APA’s Videogames Aggression Report Slammed by Psychology Professors

APA suggests videogames and aggression have a clear connection while 230 psychologists and scholars slam them for saying so.

Videogames being related to violence and even being framed as the cause of it is nothing new, so when APA (American Psychological Association) ran a report relating aggression with games, it was nothing new.

What’s new, however, is that more than 200 psychology professors, scholars and other academics have thoroughly slammed their report lambasting them for blaming videogames like that.

One of those academics, a Stetson University psychology professor, Chris Ferguson went a step further and wrote to point out the exact reasons why APA’s report that claims behavioral aggression can directly be related to games, cannot be believed.

Ferguson firstly reveals that “there are actually a lot of problems with this report, how the task force was comprised, and the basis for its conclusions on research.”

Adding further that the evidence was a lot less clearer than what APA suggest s and that there are numerous other studies that suggest there is no connection between the two whatsoever.

The task force (of APA that held the study) appeared to have been selected from among scholars with clear anti-media views (two had previously signed an amicus brief supporting attempts to regulate violent video games in the Brown v EMA 2011 Supreme Court case for instance).

He cited problems within the task force saying that most of them were above the age of 50 which is important not only because age is correlated but also because “age and negative attitudes toward youth predict anti-game attitudes.”

Also, four of the seven task force members have anti-media leanings and another one is known for using aggression measures that are already challenged by psychologists.

A total of 230 such scholars have the same belief about videogames and their relation with aggression in everyday life as professor Ferguson.

Sarmad is our Senior Editor, and is also one of the more refined and cultured among us. He's 25, a finance major, and having the time of his life writing about videogames.