knott079: November 2011 Archives

There have been many debates as to whether homosexuality is a heritable trait passed down through the genes or parents, or if it is based on an environmental influences. Here I have included some examples to help to put a conclusion to this debate.
One example of homosexuality being considered a genetic disorder takes place within an episode of the animated comedy series, Family Guy. In this episode, Peter wants to make money and is injected with a homosexuality gene for an experiment. Peter appears to become homosexual and looks to the opposite sex as a mating partner. The family doesn't like this new Peter so they send him to a straight camp, which he quickly escapes. But in the episode, Peter's homosexuality wears off and he soon returns to his heterosexual self. Here is a link to the episode on megavideo.com. http://www.megavideo.com/?d=U0O5OS95
But instead of relying on a television series, lets look into some actual studies, specifically twin studies. One of the major studies to date is the Bailey and Pillard study of 1991. They recruited a sample of 161 male homosexual participants, all over the age of 18 with a twin or adoptive brother through advertisements placed in homophile publications in several cities in the Midwest and Southwest of the United States. The co-twins and adoptive brothers were sent questionnaires in which five questions regarding sexual orientation were embedded in over 100 other items regarding social attitudes, personality, and childhood behavior. Their data showed that 52% of monozygotic (identical) co-twins, 22% of dizygotic (fraternal) co-twins, and 11% of adoptive brothers were homosexual. The data regarding co-twins and their homosexuality seem to be moderately correlated, especially compared to the data comparing adoptive brothers and their homosexuality. This data suggests that homosexuality is a result of nature, but that nurture does play some role.

http://www.tim-taylor.com/papers/twin_studies/studies.html

There are many debates over video games and how it affects people. It has been proposed that video games lead people to become more aggressive due to the aggression and violence involved in them. Such video games include Grand Theft Auto, Halo, and others, which emphasize killing, raping, and illegal acts in order to obtain points. But, there are many questions as to the correlation and causation of such accusations of video games and aggression.
One great example that considers the aggression caused by video games took place in Alabama in 2003 by Devin Moore. Moore was apprehended under suspicion of having driven a stolen car and then snatched a policeman's gun and shot two officers and a dispatcher. Devin blamed his actions on the inspiration of the Grand Theft Auto game series, which he claimed to have played obsessively and ended up taking out a lawsuit against the creators of GTA.
Another example that I have personally took interest in is discussed in the book "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult. In this book, a young man has been constantly bullied since a child by the popular kids for being a nerd. To help deal with this reality, he creates a video game that is set in a school and its objective is to kill the popular students. But, this video game becomes a reality when the teenager, Peter Houghton, becomes the shooter at his high school one day.
But could video games really cause someone to murder another? It is a great question that still remains unanswered.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/60minutes/main678261.shtml
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/17/taketwo_gta_lawsuit/

There are many debates over video games and how it affects people. It has been proposed that video games lead people to become more aggressive due to the aggression and violence involved in them. Such video games include Grand Theft Auto, Halo, and others, which emphasize killing, raping, and illegal acts in order to obtain points. But, there are many questions as to the correlation and causation of such accusations of video games and aggression.
One great example that considers the aggression caused by video games took place in Alabama in 2003 by Devin Moore. Moore was apprehended under suspicion of having driven a stolen car and then snatched a policeman's gun and shot two officers and a dispatcher. Devin blamed his actions on the inspiration of the Grand Theft Auto game series, which he claimed to have played obsessively and ended up taking out a lawsuit against the creators of GTA.
Another example that I have personally took interest in is discussed in the book "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult. In this book, a young man has been constantly bullied since a child by the popular kids for being a nerd. To help deal with this reality, he creates a video game that is set in a school and its objective is to kill the popular students. But, this video game becomes a reality when the teenager, Peter Houghton, becomes the shooter at his high school one day.
But could video games really cause someone to murder another? It is a great question that still remains unanswered.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/60minutes/main678261.shtml
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/17/taketwo_gta_lawsuit/

There are many debates over video games and how it affects people. It has been proposed that video games lead people to become more aggressive due to the aggression and violence involved in them. Such video games include Grand Theft Auto, Halo, and others, which emphasize killing, raping, and illegal acts in order to obtain points. But, there are many questions as to the correlation and causation of such accusations of video games and aggression.
One great example that considers the aggression caused by video games took place in Alabama in 2003 by Devin Moore. Moore was apprehended under suspicion of having driven a stolen car and then snatched a policeman's gun and shot two officers and a dispatcher. Devin blamed his actions on the inspiration of the Grand Theft Auto game series, which he claimed to have played obsessively and ended up taking out a lawsuit against the creators of GTA.
Another example that I have personally took interest in is discussed in the book "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult. In this book, a young man has been constantly bullied since a child by the popular kids for being a nerd. To help deal with this reality, he creates a video game that is set in a school and its objective is to kill the popular students. But, this video game becomes a reality when the teenager, Peter Houghton, becomes the shooter at his high school one day.
But could video games really cause someone to murder another? It is a great question that still remains unanswered.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/60minutes/main678261.shtml
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/17/taketwo_gta_lawsuit/

There are many debates over video games and how it affects people. It has been proposed that video games lead people to become more aggressive due to the aggression and violence involved in them. Such video games include Grand Theft Auto, Halo, and others, which emphasize killing, raping, and illegal acts in order to obtain points. But, there are many questions as to the correlation and causation of such accusations of video games and aggression.
One great example that considers the aggression caused by video games took place in Alabama in 2003 by Devin Moore. Moore was apprehended under suspicion of having driven a stolen car and then snatched a policeman's gun and shot two officers and a dispatcher. Devin blamed his actions on the inspiration of the Grand Theft Auto game series, which he claimed to have played obsessively and ended up taking out a lawsuit against the creators of GTA.
Another example that I have personally took interest in is discussed in the book "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult. In this book, a young man has been constantly bullied since a child by the popular kids for being a nerd. To help deal with this reality, he creates a video game that is set in a school and its objective is to kill the popular students. But, this video game becomes a reality when the teenager, Peter Houghton, becomes the shooter at his high school one day.
But could video games really cause someone to murder another? It is a great question that still remains unanswered.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/60minutes/main678261.shtml
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/17/taketwo_gta_lawsuit/