The Centers for Disease Control is stepping up its
efforts to research a possible link between fantasy video game violence and
real-world violence.
Is there a connection between
fantasy violence in games like Bulletstorm and real-world violence?
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)
Scientists and psychologists for years have debated whether there's a
connection between video games and real-world violence. Do video games refine
hand-eye coordination and spur creativity -- or instead turn you into a
sociopath? That question has been raised to a fever pitch following national
tragedies such as the one in Newtown, Conn.
And though studies, with the exception of a few, have pointed out that a connection between
fantasy video game violence and real-world violence doesn't, in fact,
exist, the Centers for Disease Control is stepping up its efforts to research a
possible link between the two.
The CDC
has asked the Institute of Medicine to put together a committee that will
look at the influence of video games and other media on real-life violence. The
IOM is part of the congressionally chartered and federally funded National
Academy of Sciences. In a statement Wednesday the CDC said:
In more than 50 years of research,
no study has focused on firearm violence as a specific outcome of violence in
media. As a result, a direct relationship between violence in media and
real-life firearm violence has not been established and will require additional
research.
President Obama earlier this year indicated such research would be coming
when he said during a January press conference that he planned to ask Congress
for $10 million to fund a study by the CDC on violence and media. He urged the
CDC to "conduct research on the causes and prevention of gun violence,
including links between video games, media images, and violence."
The resulting
research will focus on the characteristics of firearm violence; risk factors;
interventions and strategies; gun safety technology; and the influence of video
games and other media. The CDC expects the study to produce results in three to
five years.
Beyond the questions
surrounding video games and violence, the research is likely to stir up
controversy for another reason: It's a real-world manifestation of Obama's
January lifting of a longtime congressional freeze on funding for CDC research
into gun violence. Any funding for such research has to come from Congress.
In the mid '90s,
legislators had placed legal restrictions on CDC funding, saying "none of
the funds ... may be used to advocate or promote gun control." But in
January the White House said the limit didn't apply to gun-related studies
across the board and that "research
on gun violence is not advocacy." Today's statement from the CDC could
reignite accusations from gun-rights advocates that federally funded
researchers are taking sides. (source: cnet)
Post a Comment