Violent video games may lead to violence, aggression in real life: study

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Studies have suggested that playing violent video games may lead to increased aggression in real life.

According to an article by New Zealand Herald, playing violent games can lead players to exhibit aggression in real life.

"The research demonstrates a consistent relation between violent video game use and increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive cognitions and aggressive affect, and decreases in pro-social behavior, empathy and sensitivity to aggression," the report by the American Psychological Association (APA) said.

The chair of the APA task force, Dr. Mark Appelbaum, said that the task force looked at research on violent video game use from 2005 to 2013.

"While there is some variation among the individual studies, a strong and consistent general pattern has emerged from many years of research that provides confidence in our general conclusions," Appelbaum explained. "As with most areas of science, the picture presented by this research is more complex than is usually included in news coverage and other information prepared for the general public."

However, a study led by psychologist Christopher Ferguson looked into violence in video games and other forms of media. The findings published in Journal of Communication stated that there was no evidence that violent media is associated with violent or criminal acts.

Ferguson and colleagues looked at violent video games from 1996 to 2011 and found that there is little to no evidence that video game violence affects gamers. Ferguson criticized the approach of studies that did find "evidence."

Ferguson wrote an open letter to the APA to call out on their "anti-game attitudes" and bias against video games via their policy statements.

"As a researcher in this field, I thought you might be curious to know that there are actually a lot of problems with this report, how the task force was comprised, and the basis for its conclusions on research. Indeed, the evidence linking violent games to aggression is honestly a lot less clear than the APA report would have one believe," Ferguson said as reported by Game Rant. "There are an increasing number of studies coming out now that suggest there is no link whatsoever. Further, the task force appeared to have been selected from among scholars with clear anti-media views."

The website added that the bias could be stemming from the fact that some of APA's task force members were more than 50 years old and that their views and perspective towards video games may have affected APA's report.