Jun 21 2009
The Bad and Good of Video Games
Video games = bad. Right? Wrong. Why? Because it is a hasty answer to a bogus questions: Are video games good or bad?
Critical thinkers will examine and critique a question before answering it. Video games–which video games? Good or bad–in what ways? And, importantly–good OR bad? Is this black/white thinking helpful?
While the vast majority of research into video games has focused on the violent type and how they might influence human beings to be more aggressive/violent, there have been a few studies on other types of video games having a more beneficial affect on behavior. But there are a few. A new one has just been published in the June 2009 issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. And the science behind it seems relatively solid.
The article presents the findings of three separate studies, conducted in different countries with different age groups, and using different scientific approaches. All the studies find that playing games with prosocial content causes players to be more helpful to others after the game is over.
Co-author Brad Bushman said,
These studies show the same kind of impact on three different age groups from three very different cultures.
Good. I like that. But then I think Brad got a bit carried away with this statement,
The resulting triangulation of evidence provides the strongest possible proof that the findings are both valid and generalizable.
Boy do I hate the word “proof.” Fine, use it in mathematics. But for forensics and psychology and virtually all of science, I find the term inappropriate. Proof has too much certitude and finality infused into it. Evidence is better.
That said, we can now see how the question, “Are video games good or bad?” is a bogus question, particularly if we expect a brief answer.
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[source] University of Michigan (2009, June 18). Some Video Games Can Make Children Kinder And More Likely To Help. ScienceDaily.
