Violent Gamers Immune to Pain — of Others

***wraggster*** · February 21st, 2009, 20:37

More scholarship suggests playing violent video games makes one - get ready to have the song stuck in your head, too - "comfortably numb" to others in pain and less likely to help them.

Two perfessers cooked up a study in which 320 college students were given violent and nonviolent video games to play. After about 20 minutes of play, they overheard a staged fight that ended with the loser suffering a sprained ankle and groaning in pain.

You know where this is headed - those playing the unnamed nonviolent game rushed to aid more quickly, an average of 16 seconds, compared to those playing the unidentified violent game, who took 73 seconds to help out. Hell, maybe they were grinding away for some headshot achievement. "Ice it and elevate it, I'll be over there right after I cap this guy - another 20 times."

The researchers also staged a similar event in which adult moviegoers watched violent and nonviolent movies. After a while, they staged a false emergency outside the theater. Bingo, nonviolent film goers rushed to see what was the matter faster than the violent movie buffs, by an average of 26 percent.

Prof. Brad Bushman, a social psychologist at the University of Michigan who has studied and criticized violent video games before, was one of the researchers. "These studies clearly show that violent media exposure can reduce helping behavior," Bushman said. "People exposed to media violence are less helpful to others in need because they are 'comfortably numb' to the pain and suffering of others, to borrow the title of a Pink Floyd song.

The study appears in the March 2009 issue of Psychological Science.

http://kotaku.com/5157822/violent-ga...ain--of-others

**danknugz** · February 21st, 2009, 21:20

"perfessers"......?
wow.....

**MichaelA** · February 21st, 2009, 21:38

That shocked me too! I remember when people who wrote for news sites were actually literate...

As for desensitization, it's not just video games and movies that contribute. I've seen enough car accidents, homicides, and other such things on the local news to last a lifetime. Not rushing to aid someone in trouble is not necessarily a bad thing though -- sometimes it's a safer move that won't get you hurt or killed.

Every man for himself!

**apex05** · February 21st, 2009, 22:27

I do believe the wraggman was being sarcastic about the people who do these studies with "perfessers" and you really can't blame people for laughing at some of the studies people must actually pay for

**rokobungi** · February 22nd, 2009, 00:49

maybe the game sounded a lot like the 'fight' so it took a while for someone to realize it wasn't background noise in the game.

or.. they selected different classes so class 1 which happens to be in criminal law gets the violent game and class 2 in a programming course gets the nonviolent one..

or.. they let the people choose which game they played..

or...

well you see what I'm trying to say
there's too many ways to influence the results of 99% of these studies that involve media. and does this matter unless the results can be replicated minutes or hours later.

**mike_jmg** · February 22nd, 2009, 00:54

It only proves violent stuff gets us more engaged than non violent things. DUH!

**gumgod** · February 22nd, 2009, 05:47

He can't even come up with a complete conclusion to his "research" 'without ripping off another person. I hope Roger Waters sues his ass for using the title of his song in correlation with such crappy "research"

Why do people keep giving these guys money. It obviously doesn't stop violence and parents aren't going to give a crap. They should just donate their money to people making good non-violent games instead or they could just give it to me. It's obvious this guy didn't do anything good with it. :-P

**gamev8** · February 22nd, 2009, 08:38

What a load of trash I have played tons violent video games and seen many gory horror movies and I can say it most definitely hasn't desensitized me. Hell I can't even sit by and watch other players in a MMORPG get killed without at the very least trying to help. You know why? Because I got my moral compass from my parents not TV not video games and not movies. If your' parents raised you right you shouldn't be able to just sit idly by while others suffer. All that this study and all others like it prove is that people who's parents did not instill a basic sense of morality in them are more likely to play "violent video games".

**F9zDark** · February 22nd, 2009, 18:37

What if its not a matter "being numb" but rather, being "afraid"?

Why is that? The violent games gives you control and the power to deal with your assailants. Would you be so inclined to step out of this realm of control into "real life" where this control is not there?

As well, we need to also examine (before jumping to conclusions like this professor did) the differences between non-violent and violent games.

Non-violent games have really nothing at all that makes the players 100% engrossed in them and since combat (or life and death) doesn't happen within mere seconds of turning your head or getting up to see whats going on, non-violent games give people AMPLE opportunity to step away and see whats going on.

Violent games just plain don't accord that freedom.

I play violent games all the time and I have yet to stand idly while someone else (friend, stranger or otherwise) is in trouble with another person.

Then again, LIKE MOST GAMERS, I play games at home and not in public where these things WOULD OCCUR. (In other words, this study is immediately flawed.)