Christopher J. Ferguson Ph.D.

Christopher J. Ferguson, Ph.D., is professor of psychology at Stetson University. He is interested in media violence and, in particular, video games. He has been invited to speak at Vice President Biden's task force and a 2013 Institute of Medicine/CDC panel on the subject and in summer 2018 testified at the School Safety Commission.

His research has generally indicated that exposure to media violence has little effect on societal violence. Ferguson has emphasized the idea that media effects must be studied independently rather than taking a "one size fits all" approach. Thus, advertising may get us to switch from one product to another even if video games don't turn kids into mass killers. Dr. Ferguson is also interested in the sociology of media research itself...how political pressure, social moral panics and culture war can distort media effects research into "opinions with numbers."

In his spare time Dr. Ferguson is a consumate geek, interested in everything from science fiction to Dungeons and Dragons. He and his son are fans of the Lego series of video games and Dr. Ferguson also likes strategy games such as Europa Universalis. His career proves to parents once and for all, yes your child CAN make a career out of video games...