Question

A videogame enthusiast argued that playing violent video games (e.g., Doom, Grand Theft Auto) does not cause increases in violent crimes as critics often claim. To support his argument, he presents the graph below. He points out that the rate of violent crimes has decreased dramatically, beginning around the time the first "moderately violent" video game, Doom, was introduced.

Considering the information presented in this graph, what is the most critical flaw in the blogger's argument?

graph

Question 15 options:

Violent crime rates appear to increase slightly after the introduction of the Intellivision and SNES game systems.

The graph does not show violent crime rates for children under the age of 12, so results are biased.

The decreasing trend in violent crime rates may be caused by something other than violent video games.

The graph only shows data up to 2003. More current data are needed.

Answer 1

The most critical flaw in the blogger's argument is:

**The decreasing trend in violent crime rates may be caused by something other than violent video games.**

While the blogger attempts to correlate the introduction of violent video games with a decrease in violent crime rates, correlation does not imply causation. Other factors, such as changes in socioeconomic conditions, policing practices, legislation, or social programs, could account for the observed decline in violent crime rates. Therefore, without isolating the impact of violent video games from these other potential influences, the blogger's argument lacks solid evidence.