茄子视频

From violent video games to Twitter to the news, federal officials on Thursday heard conflicting testimony on the effects entertainment could play in the prevalence of school violence 鈥斅燼 conversation that was spawned by several mass school shootings this year.

The conversation took place in Washington during a meeting of the Federal Commission on School Safety, a group chaired by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to explore the causes of, and potential solutions to, school violence. The White House created the commission after the deadly mass school shooting in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Conversation topics Thursday were wide-ranging, including the rise of cyberbullying and the 鈥�24-hour news cycle.鈥� But the most heated debate centered on the always controversial question of the role violent video games play in promoting real violence 鈥斅燼 conversation that frequently follows school shootings.

After noting the difficulty of identifying the root causes of violence and predicting future attacks, L. Rowell Huesmann, a professor of psychology and communication studies at the University of Michigan, said people鈥檚 behaviors can be influenced by observational learning. From infancy on, he said, humans imitate what they see.

鈥淭he more youth is exposed to violence, in the family, in the neighborhood, among peers, on television, in movies, or in video games, the more violent scripts they will encode in their brains, and the more their normative beliefs will become accepting of violence,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he more youth observes weapons being used to solve social problems, in any of these venues, the more likely youth will be to encode scripts for using weapons to solve social problems.鈥�

Repeatedly observing violence in the family or on television, he said, increases the risk of violent behavior among young people. When combined with other emotions like anger, he said, 鈥渄isastrous violence may follow.鈥�

But Christopher Ferguson, an associate professor of psychology at Stetson University, offered an alternative narrative. Although researchers studied for years the effects of violent media on a person鈥檚 likelihood to act violently, the results are mixed. And in studies finding a positive correlation, the effects are 鈥渢rivial.鈥� In countries where residents view violent media at higher rates, people aren鈥檛 necessarily more likely to engage in real-world violence, he said, and as violent media consumption in the U.S. has grown in recent decades, youth homicides have plummeted.

It is common after mass shootings, Ferguson said, for confirmation bias to point toward the existence of a correlation.

鈥淲hen a shooter is a young male, as happened in Parkland or Santa Fe very recently, people start talking about movies and video games,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut when a shooter is an older male, like the 64-year-old male who attacked a concert in Las Vegas last year, people don鈥檛 usually mention video games or media.鈥�

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who serves on the commission, asked whether a young person with a predisposition to act violently can be triggered by a violent video game or movie, and again, Huesmann and Ferguson disagreed. While Huesmann said yes, Ferguson pushed back, pointing to a study that found that vulnerable populations are no more influenced by violent media than other children.

The commission hearing also focused on the role the news media could play in the frequency of, and concern about, school shootings. Jennifer Johnston, an assistant professor of psychology at Western New Mexico University, highlighted the prevalence of 鈥渕edia contagion,鈥� in which heightened coverage of mass shootings could lead to more violence.

Although school shootings remain statistically rare, Johnston noted the frequency of mass shootings increased after 2000 鈥渨hen 24-hour news coverage really came into its own, as well as the rise of social media.鈥�

In her research, she found that mass school shooters typically share several tendencies: They lack a previous history of violence, they are depressed to the point of becoming suicidal, they are socially isolated, and they are narcissistic and fame-seeking. Given these factors, she said, news outlets should commit to withholding the names and other details of suspected shooters.

鈥淲e鈥檙e fairly certain that this is a major motivator for this type of person,鈥� she said. 鈥淔or some reason I think they see fame as a remedy to the suffering and their suicidal state of mind. So there鈥檚 a place where we can make a difference.鈥�

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how The 74鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.