Violent video games and movies are conditioning people "Pavlov style" to massacre and murder as

Through classical and operant conditioning violent video games and are training the population to reduce itself through pre-conditioned massacre.

Through "precognitive loading" we have trained youngsters and people to react with massacre on unconscious levels.

Hollywood is making propaganda movies teaching our population that massacre can be justified.

I saw on TV a NCIS LA where the main characters stood over a pile of dead bodies and joked with each other. How sick!

You may say, I play them and nothing has happened, I'm a good guy. Well when I was a kid I was never in a car seat and never wore a seat belt and nothing happened.
Can't we learn from experience?

Are TPTB encouraging violent movies, tv and video games to reduce the surplus population?

I've been playing video games for over 20 years and I have never had the slightest inclination to go out and slaughter people or commit violent crimes.

I can't wait for GTA V to come out, but I'm not filling the void by thinking it is okay to go outside and run hookers down with my stolen hummer.

Maybe I am just different and can tell the difference between how one should act in a video game and in real life. It is possible some people can't separate the two though.

I don't think video games, tv, and movies are the problem; I do think obsession with them is a problem in our society. Entertainment can be just that: entertaining. But when you close out everything but that entertainment you're bound to be affected by it. That's not to say, however, that it leads to violence.

If anything I think it leads to impatience; Try making a hardcore gamer wait for anything besides a release date

You're wrong.
Prove it.

reply to post by grandmakdw


I agree with you, OP.

There is a lot of negativity in video games and movies.

I try to stay away from these negative influences.
I believe the negative and tasteless imagery CAN affect a person.

This really isn't the best site to try and make this point, though you're absolutely correct.

Too many people argue that this isn't so, because it doesn't seem to effect them... ridiculous reasoning to the extreme.

I think there is an environmental component as well as genetic susceptibilities at work. It does seem that the trashy culture contributes to these events, but to what extent . . we may never be sure.

Oh, and to play devil's advocate... it really could be that some potential rapists, murderers, and what have you find a civil outlet for their frustrations by blasting someone's head off in a video game, or seeing someone slip and hit their head on t.v.

Who knows for sure?

I think it ultimately depends on the individual. These are such extreme cases, that practically anything could end up being a triggering point.

There is no scientific evidence linking video games to real world violence.

Neither is there any evidence to tie movies to such a thing either. What there is evidence of is that we are slowly creating an atmosphere where violence is regarded as normal and OK.

That is the real problem. But it's not encouraging anybody to go out and commit mass murder. Crazy does that.

~Tenth

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
There is no scientific evidence linking video games to real world violence.

Yes there is. You must not have been looking too much into it. I found several a few years back.

Neither is there any evidence to tie movies to such a thing either. What there is evidence of is that we are slowly creating an atmosphere where violence is regarded as normal and OK.

Yes there is. Those studies go back way further.

if its operant conditioning, what is the reward given for the desired behavior ?

reply to post by tothetenthpower


I agree that it is becoming more normal. I think that these things may make violence less sensitive to people, but I don't see it going any further.

reply to post by grandmakdw




Quote attributed to Socrates here: www.bartleby.com...

Every generation will claim something new to be what's wrong with today.
When in reality, people are still the same.

News travels faster, populations are bigger, so it seems like there is more violence than ever before ... Often you just hear about it more often I believe.

In comparison to the dark ages etc ... torture is generally less accepted these days, and we don't hack each others giblets and limbs off for stealing any more.

Originally posted by grandmakdw
I saw on TV a NCIS LA where the main characters stood over a pile of dead bodies and joked with each other. How sick!

These characters are created from research.

It's pretty well known that homocide detectives etc ... can have a fairly morbid sense of humor. Also American film makers are no longer bound by the government like they were in the 50s so they can make this type of content. Novels are the same.

Are TPTB encouraging violent movies, tv and video games to reduce the surplus population?

You could see much worse in the street less than five hundred years ago, which isn't as long ago as we would like to think. Public disemboweling in my opinion would have had more effect on people than Timmy war gamer. Some of my colleagues have seen public beheadings in person.

Don't always agree with Penn and Teller but they're funny ... and just remember, some Greeks wanted to ban music and poetry.

Originally posted by syrinx high priest
if its operant conditioning, what is the reward given for the desired behavior ?

You get points for shooting and killing.

Classic conditioning.

Why do you think ATS uses stars and flags? It's the gamification of violence. 100% pure variable response conditioning.

I agree with you 100%, OP.

In fact, media scholar George Gerbner has done some very good research to back up this claim. I cannot find the entire documentary for free, but it's called Mean World Syndrome, and it discusses the nuance effect of violence in video games, media, etc.

Sure, some people play violent video games all day and don't act out in violence - but many people DO act out violently as a result of their lifelong exposure to the glamorization of violence.



Here's a clip, I highly recommend this documentary. And for those saying there is no evidence, you're wrong.. There is.

So instead of talking about banning guns we should consider banning violence in video games, television, movies and media.

Cop-out.

Video games, movies, music.

All scape goats for our overall social responsibility.

Better Parenting might be a start to address the issues, but than extends to public education, and public health care availability, specifically mental health care.


Everything else that gets drummed up is simply people looking for the easy answer to these horrible tragedies, we have become a society that treats symptoms not causes, always running for the quick fix.

Originally posted by unityemissions

Too many people argue that this isn't so, because it doesn't seem to effect them... ridiculous reasoning to the extreme.

If you find this reasoning extreme and ridiculous, I find your reasoning ridiculous and extreme as well. How many people play video games and then think its okay to act them out in real life. Some? Sure, but not enough to justify that video games cause precognitive loading.

Originally posted by grandmakdw
Through classical and operant conditioning violent video games and are training the population to reduce itself through pre-conditioned massacre.

That's a pretty hefty, yet totally inaccurate claim. Although there are those few who have mental issues and will go act out their violence due in-part to violent video games, the majority of the people do not.

I've been playing violent video games all my life. I'm currently running through the missions in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas where you play a gang member, killing other gang members, doing drive-by's, etc. Does that mean I'm going to go out and start capping gang members and doing drive-by's? Nope.

So, nice try there. Your title should've read something along the lines of "Violent video games will make a few mentally-unstable people act out in violence because they played violent video games."

Just like a few mentally-unstable people doing these mass-murders. It's the few bad apples that ruin it for the rest. But you're barking up the wrong tree here.

Originally posted by johngalt722
I've been playing video games for over 20 years and I have never had the slightest inclination to go out and slaughter people or commit violent crimes.

I can't wait for GTA V to come out, but I'm not filling the void by thinking it is okay to go outside and run hookers down with my stolen hummer.

Maybe I am just different and can tell the difference between how one should act in a video game and in real life. It is possible some people can't separate the two though.

You may not have the inclination. However, you play them, so can't you see how they light up the reward system in the brain for massive kills?

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
There is no scientific evidence linking video games to real world violence.

Neither is there any evidence to tie movies to such a thing either. What there is evidence of is that we are slowly creating an atmosphere where violence is regarded as normal and OK.

That is the real problem. But it's not encouraging anybody to go out and commit mass murder. Crazy does that.

~Tenth

en.wikipedia.org...

Cultivation theory in its most basic form, then, suggests that exposure to television, over time, subtly "cultivates" viewers' perceptions of reality. Gerbner and Gross say "television is a medium of the socialization of most people into standardized roles and behaviors. Its function is in a word, enculturation" (p. 175).[8] Gerbner draws attention in his work to three entities—institutions, messages, and publics—which he seeks to analyze.[11] Additionally, Gerbner was less concerned about the effect of cultivation on aggressive behavior, and “more concerned that it affects viewers’ beliefs about the world around them and the feelings connected to those beliefs.”

reply to post by grandmakdw

I worry about the potential desensitizing affect, which imo, leads to a decision process that is less empathetic to the reality of taking someone's life. If developing adolescents see in games that going to a mall and opening fire on the public is an option for something dramatic, well imo it may affect some of their reasoning in an ever slight way, as in acceptance or consideration for a more legitimate option in a stressful setting.? I am not talking about all violent vids, just the ones that invite one to partake in taking out any and everybody. I realize this is a big issue with staunch opinions, so I will not argue my angle, just offering an opinion.
Food for thought.