Dear Reader:
Researcher claims video game violence study contains 'numerous flaws'
In the literature review the authors suggest that research on video game violence is consistent when this is hardly the case. The authors here simply ignore a wide body of research which conflicts with their views…
The authors fail to control for relevant “third” variables that could easily explain the weak correlations that they find. Family violence exposure for instance, peer group influences, certainly genetic influences on aggressive behavior are just a few relevant variables that ought either be controlled or at minimum acknowledged as alternate causal agents for (very small) link between video games and aggression…
Lastly the authors link their results to youth violence in ways that are misleading and irresponsible. The authors do not measure youth violence in their study. The [research tool used] is not a violence measure, nor does it even measure pathological aggression. Rather this measure asks for hypothetical responses to potential aggressive situations, not actual aggressive behaviors. - Christopher Ferguson, a researcher at Texas A&M International University
Wow, that was quite a quick response! This report is going to cause quite an uproar. We can already see the back-and-forth beginning to happen. I am sure we will hear Mr. Anderson respond to these claims in a few hours.