientists obtained after observing more than 3,000 Czech teenagers aged 13 to 17. To reach their conclusions, the team measured physical and verbal aggression, as well as cognitive and emotional empathy.
The study found that adolescents who scored higher on physical aggression tended to play video games that were more violent in nature. However, the study did not find any evidence that changing how often a person plays violent video games can affect future physical aggression.
“Early studies have generally reported a link between playing violent video games and increased physical aggression in children. This link has raised concerns, especially given that many of the most popular video games contain violent content. However, it remains unclear whether violent video games make players more aggressive or whether individuals who are already more aggressive simply engage in such games,” the team explains in the paper.
“While the effects continue [violent video games] “Although the effects on increased aggression and aggressive behavior and decreased empathy and prosocial behavior have often been examined in previous research, the evidence remains mixed,” they added.
Simply put, scientists did not observe any changes in aggression or empathy following increases in violent video game consumption. “On an individual level, increases in violent video game consumption [violent video games] “It was not associated with a change in aggression or empathy,” they said.
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When it came to how these video game players interacted with others, the researchers noted that those who exhibited “higher levels of verbal and physical aggression” would “tend to interact more.” [violent video games]”A more pronounced effect was observed, particularly for physical aggression.”
“This observation is consistent with traditional perspectives [violent video games] as a potential trigger for aggression,” they acknowledged. “However, it is critical to emphasize that this relationship does not necessarily imply causation. Previous studies have generally shown that fluctuations in aggression and [violent video game] “Given that participation occurs across individuals over time, this study acknowledges the influence of both within-person and between-person effects.”
“In essence, adolescents with higher general aggression, [violent video games]is not an indicator of increased participation [violent video games] “leads to increased aggression,” they concluded. “These findings suggest that [violent video games] “As a significant contributing factor to increased aggression and decreased empathy in adolescents.”
Essentially, while the study suggests that playing these types of games does not cause someone to be more aggressive, those who displayed more outward aggression were more likely to play these games. Correlation does not equal causation, of course, and the team emphasized that more research is needed on these phenomena.
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