A Michigan State University study says that boys and girls who play videogames, even violent ones, tend to be more creative than those who don’t.
Remember when we told you about the University of Queensland study that “confirmed the dangers of violent videogames?” Well that was yesterday, and even though the authors of the study sounded like they had the world in their hands, today, while it’s not the end of the world, there’s a slight change of plans. Because today, a new study from a different university claims that videogames, including violent ones, are directly linked to heightened creativity in both boys and girls.
Researchers using the Torrance Test of Creativity – Figural looked at 491 12-year-old boys and girls, and found that the more they played videogames, the more creativity they exhibited in tasks like drawing pictures and writing stories. Boys were found to prefer violent and sports games while girls tended to prefer games “involving interaction with others,” but regardless of the type of game or other factors, a direct correlation between game playing and creativity was found.
Professor Linda Jackson, who led the project, said the study “appears to be the first evidence-based demonstration of a relationship between technology and creativity” and will hopefully motivate designers to zero in on those aspects of videogames that are responsible for the effect.
“Once they do that, video games can be designed to optimize the development of creativity while retaining their entertainment values such that a new generation of videogames will blur the distinction between education and entertainment,” she said.
Stupid scientists. I wish they’d make up their minds.
Source: Science Daily
Published: Nov 2, 2011 08:34 pm