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Direction for Future Studies
and Multidisciplinary Discussions
The Summit generated many ideas for the future direction of research
and multidisciplinary discussions on video game effects, video game
ratings, education and public policy arenas. Moving these ideas
into generation of specific research proposals or future discussion
forums is a central component of the 10-year action plan. Research
and discussion ideas spanned all issues discussed during the Summit.
These ideas are in addition to recommendations for research studies
from the Education,
Public
Policy and Ratings.
Among those ideas:
Approaches for improving the validity, reliability
and effectiveness of video game ratings
Concerns were discussed extensively during the video game ratings
panel and working group about the lack of behavioral research
regarding use of video game ratings, the limitations in the amount
of detail about content in the current rating system, and the
lack of transparency regarding standards in how content descriptors
are applied and how to improve scientific reliability and validity.
Expanding the realm of media effects research
Research proposals advanced by Dorothy Singer, PhD, expand beyond
correlations between violent video games and aggressive behavior,
to broader individual and social psychological and cultural effects,
including:
- Imagination: How does video game playing affect individuals'
capacity for imagination? What effects do video games have on fantasy/reality
distinctions?
- Identification: Do video game players identify with characters
they see in video games? (Calvert
and Turkel citations, Imagination and Play in the Electronic
Age, Singer and Singer, Harvard University Press, 2006)
- Values, morality and ethics: To what degree do video games
influence users' values, morality and ethics?
- Attention and concentration: How does video game playing
ability affect children's ability to attend to and concentrate on
daily materials in the classroom? What are the associations between
student grades and video game playing?
- Social-emotional aspects:
- Decreased empathy: This has been found in current literature on
violent media effects (see Anderson and Bushman citations), but
received little attention. It could benefit from either increased
publicity, or further research to confirm the findings and generate
renewed public interest in this dimension of media effects.
- Expanding beyond aggression, media effects research should explore
effects of video game playing on individuals' capacity for sharing,
caring and helpfulness.
Increasing options and opportunities to utilize
video games in education:
This approach has been proposed by the American
Federation of American Scientists.
Specific ideas for positive attributes of video games could include:
- Developing video game options that would teach required skills
- Developing video games that teach strategic and analytical
skills
- Using video games to teach capacity to adapt to rapid change
Research to create and implement educational programs
for news media and the judiciary on media effects:
The news media and judiciary are the proposed targets of educational
programs because of their significant influence in framing the public
policy agenda and shaping opinions about media effects, particularly
violent video game effects, for the general public.
Education of these non-scientists is particularly important in helping
news media and judges make informed judgments about media effects
scientific findings. Research proposals could specifically address
deficient understandings the news media has in interpreting and
reporting on media effects
Research proposals could tailor programs on multiple levels of education
for the media and judiciary, such as:
- Training on basic behavioral science approaches, probabilities
and risk factors
- Building awareness of the validity and reliability of research,
focusing on media effects studies
- Designing educational programs to address specific, but common,
misconceptions about behavioral science research, and particularly
media effects research
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