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October 8, 2010 By sharker

Video Games Teach Empathy

Boy lying in lounge playing video game

Contrary to common belief, video games teach players empathy and not aggression. At least that is what a new study is saying. Got Game’s feature states:

Dr. Kourosh Dini, a Chicago-based psychiatrist and self-declared gamer recently published Video Game Addiction: A Guide for Parents, which includes a study that reveals video games to be a beneficial teacher of understanding the way others think. Dini reached such a conclusion after much observation–and even participation–in gameplay. In his studies, he analyzed from three different perspectives: the psychiatrist, the first-person player, and the third-person play observer. According to the book’s website, such analysis led Dini to conclude that “age appropriate multi-player video games can allow children to learn how other people think – a key aspect of empathy.”

I really like his point of view – it makes total sense. However, we cannot discount the fact that other studies – and there are more of them, I think – have results that are quite different from that of Dr. Dini’s. So which is which?

I am no expert in the matter but I suppose that this study will be enough for other researchers to take a second look at their studies. Perhaps there are other factors that should be taken into consideration. Perhaps it is not a simple matter of stating that video games make children (or even adults) into so and so people. As for me – and other gamers like, I am sure – a study like this is a good start in forcing people NOT to immediately pinpoint video games as the “evil” they are supposed to be.

Filed Under: General, News, Psychology Tagged With: Psychology, video games

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