Moral Panics around Videos Games

Question 1

Who are video game age ratings made by?

Answer 1

The video standards council - aim to inform consumers about content and age suitability of games prior to purchase

They conduct a rating process and provide an age rating

Question 2

What age ratings are used?

Answer 2

PEGI - pan European game information

Each age rating has a descriptor which indicates the main reasons why a game has received a particular age rating - the majority of ratings in 2017 were 12

Question 3

What is a PEGI of 3?

Answer 3

Suitable for all age groups
No sounds or pictures that are likely to frighten young children
Very mild (comical or childlike) violence is acceptable
No bad language

Question 4

What is a PEGI of 7?

Answer 4

Scenes or sounds that can possibly be frightening to younger children
Very mild forms of violence (implied, non-detailed or non-realistic violence)

Question 5

What is a PEGI of 12?

Answer 5

Scenes or sounds that show violence of a slightly more graphic nature towards fantasy characters or non-realistic violence towards human-like characters
Sexual innuendo or sexual posturing can be present
Bad language must be mild
Gambling as it is normally carried out in real life can also be present

Question 6

What is a PEGI of 16?

Answer 6

Depiction of violence or sexual activity reaches a stage where it is realistic (e.g. death and injury to humans)
Use of bad language can be more extreme
Games of chance, and the use of tobacco, alcohol or illicit drugs can also be present

Question 7

What is a PEGI of 18?

Answer 7

Depiction of gross violence (blood and gore), apparently motiveless killing, or violence towards defenseless characters
Violence is realistic and severe
Glamorization of the use of illegal drugs and explicit sexual activity

Question 8

How much time is spent weekly gaming?

Answer 8

Substantial increase in number of hours children are spending gaming in all age groups - upward trend, largest increase in 12-15-year olds

12-15-year olds: ~14 hours per week (3 hours more than in 2013); 3-4 year olds: ~6 hours per week

Question 9

What is the % of shame of parents concerned about gaming?

Answer 9

24 – 45% of parents report being very or fairly concerned about the content of their child’s games

Question 10

What are the 2 theoretical explanations for video game use?

Answer 10

Social learning theories - e.g. general aggression model

Diathesis stress/biological vulnerability theories - e.g. catalyst model

Question 11

What is the social learning theory?

Answer 11

Builds on premise that individuals imitate the aggression they see and then become more prone to aggression themselves
Violent video games directly cause aggressive behavior
Causal relationship - imitation of behaviour

Question 12

What is the diathesis stress/vulnerability model?

Answer 12

Aggressive behaviour is largely biologically driven

Violent video games only incidentally correlated and may act to moderate the relationship between biology and aggression

Question 13

What is the general aggression model?

Answer 13

Aggression is influenced by knowledge structures we hold, how we interpret things etc

Influences either proximal or distal

Action influences the social encounter and feedbacks to influence person and situational factors

Violent video games - aggression bc they impact our knowledge structures over time, priming activation of thoughts
Playing video games primes knowledge structures in brain, making them more prominent, meaning if in an aggressive situation, you’re more likely to act aggressively - learnt behaviour

Question 14

What are proximal factors in the general aggression model?

Answer 14

Stage 1: Risk/protective factors - inputs. Either increase or decrease likelihood of aggressive behaviour, via cognition, affect and arousal

Stage 2: Routes through which person/situation factors influence appraisal/decision processes. Influence the persons internal state  arousal etc

Stage 3: Person appraises the situation and decides how to act - outcomes. Decision occurs automatically

Question 15

What are the distal processes in the general aggression model?

Answer 15

Include environment (watching video games, family violence) and biological factors (testosterone) which then impact personality

Chronic exposure to VVG acts as an environmental modifier
Acute exposure to VVG acts as a proximal situational risk factor

Question 16

What is the catalyst model?

Answer 16

Biological and environmental factors interact together - causal relationship

Ferguson et al, 2008

• Environmental factors act as catalysts for people who are biologically vulnerable
• If at more risk, more likely to be impacted by environment
• Even if they hadn’t played a video game, they would’ve been violent anyway - affecting the form of violence (might be the type of violence they show) but not causing it

Question 17

What is the consensus vs controversy about video games?

Answer 17

Some people believe that video games impacts aggression, however lots of the studies have methodological weaknesses so it isn’t actually true

Question 18

What caused people to believe that video games are bad?

Answer 18

Mass shootings in the US - Sandy Hook case - evidence that he was obsessed with computer games which had violent content, led to people drawing a link

However, final investigation reports revealed that he was more of a fan of non violent games
Being a gamer does not differentiate perpetrator for majority of other young men

Question 19

How many people play video games?

Answer 19

Around 90% of adolescents play video games at least occasionally - mass murderers are not more likely to be gamers

Question 20

What are the recommendations?

Answer 20

American psychological association task force on violent media - research demonstrates consistent relation between game use and aggression, no single risk factor is responsible, rather the accumulation of risk factors - video games use is one factor

American academy of paediatrics policy statement - the overall evidence is well supported and robust, nearly as strong as association between smoking and cancer. News and info media should acknowledge this connection and how it has a real world impact

Question 21

Why do people believe there isn’t consensus?

Answer 21

Open letter to APA task force raised concerns about methodology and recommendations - link is debated

As video game use has risen over past 40 years, youth violence in US and other countries has declined to lowest levels
- “This decline in societal violence is in conflict with claims that violent video games and interactive media are important public health concerns.”

Question 22

Who believes that video games cause aggression?

Answer 22

Przybylski (2014): examined link between age, gender, video-gaming experience and belief in gaming-aggression link

Gaming experience varied by age x gender interaction:
- Younger men have more experience than older men, no such pattern observed for women

Rate agreement with statement: “Violent video games cause real world aggression”

• Agreement with this statement was normally distributed
• Older people (> 65 years) were 6x more likely to agree than younger adults (18-24 years)
• Women were ~2x more likely to agree
• Those with no/very minimal gaming experience were ~2x as likely to believe in link compared to regular gamers

Effect moderated by gender:

• No association in females
• Men with no/minimal gaming experience 3.5X more likely to believe in link

Question 23

Is there consensus? Bushman, Gollwizer and Cruz

Answer 23

Measured agreement of psychologists, media scientists, paediatricians and parents to following statements:
- violent video games can increase aggressive behaviour in children
- there is a causal relationship between exposure to violent video games and aggression
- violence in the media is a major factor in real-life violence
Also compared beliefs about video games against other forms of violent media e.g. violent TV, comics etc

Results:
“There is a causal relationship” - strongest for violent video games compared to other media (TV)
Authors argue that there is general consensus that violent video games cause aggression (66% agreement)
Highest agreement in pediatricians and lowest in active researchers
Largest effect sizes seen for violent video games
But, is 66% agreement really ‘consensus’?

Question 24

How does lay media coverage play a role?

Answer 24

Plays an important role in shaping the public understanding of key social issues - for example, small effect sizes won’t be published, null results won’t be

Question 25

What did Copenhaver, Mitrofan and Ferguson find when looking at lay media coverage?

Answer 25

Investigated whether new media is biased - 68 studies coded for outcome, effect sizes, citation bias, year of publication, journal impact factor, study quality
studies coded as yes or no for whether they had received newspaper coverage

Predicted what was published:
high impact journals didn’t publish better quality studies or studies with larger effect sizes
study effect size did not predict newspaper coverage
poorer quality studies received more academic citations with a trend towards receiving greater newspaper coverage (least standardised)
concerning because poorly designed studies more likely to show bad effects of VVG

Question 26

What do poorer quality research showing adverse effects do?

Answer 26

Be more visible to journalists, fuelling distorted perceptions among the lay public

Question 27

Are we in a grip of a moral panic?

Answer 27

People argue that societal fear of violent video games greatly exceeds the treat posed by them