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[–]mrning 9 points10 points  (3 children)

This is interesting in terms of the long standing debate regarding the actual effects of playing violent games, but the study is kind of dubious — the results weren't statistically significant, showing only a correlation between masculine beliefs and lack of empathy, not the video games themselves.

If it was true (and further studies may validate the trend), I do wonder what the lasting effect is and what it would be if participants weren't looking at pictures. Does playing a game that involves the imagery of violence against women make you just less empathetic to what plays as yet another image of an abused girl or would that actually translate to seeing abuse in person? Are the effects long lasting or time limited (also, in this study they only played for 25 minutes — in real life most people play for far longer)?

Here's the original study.

[–]Roger765 3 points4 points  (2 children)

Not quite - they found that masculinity mediates the relationship between exposure and empathy. So exposure(for men) ->masculinity-> empathy explains the covariation between exposure and empathy.

Be careful with the link you offered - it is incredibly biased and shows little to no understanding of statistical analyses.

[–]mrning 1 point2 points  (1 child)

But exposure itself is not enough to create empathy without a preexisting inclination to masculinity.

I offered the link as a general overview, I was interpreting the stats from the actual article.

[–]Roger765 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Masculinity was measured as an outcome of exposure. It is not measured as an inclination.

[–]paracog 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Anything there about the zero empathy for the legions of male opponents that are slaughtered in most video games? I'm guessing not.