Violent Video Games Reduces Stress, Study Finds.

A recent study by a PhD student at the University of Luxembourg published in Physiology and Behavior found that violence in video games reduces stress in male gamers. The study using scientific methods also concluded there is no link between violent games and aggression.

The research study observed and compared hormone levels of 54 male gamers exposed to violent and non-violent scenes in Uncharted 4 for 25 minutes. It found that violent scenes reduced the stress hormone cortisol and did not influence aggressive hormone - testesterone.

The study did not observe girl gamers. So the effect of violent scenes on girls remains unknown.

Source: Violent video games decrease stress hormones, study finds

Nothing like blowing some heads off to really center myself.

The study involved 54 male participants. These individuals were recruited through various channels including university mailing lists, social media, and advertisement posters. Each participant was randomly assigned to play either a violent or non-violent passage from the popular video game “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End” for 25 minutes.

This is why Pokemon fans are impulsive and violent.

Well....yeah. I mean, duh.

So does cannabis and an adult coloring book.

And...

Would be curious to see how women respond. While gaming is gaining popularity among women, they don't really tend to play the same games in my experience. Granted, that is anecdotal on my part.

The ladies do seem to love Baldur's Gate 3 though and that game is super violent.

Don't beat your wife, beat your buddy in Tekken instead

25mins from Uncharted 4 🤣🤣🤣

Sound advice. I'll give it a go.

No wonder Nintendo fans are the most toxic casuals there is.

Why is this study used only males as subjects and be considered scientific?

While the study was conducted by a PhD candidate, I wonder who is funding it? The university? A gaming publisher?

Finally, for the study to have any validity, it needs to be replicated by other researchers. If other researchers replicated this study and its conclusion, then it has validity.

Physiology & Behavior in which the article is published is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Elsevier. The article has to go through a rigorous process to ensure it is reliable and valid.

Validity of a study is based on research instruments, and not whether study findings are the same. Another study can confirm or opose the findings, but it does not determine the validity of a study.

A scientific study can be valid even if the target population is limited to a section of the population. There are tests that check the validity of research instruments - criterion, construct, and content related tests. The findings arrived at using reliable and valid tests can be generalized to that segment of the population.

If the tests are valid and reliable that is checked by peers in a peer review journal, the findings are also valid and reliable.

But I do wonder why girl gamers weren't included in the sample? It would have revealed some interesting inshights for developers? Most like the study scope was constrained due to budget and time.

The author did state that he will publish more studies on the topic. He does have a unique and thorough approach to the topic, unlike previous authors mostly like Boomers who came up with the opposite findings.

lol, they played 25 minutes of Uncharted 4. Would make anyone doze off. Worthless study.

Haha. GTA V would have been a better benchmark. The author is from Luxumberg so their threshold of violence is low.

Still the findings of the study are logical.

Personally , I have been gaming for 35+ years. Played a lot of GTA and Mortal Combat. And never feelt the urge to smack skull of another.

Psychopaths and schizophrenic will act no matter what the context. We need more studies like this to clear the air about gaming.

Using Uncharted, there goes the credibility, so that's over.

But the mistake I think both sides make is that it's not the violence you see on it's own that's important, it's the Gameplay, the satisfaction of using violence.

For example, one side uses Manhunt as an example of why video games are bad because of the concept, yet the gameplay is complete trash and unrefined with no basis in reality or satisfaction. Yet take Splinter Cell. Less violent, but far more realistic and satisfying. Yet it didn't show up on anyone's radar, because they only think about what they can see.

Even comparing earlier Doom games vs say Goldeneye. Goldeneye would look less violent, but it has a far higher satisfaction in the kill.

Street Fighter: Special Championship Edition on hardest difficuly. When I got to the end and Bison turned on cheat mode after caving him in on rnd1 every time. Ended up throwing the controller at the wall and breaking it after the 20 somethingth attempt. My stress levels were not reduced.

Eat it Jack Thompson

GTA V would be a terrible benchmark.

The simple act of driving and not obeying traffic laws would be considered violent and nobody naturally does that in GTA V.

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You can easily cobble together sections of Uncharted 4 where you're just walking or jumping around without any firearms vs sections where there's tons of gun fire, explosions etc.

Ever since his law license was revoked several years ago, he has not been relevant since.

click bait headlines and sensationalized abstracts...this is what science articles are nowadays...turning into those same magazine rags you see besides hotdog stands.

Theres lots of things that reduce stress, things that don't turn you into a maniac like for example exercising, getting sunshine, meditation

We've seen alot of people doing stupid things in real life after playing GTA, and yeah even if they were a very small percentage, they still did it. People are morons for the most part.

@onesiphorus: Many PHD candidates have to create and carry out studies, this is not unusual. This is probably a subject they were interested in, so they came up with an experiment to run.

Now, considering the small sample size, and short run-time, no academic would take this one study as proof of anything. But it could present enough of a base to warrant further research with more funding behind it.

@blaznwiipspman1: Relax, this was a small study done by a grad student. I made this point above, no academic would look at this as proof of anything, but it has enough going for it to warrant further research from a bigger, better funded, more experienced team.

@blaznwiipspman1: Agreed we cannot ignore the outliers. But then again they are outliers that would act irrationally even if not exposed to games.

Although, I do agree some other violent and addictive games like PUBG, MK, or GTAV should have been used to test the hypothesis. Still, the study is a step in the right direction as it used objective methods like measuring hormonal levels not used in previous studies. We tend to act upon hormonal triggers. Previous studies just used correlation between violent action and violent games.

TBH, I am sick of such studies or news relating video games to killings, or linking games to bad grades and unproductivity.

I have been a gamer since I was 6 years old, and a gamer addict during my teens. But I was top of the class in highschool, got scholarship due to high grades in college, completed my Masters with double specialization, and even pursued PhD but on hold due to recent marriage and other family commitments. I am at the moment even the top performer at my company and among the top paid employees.

Aside for some minor fights mainly due to self defence, I have never felt the urge to kill and never been involved in a major fight. Blaming games for societal ills is illogical.

Games are like an art and a form of entertainment. We need to appreciate game devs as they bring joy to millions of individuals all over the world. They act as a bond bringing gamers from around the world closer irrespective of race, religion, color, and country. That's why I hope more researchers look at the positive side of games and stop linking games to antisocial or unproductive behavior.

lol

Watching TV produces alpha waves, I imagine playing video games does the same, especially if it's a movie game.

@judaspete: alot of studies are done to blur the lines by the same industry trying to avoid regulation, to spread doubt, uncertainty and misinformation. This has been happening forever.

I don't believe in regulation unless it causes some damage to society. So in that regard gaming is still ok for now. But pollution and processed foods need to be taxed and destroyed. I get it, theres free will, but it grinds my gears when scumbag companies profit off other people's misery.

@danishanwar: good for you my friend, but most people aren't you, so you can't base yourself on everything.

Personally I don't think there's a point in regulating the current crop of video games...since vast majority of people can tell the difference between real life and games. The few that can't, unfortunately we can't regulate based on them.

On the other hand, games are getting more realistic, more graphical, and even VR is improving and becoming more immersive. We have crackpots like elon musk implanting brain chips ...so what happens in the future is the question, where is it all going. What happens when the wall between reality and gaming starts to chip bit by bit?

I can't say that's true for me. I feel like it doesn't matter whether it is a puzzle game or an action game with gore... Stress and frustration are felt based on the player experience of solving the next part of the game... Doesn't matter the content... Being violent doesn't make me all of a sudden go, ahhh now I feel less stress. Lol that's silly.

Your logical takes is getting really tiresome. 😤

Were the participants of this study masturbating while playing video games? That's some 8th gen Cow, 9th gen Lem behavior right there...