HHS HealthBeat (July 22, 2009)

Playing nice

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Researchers see signs that, in video games, what you play in the game affects how you act in real life.

Brad Bushman of the University of Michigan and his colleagues conducted three studies about how kids, teens and college students acted after playing games. One of the studies was done in the United States and was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Bushman says the studies showed a relationship between violent games and hurting others. But he says they also showed a relationship between kinder games and helping others.

So Bushman says games can either help or hurt. And he advises parents to monitor their kids’ games:

[Brad Bushman speaks] "They can either play the games with the children or at least watch their children play the games."

Bushman’s report was in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May 7, 2011