10/03/2011, Safe Gambling

Peter Fisher, a psychology professor at the University of Regensburg, Germany, has revealed the results of a new study, which took him twenty five years to complete.

The study suggests there is an unquestionable connection between risk talking and risk-glorifying media, including in the following domains: video games, movies, advertising, television and music.

The research was conducted between 1983 and 2009 in the United States and Europe and it incorporated more than 80,000 participants. Most of the subjects were aged between 16 and 24 year-old, but there were a few older and younger participants as well.

“It appears from our meta-analysis that risk-glorifying media has potentially grave consequences, such as innumerable incidences of fatalities, injuries and high economic costs in a broad variety of risk-taking domains, such as substance abuse, reckless driving, gambling and risky sexual behavior,” Fischer said in a statement. “These results support recent lines of research into the relationship between risk taking and the media.”
“There is indeed a reliable connection between exposure to risk-glorifying media content and risk-taking behaviours, cognitions and emotions,” Fischer added.

Professor Fisher showed that 961 young adults who watched movies showing people drinking, were more likely to have alcohol-related problems later in life.

The study also revealed that glorifying big wins in the gambling industry and broadcasting big stake poker tournaments really does attract more players at these events. Advertising is a form of communication which intends to persuade the audience to purchase a certain product, idea or service, or the attempt to convince people to take a certain action.