Video Games / Technology
dmunger | August 31, 2005
This is an image from the video game Asheron's Call 2 (source: mmorpg.com). Does playing such a game, involving regular practicing (albeit in a virtual environment) of repetitive, violent acts, increase our general level of aggression? A recent article in New York Times says no, citing a study by "a researcher at the University of Illinois," which found, according to the article, that "violent video games have no 'long-term,' or permanent, effects on aggressive behavior." Interesting, considering the article I discussed in yesterday's post apparently found exactly the opposite.
With some…
dmunger | August 30, 2005Steven Johnson is a writer who I very much admire. I'm particularly impressed by his defense of video games and other technologies in his book Everything Bad is Good For You. However, in defending the good aspects of video games, he has also felt compelled to downplay their negative effects. For example, a recent blog post argues vehemently that video game violence does not lead to aggression. He makes his argument by examining a recent study which found a link between violent game exposure and aggression. I'd like to do something a bit unusual for Cognitive Daily. First, I'll examine the…
dmunger | June 15, 2005It has been known for some time that cell phones can lead to driving accidents. After watching the behavior of some other drivers on the road, I'm sometimes surprised that there aren't more cell-phone-related accidents than there already are. With well over 100 million cell phone users in the U.S. alone, the problem isn't going to get any smaller.
Until recently, there has been some dispute about exactly why cell phones are unsafe for drivers. Two high-profile studies in the 1990s suggested that any manual manipulation of devices in a car, including not only dialing a cell phone, but also…
dmunger | May 20, 2005Ivan Pavlov, the Russian psychologist and surgeon of legendary ability (his Nobel prize is for medicine), was perhaps most famous for his experiments with dogs. Performing a tricky procedure to implant a saliva-measuring device in dogs' necks, he then trained them to recognize when food was coming. First he'd ring a bell and bring the dog food. Dogs would begin to salivate when the food arrived. After a short training period, dogs would begin salivating when the bell was rung, even if Pavlov never brought the food. This technique, now universally referred to as classical conditioning, works…
dmunger | May 17, 2005We know that video games can help us learn, but what exactly is it about the games that does it? Is it that fact that we're in control—for example, the way drivers in a car seem to learn the roads better than passengers? Or is it something else? Paul Wilson of the University of Leicester and Patrick Péruch of Université de la Méditerranée had been working on this problem separately for several years, with mixed results. In 2002 they combined their efforts to try to figure out what matters most for learning in a virtual environment ("The Influence of Interactivity and Attention on Spatial…
dmunger | April 13, 2005Yesterday we reported on the results of studies on the impact of media violence. Today we'll discuss theoretical implications and responses to those studies, as reported by Craig Anderson et al. in their report "The Influence of Media Violence on Youth."
Given the fact that there is a significant correlation between media violence and aggression, Anderson and his colleagues believe there are several possible causes. Since humans (and chimpanzees, for that matter) learn a great deal simply through observation and imitation, children may simply be "learning" violent behaviors when they see…
dmunger | April 12, 2005Yesterday we reported on the general reactions to studies on the impact of media violence. Today we'll get into the specifics of those studies, as reported by Craig Anderson et al. in their report "The Influence of Media Violence on Youth."
The history of research on media violence and its relationship to aggression (behavior intended to cause harm to others) is now more than 50 years long. The earliest studies focused on television and film, but now extensive research has also been conducted on music/music videos, news media, and video games. Nearly all the data from hundreds of studies…
dmunger | April 11, 2005In the summer of 2000, a committee of scholars was commissioned to write a chapter on the effects of media violence on youth for the Surgeon General's Report on Youth Violence, published in January 2001. But their chapter was not included in the Surgeon General's final report. The reason for the omission was unclear; however, there had been disagreement between the report's authors—experts in the field of media and violence—and the Surgeon General's office and the National Institue of Mental Health, regarding whether it was appropriate to include research not directed specifically at criminal…