Psychologist Slams Sloppy Video Games Violence Research

Christopher J Ferguson is, "a psychologist and conduct(s) research on Video Games Violence (VGV) that was referenced by the Supreme Court during oral arguments". And he is angry at what he sees as "the sloppy way in which much of the previous research had been conducted" in to VGV.

In a eviscerating piece in the Huston Herald Mr Ferguson slams an article written by Deana Pollard Sacks called "Let’s turn off video games that inflict harm on kids" for using "misleading statements, junk statistics, ad hominem attacks and considerable scaremongering."

At one point, Mr Ferguson states that, "Sacks suggests that the effects of VGV on youth aggression exceeds those for smoking and lung cancer. This is nonsense. The American Cancer Society estimates that smoking accounts for 90 percent of lung cancers (not 14 percent as suggested by Sacks). By contrast, there's no data to support that VGV or other media contribute to 22 percent of youth aggression."

And he uses this to make it very plain that, "History is replete with moral panics about waltz, jazz, rock and rap music, comic books, novels, movies, Harry Potter, Dungeons and Dragons, etc. In all cases some academics were willing to make extreme claims of harm to youth. All were ultimately proven wrong. The video game panic is already proving, based on the data, to be a major wrong turn. Even if the court decides California has an interest in protecting minors, it should not be allowed to cherry pick and misrepresent the research in support of this goal."

Maybe Psychologist Dr. Angel Gill should look closely at this after stating regarding Duke Nukem Forever, that if a child got hold of the game, "They are going to have, increased aggressive feelings thoughts behaviors, they are more likely to be in conflict with their teacher even there academic performance is bound to be effected by it."

We recommend that you read the whole thing here.