AMES, Iowa -- The Iowa State University Department of Psychology and the Institute for Social and Behavioral Research will join with the Minneapolis-based National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF) to host the National Summit on Video Games, Youth and Public Policy next Friday and Saturday, Oct. 20-21, at The University of Minnesota Continuing Education and Conference Center in Falcon Heights, Minn.
The event is designed to review current and emerging trends related to video game rating systems, education policy and government regulation, and determine the accuracy and usefulness of video game rating. Participants will include an official from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, representatives from the American Psychological Association, and the leading video game scholars. At the end of the event, participants will draft a 10-year "action agenda" for improvements in ratings, public education and public policy.
Both Iowa State's Craig Anderson, a Distinguished Professor of psychology, and Douglas Gentile, assistant professor of psychology and director of research for the National Institute on Media and the Family, will be presenters. Gentile will discuss research on the validity of media ratings during the "Ratings Research & Policy Panel" at 10:30 that morning. Anderson will present a session titled "Violent Video Games: Effects and Public Policy" at 9:30 a.m. Friday.
"This summit is important because of its focus on research about and potential solutions to the problem of overexposure of children and adolescents to violent video games," said Anderson, who joined with Gentile and graduate student Katherine Buckley to co-author a forthcoming Oxford University Press book titled "Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents." "We have invited leading researchers, industry officials, legal experts, and politicians to come together to work on this issue."
NIMF President David Walsh and Gentile are co-authors of the highly-publicized annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card, which will be released this year on Saturday, Oct. 28. Gentile is the editor of the recent book "Media Violence and Children: A Complete Guide for Parents and Professionals" (Praeger Press).
Additional information on the summit is available at http://www.mediafamily.org/press/summit_2006.shtml?storyId=5598521.
