Recent study neuro-scientists from the University of Vienna sheds light on a long-discussed topic: the influence of violent video games on the level of empathy in adults. The results of the work contradict the previous conclusions about the potential connection between violent games and a decrease in empathy.
The study included the participation of 89 adult men who before that had little or at all had the experience of playing in violent video games. Each participant was invited to play 7 separate hourly sessions of the video game for several days. The participants were divided into two groups: one played a particularly cruel version of the game Grand Theft Auto V with the aim of killing as many characters as possible, while the other group played a modified version without elements of violence, fulfilling the task of photographing characters.
To measure the level of empathy of the participants before and after the end of the game session, tests were used, including measuring the reaction to electrical strokes received by other people, as well as monitoring the activity of the brain in areas associated with empathy. The results showed that between the two groups there was no statistically significant difference in the level of empathy after the game. This means that several hours of playing in violent video games did not have a significant impact on empathy of mentally healthy adults.
Nevertheless, researchers emphasize that the results should not be interpreted as
These research is a step in a series of future experiments to study the influence of video games on empathy, and emphasizes the need for strict control of research and long-term work to obtain more specific conclusions about the consequences of video games.