VG & Myth 3. Laboratory experiments are irrelevant (trivial measures, demand characteristics, lack external validity). Violence???

Week 3 of discorvering the truth behind video games and violence brings us to myth and fact 3 as well.

"Myth 3. Laboratory experiments are irrelevant (trivial measures, demand characteristics, lack external validity).

Facts: Arguments against laboratory experiments in behavioral sciences have been successfully debunked many times by numerous researchers over the years. Specific examinations of such issues in the aggression domain have consistently found evidence of high external validity. For example, variables known to influence real world aggression and violence have the same effects on laboratory measures of aggression (Anderson & Bushman, 1997)."

I can see again why this is a myth as well. I feel, that the people who are studying this, and the affects video games have on people should take all of the necessary/proper measures. Regardelss to whether the people being observed in their homes or in a lab setting, I think the results would most likely be similar. There may bea few slight discrepancies, but nothing too skewing. For example, I believe if people were tested and monitored at home while they were playing these games that they may be a little more relaxed then they would if they were in an actual laboratory. But, I think once they started playing the games, they would probably "get in the zone" (if you will), and clue into what they were playing rather than where they were.

If the poeple being monitored came into the testing in the lab, there is a slight chance that they would be nervous, and that may skew the test results slightly, but I do not think it would be bad.