New Research Suggests Video Games Teach Empathy, Not Aggression

It’s been no secret that many studies’ findings cause parents to point the finger of blame at video games for their child’s violent behavior. What is lesser known, however, according to a psychiatrist’s recent study, is that video games can be blamed for teaching empathy, too.

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.”

Is this enough to disqualify the seemingly countless studies whose results prove otherwise? Probably not. But it will, no doubt, cause researchers to give their study results a second glance.

Previous research has been published by sources such as the American Psychological Association (APA) and CNN that concludes that gamer children are less willing to be caring or helpful to their peers. However, many of these same reports also indicate that gaming is not dangerous unless done in excess.

And Dini acknowledges the necessity of reasonable amounts of time spent at the computer or console. In his book he discusses concepts such as the severity of video game addiction, and he advises parents on how to prevent gaming from becoming a problematic activity.

According to psychologists like Cheryl K. Olsen, Co-Director of the Center for Mental Health and the Media of Massachusetts, there is still hope on the parents-versus-videogames horizon. Just because the game includes violence, she said in a recent article in CNN’s Health Magazine, the child gamer will not necessarily be compelled to imitate the behavior. “It’s not the violence per se that’s the problem, it’s the context and goals of the violence. We may find things we should be worried about, but right now we don’t know enough,” Olsen said.

And she’s right. We don’t. But if all that Dini and his publication achieved was to cause parents to think twice before pegging video games as the ultimate evil, it’s still one heck of a start.