This video features a debate on Fox News (January 2008)
about the sexual content in the video game ‘Mass Effect’, released in November
2007. The sexual content in question, as Geoff Keighley correctly states, is a
very small part of a sprawling game.
A primary tactic that the ‘psychology specialist’ Cooper Lawrence uses to discredit Mass Effect is the ‘slippery slope’ argument, which is a logical fallacy (Van der Burg, 1991). She proposes that if America’s youths (read: teenage males) are continually exposed to sexual content in video games, this will lead to some kind of irreparable moral catastrophe via the sexual objectification of women. This argument could also be interpreted as a variation of the ‘extreme consequences’ template from Goldenberg, Mazursky, and Solomon (1999), or an attempt to induce fear (Janis & Feshbach, 1953), which are both effective tactics.
Unfortunately for Lawrence, her arguments largely fall flat, making this an example of ineffective persuasion in a conversational setting; her arguments are based on misrepresentative information, which is correctly refuted by Keighley. In the empirical literature, Van der Burg (1991) theorises that the slippery slope argument, though flawed, is often difficult to discard, as no conclusive evidence can be given for or against it. This particular example on Fox News is an exception to Van der Burg’s conceptualisation.
A primary tactic that the ‘psychology specialist’ Cooper Lawrence uses to discredit Mass Effect is the ‘slippery slope’ argument, which is a logical fallacy (Van der Burg, 1991). She proposes that if America’s youths (read: teenage males) are continually exposed to sexual content in video games, this will lead to some kind of irreparable moral catastrophe via the sexual objectification of women. This argument could also be interpreted as a variation of the ‘extreme consequences’ template from Goldenberg, Mazursky, and Solomon (1999), or an attempt to induce fear (Janis & Feshbach, 1953), which are both effective tactics.
Unfortunately for Lawrence, her arguments largely fall flat, making this an example of ineffective persuasion in a conversational setting; her arguments are based on misrepresentative information, which is correctly refuted by Keighley. In the empirical literature, Van der Burg (1991) theorises that the slippery slope argument, though flawed, is often difficult to discard, as no conclusive evidence can be given for or against it. This particular example on Fox News is an exception to Van der Burg’s conceptualisation.
References
Janis, I. L., & Feshbach, S. (1953). Effects of fear-arousing communications. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 48, 78
Goldenberg, J., Mazursky, D., & Solomon, S. (1999). The fundamental templates of quality ads. Marketing Science, 18, 333-351.
Van der Burg, W. (1991). The slippery slope argument. Ethics, 102,
42-65.Janis, I. L., & Feshbach, S. (1953). Effects of fear-arousing communications. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 48, 78
Goldenberg, J., Mazursky, D., & Solomon, S. (1999). The fundamental templates of quality ads. Marketing Science, 18, 333-351.
Good stuff. A perfect application of slippery slope to extreme consequences.
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