With supposed expert psychologists seemingly willing to crawl out of the woodwork with their red flags whenever mainstream media outlets turn their sights of vilification on the latest videogame of note, it’s somewhat refreshing to report that not all psychologists have it in for gaming.
Correlation studies cited in criticism of videogames are not reliable. Credit: Rockstar Games.
More specifically, Dr. Frank Gaskill and David Verhaagen have offered that correlation studies often conducted into videogames, which are often later cited in relationship to gameplay causing real-world aggression, are not a reliable source of information.
Writing in their SouthEastPysch blog , the psychologists point out one particular correlation study used in a frequently cited article that criticises videogames, which concludes with the claim that: “Playing violent video games often may well cause increases in delinquent behaviors, both aggressive and non-aggressive.”
"Give me back my facecream, NOW!" Credit: Capcom
Highlighting the article’s own later contradictory claim that making causative statements through a correlation study is “risky, at best,” Gaskill and Verhaagen reinforce that notion perfectly against those seeking to damage the reputation of the videogame industry.
“Correlations are just relationships between two variables; you can never say one causes the other,” they explain with regard to claims that videogame violence can lead directly to real-world violence. “We could say that during the season when ice cream sales increase, shark attacks also increase. But we could not say the more ice cream you sell, the more you cause shark attacks.”
Likening the modern vilification of videogames to the U.S. Senate’s attack on comic books in the mid 1950s, which saw a renowned psychiatrist of the time labelling Superman comics as “injurious to the ethical development of children,” Gaskill and Verhaagen opine that certain legislative initiatives and public opinions across the US “are based on fallacious assumptions, personal biases, political posturing and weak science.”
“Common sense tells you that you don't let an elementary school kid or an older child with a history of aggressive behavior play Grand Theft Auto ,” outlines the blog entry. “But that same common sense tells you that if 90 percent of households have owned or rented a video game every year - while the juvenile crime rate has been going down for more than a decade - then a little Halo 3 never hurt anybody…”
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