Filter
Top Products
Trigger Happy
357
into the possible negative effects of videogames is so
far inconclusive. Patricia Greenfield’s 1984 study,
Media and the Mind of the Child, concluded that there
was no such evidence, but then videogames were not
nearly so graphically detailed as they are now. In more
recent times, arguments that videogame playing
temporarily increases aggression in children
51
are
countered by other studies claiming evidence for the
“catharsis” hypothesis—that videogames provide a safe
and beneficial outlet for aggressive feelings in a non-
destructive context,
52
or that they contribute positively
to a child’s cognitive development.53 The jury’s still
out.
Despite the absence of scientific consensus, there is
a rising level of moral concern that parallels the outcry
over “video nasties” in the 1980s. Questions were
asked in the British Parliament on the 1993 release of
_________________
51 These arguments are given a witty and readable overview by Mark
Griffiths in “Video Games and Children’s Behavior” in Elusive Links.
52 This is the view, for instance, of G. I. Kestenbaum & L. Weinstein in
“Personality, Psychopathology, and Developmental Issues in Male
Adolescent Video Game Use,” in Journal of the American Academy of
Child Psychiatry 24, pp. 325–37 (cited by Griffiths, op. cit.).
53 Marsha Kinder writes in Playing with Power in Movies, Television and
Video Games (p. 115) that she has observed her son playing videogames
and argues that they enrich his development: “I have noticed that the better
Victor becomes at videogames, the more interested and skillful he is at
drawing cartoons.”