Slashdot Mirror
Do Violent Games Hinder Development of Empathy?
donniebaseball23 writes "Although there's yet to be a study that conclusively proves a direct causal relationship between video game violence and real-life violence, psychologists are continuing to examine the effect violent media can have on children. A new study in the Journal of Children and Media notes that violent video game exposure can actually hinder a child's moral development. 'Certainly not every child who continues to play violent video games is going to go out and perpetrate a violent act, but the research suggests that children — particularly boys — who are frequently exposed to these violent games are absorbing a sanitized message of "no consequences for violence" from this play behavior,' said Professor Edward T. Vieira Jr."
Then I pray that you'll never have kids, and if you already have them, that they get away from you as soon as possible.
Supporter of the +1 Over Dramatic mod option. In memory of apk.
Part of showing higher intelligence and empathy is being able to empathize with that which has no life.
That the southpark makers cannot do this, is telling.
:)
What is the emotional state of the above? Of two symbols? How many immediately thought "happy face"? How can you think two symbols next to each other are happy?
A lower animal seeing another animal will feel next to nothing, it will register it is as either food, a mate, or a hunter. It does not have "emotions" about it. Higher animals do have some capacity for emotion. How far this goes is not a debate I want to get into today but there is some proof that some animals can become attached to other animals (including us) and regonize feelings, state of emotion, in that other.
We humans are so good at it, that we can even do it in object that really have no emotion one way or another. Cartoons are one of them. CGI characters in a game are another.
In the game Mafia, if you shoot somebody, they don't die instantly, instead they might get wounded and try to crawl away, begging for mercy. It is a very easy to believe animation. It ain't all that hard to act as if they are real. So you walk up to them, and still kill them for little to no motivation in game... why?
Because it is just a game? It ain't real?
That is what the various evil people out there claimed about their victims. Blacks are not real people so enslaving them is okay. Jews are only sub-humans so killing them is okay. Children are not real, so raping them is okay.
No vicious criminals has ever been found to have a high sense of empathy. Find yourself a killer in jail and you find yourself someone who pulled the wings of flies or set cats on fire and STILL cannot see what is wrong with it.
Empathy is what we human beings need to avoid being reptiles who happily eat their own young. It allows us to live in large groups because hurting someone else on purpose makes us feel bad so we don't.
What is kinda amusing is to see those who lack empathic skills is to defend their lack by attacking those who have empathy as being to soft. "Oh how could you cry when Bambi's mother was shot, it is only a cartoon". Yes, it is, and I am only human and humans do that. You don't, what does this make you then?
That this field of study generates such hatred among some gamers is proof enough in itself. It is well known that what the parent said is true, an animal that does not socialize is not socialized. The most obvious and common examples are cats. If a kitten does not get used to human interaction early on, it becomes a wild cat. Socialize, and it will not only live happily in a pack with humans but even with other cats. A social animal becomes social from interaction with others.
Do violent video games change this more then other ways of non-socializing? Consider this, a cat raised in a barn with barely any human interaction will still be less hostile to humans then an animal constently mistreated by humans. A barn cat will simply see humans as other animals that are to big to eat, don't hunt it and don't want to be mated with. Ignore and move on. A mistreated cat will see a hunter and seek to avoid.
Young children are NOT automatically nice responsible social creatures. Their interactions with the world around them, shapes them. This includes everything from the time spend with their parents, to advertizing, to video games.
Some kids play video games, and this shapes them. Some kids play ONLY violent video games and go out of their way to make them more violent. This shapes them. There are ways to play violent video games that makes any observer chill to the bone. When a player goes out of his way to be violent, take PLEASURE in killing that which has no life, then you got a disturbed mind.
BECAUSE IF A VIDEO GAME CHARACTER IS NOT REAL, WHY DO YOU DELIGHT IN HURTING IT?
It is here that the "violent video games have no effect" crowd often fails. If it doesn't make you feel anything, why do it?
There are s
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Then those families shouldn't have children.
The world would be a much better place if only families had children... I am sure there are plenty of studies on violence of children without intact families, but what is the fun in studying that.