> On Wed, 10 Apr 2002, Richard Pisacreta, Ph.D. went:
>
> > If media sells products, which it does, or advertisers wouldn't spend
> > billions on commercials, how can we then say that the show content has no
> > lasting effect? I don't think that you can have it both ways.
>
> Applying that argument-by-analogy more specifically to the issue of
> video-game violence, you could end up with an assertion like this:
>
> "If people who played a lot of Pac-Man in the '80s showed no lasting
> increase in their propensity to consume cherries, strawberries, and
> bananas (the fruits whose consumption is rewarded in Pac-Man), how can
> we then say that people who play a lot of violent video games will
> show a lasting increase in aggression? I don't think you can have it
> both ways."
>
> If you reject my Pac-Man comparison but continue to stand by your
> comparison to commercials...well, I don't think you can have it both
> ways. :)
>
> So...data, anyone?
Here's some data.
http://www.killology.com/art_beh_solution.htm
Prior to the Korean war there was a consistent finding that only about 15-20% of guns
were actually fired on the battle field. It seems it is counter instinctual for human
to shoot at another human being. I recall on the Discovery Channel it was once
reported that a Civil War musket was found to have 4 or 5 rounds stuffed in the
barrel. This means the soldier was going through the motions of loading but never
actually firing.
To over come this we stopped training soldiers by having them shoot at round targets
with the "bulls eye" center and went to human shaped figures in 1946.
"The application and perfection of these basic conditioning techniques appear to have
increased the rate of fire from near 20% in World War II to approximately 55% in Korea
and around 95% in Vietnam. "
The analogy here is that if kids get desensitized to shooting at human figures, it
will become easier to do in real life. I'm convinced that this is what was operating
in the Columbine situation.
but that's just my opinion...or is it?
--
Herb Coleman
IT Manager, Rio Grande Campus
Adjunct Psychology Professor
Austin Community College
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
512-223-3076
******************************************
* "I wish none of this had happened." *
* *
* "So do all who live to see such times. *
* But that is not for them to decide. *
* All we have to decide is what to do *
* with the time that is given to us. *
* There are other forces at work in this *
* world,..., besides the will of evil." *
******************************************
A conversation between Frodo and Gandalf
from the motion picture
"The Fellowship of the Ring"
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