Does watching violent movies or playing video games make us more aggressive in real life? There’s been a long debate over this old question. Even though it has been answered many times by researchers over the years, most people still thinks that media is responsible for people’s violent behavior. However, the latest study conducted by a research team led by psychologist Christopher Ferguson begs to differ.
According to Ferguson’s long-term study, which has been published on Journal of Communication, no relation was found between violent media and human behavior. Ferguson now challenges previous studies that showed a connection between the two.
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After analyzing violence in media from 1920 to 2005 and comparing them with real world incidents, Ferguson and his team couldn’t find a link between them. Results were the same with their comparison of video games from the years 1996 to 2011, which proved that video games and movies have no effect on human behavior after all. The results actually show a decrease in real world violence while there’s been an increase in media violence over the years.
“This research may help society focus on issues that really matter and avoid devoting unnecessary resources to the pursuit of moral agendas with little practical value,” Ferguson stated in the publication.
[Via: VG247 / The Independent / Photo: Eric Mesa ]
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