Craig A. Anderson is an American professor and director at the Department of Psychology,

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

in Ames. He obtained his PhD at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1980. He has carried out influential research regarding the effects of violent

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

on children, and reports for parents related to this.

Published research

Anderson wrote a book (2007) on ''Violent

Video Games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

'' with co-authors Doug Gentile and Katherine Buckley. He has been a faculty member at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

(1980–1988),

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

(visiting,1984–1985), and the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

(1988–1999). He joined Iowa State University in 1999 as Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology. He has received teaching awards at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and has been awarded "Fellow" status by the

American Psychological Society The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...

and the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...

. His research has examined the potential association between violent content in video games and subsequent aggression. He is now on the Executive Council of the International Society for Research on Aggression. His research on human aggression has been published in various journals. A quote from one of his studies is, ''"The 14-year-old boy arguing that he has played violent video games for years and has not ever killed anybody is absolutely correct in rejecting the extreme "necessary and sufficient" position, as is the 45-year-old two-pack-a-day cigarette smoker who notes that he still does not have lung cancer. But both are wrong in inferring that their exposure to their respective risk factors (violent media, cigarettes) has not causally increased the likelihood that they and people around them will one day suffer the consequences of that risky behavior."''

Controversies

Dr. Anderson's critics say that his work overstates his results and fails to adequately acknowledge alternate views or limitations of the data on media violence. They also express concern that his claim of a definite causal link is not well supported by the existing data.Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games, Lawrence Kutner PhD and Cheryl K. Olson ScD Some of Anderson's studies were funded by the former

National Institute on Media and the Family The National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF), founded by psychologist David Walsh in 1996 and closed in 2009 was a nonprofit organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was a nonsectarian advocacy group which sought to monitor mass ...

(NIMF), an advocacy group historically highly critical of the video game industry. In '' Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association'', the U.S. Supreme Court criticized Anderson's studies, noting that they "have been rejected by every court to consider them", "do not prove that violent video games ''cause'' minors to act aggressively", and "suffer from significant, admitted flaws in methodology". Dr. Anderson's findings have been defended by other researchers in the field.Children, Adolescents, and Media Violence: A Critical Look at the Research, by Steven J. Kirsh Dr. Anderson and other colleagues of his have responded to the methodological criticisms of his work and the work of other researchers who have replicated his findings in the video game and aggression domain, although these debates continue.Much Ado About Something: Violent Video Game Effects and a School of Red Herring: Reply to Ferguson and Kilburn (2010)

References

External links/sources

Craig A. Anderson website Iowa State UniversityCraig A. Anderson profileCraig A. Anderson 2003 Violent Video Games Science BriefsAmerican Psychological Association Press release, 2000
Violent Video Games can Increase Aggression
Violence and Video Games articleBBC Report - Health - Video Games and AggressionOxford University Press, Book Review, 2007
Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory, Research, and Public Policy Theories
C.P. Barlet, C.A.Anderson, E.L.Swing, Simulation and Gaming, Vol. 40 (3), 2009
Video Game Effects-Confirmed, Suspected, and Speculative {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Craig A. Living people Iowa State University faculty University of Missouri faculty Stanford University alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Rice University faculty Ohio State University faculty Social psychologists

Published research

Controversies

See also

References

External links/sources