A new study maintains that video games which simulate driving provoke a higher aggressive response than do violent games.
Drs. Simon Goodson and Sarah Pearson of the U.K.'s Huddersfield University will present their findings this week at the British Psychological Society’s Annual Conference in Brighton.
Using an Xbox 360, the researchers studied players of Project Gotham Racing, a "3D table tennis game" and an unspecified first-person shooter. They found that the racing game caused the greatest changes in heart rate and brain activity. The shooter caused the least.
The conference program synopsizes their presentation:
Research has suggested a link between videogame violence and aggression using cognitive and physiological evidence. However, previous researchers have made sweeping generalisations about the nature of videogames. Using the latest hi-definition console both cognitive (BSPAQ) and physiological (ECG EEG & Respiration) measures were taken of participants playing a violent shooting game a driving game or a 3D table tennis game.
Results suggest that rather than a game containing graphic violence a driving game had the
greatest impact on the participants. Given the high levels of realism in modern games a re-evaluation of the relations between videogames and violence is needed.
Via: Eurogamer
Comments
Re: Study: Driving Games Make Players More Aggressive Than
Re: Study: Driving Games Make Players More Aggressive Than
Tha's true towards any game. If you take your game playing seriously, you play to win everytime. And when you don't, you get mad. I can attest to that.
I can't begin to tell you how much rage I had against Sonic the Hedgehog for 360......
Re: Study: Driving Games Make Players More Aggressive Than
Aside from fighting Silver the first time, that was a pretty easy to finish, but the deep frustration that sets in when you're trying to get S ranks is pretty aggravating.
Worst part? Shadow's "Chaos Mode" is supposed to render him invincible. Manual says it does. Tutorial says it does. It doesn't. It doesn't even make him less vulnerable. Yeah, it enables his chaos powers, but the game lied to us. I don't like being lied to.
"That's not ironic. That's justice."
Re: Study: Driving Games Make Players More Aggressive Than ...
I think the critical flaw in all previous studies regarding violent games has been that the researchers are confusing aggression with excitement.
Re: Study: Driving Games Make Players More Aggressive Than ...
No I think its aggression. Do you have any idea how aggrevating it is to be in the lead the entire race and wreck just before the finish line.
Re: Study: Driving Games Make Players More Aggressive Than ...
it could just be excitement. i mean, i just finished up burnout paradise, and i know all those races had my heart really pounding, but when i pop in halo 3 for some multiplayer, i am relaxed.
if it is aggression, that kind of makes sense. i mean, which do you think your brain is more likely to recognize due to experience; shooting aliens, or driving a car? most people have driven before, and they've all experienced that jerkwad cutting them off at a dangerous speed, but how many of them have shoot guns at people? the brain might recognize the situation, and recall how the person reacted in that similar situation.
It is not murder; I am merely advancing the hands of the clock, just a bit.
Re: Study: Driving Games Make Players More Aggressive Than ...
I agree totally. Mario Kart's blue shells make me so mad... It makes me feel like going on a homicidal rampage.
(And for the record, Jack, that was a joke. Get it?)