Yet Another Games Study

Researchers at Iowa University claim that they have finally demonstrated a link between violent video games and reduced sensitivity to real violence. Subjects were randomly assigned either violent or non-violent computer games to play, then shown scenes of “real violence”. Those who had played the violent games showed a lower response to the “real” violent scenes.

This study leaves me as skeptical as the other ones I have read. Firstly, the only physiological changes that were measured were heart rate and skin response, which give an incomplete picture. More importantly, there was no exposure to real violence, only to violent scenes from films and television programmes (presumably the ethics committee would have had problems with putting on gladiator fights). Thus all we have learnt is that exposure to one kind of graphical depiction of violence reduces response to another kind of depiction, which is hardly astonishing.

Now I am not saying that there is absolutely no connection between violent games and violent behaviour—that would be as premature as claiming that there is a simple cause-effect relationship (the so-called “Columbine hypothesis”). However, I still think that if there is a causal relationship, it is so slight as to be hardly worth worrying about. As I have said before, in developed countries —if you ignore yearly fluctuations and look at centuries rather than decades—the overall trend in violence is downward, and has been so since the twelfth century. Hunter-gatherer societies are free of video violence, but usually manage an impressive homicide rate.