Christopher J. Ferguson is a professor of psychology at Stetson University. His work has spanned topics related to violent video game effects, social media and youth mental health, and race, policing and violent crime. Many of his research projects have examined evidence for and against societal moral panics.
Chris is perhaps best known for his work on video game effects, most of which have called into question whether video game playing has any influence on violence in society or mental health. He has testified on this issue several times at the national level for panels under the Obama and Trump administrations. This work has, more recently, extended to concerns regarding social media. Once again, evidence to connect social media to issues such as teen suicide appears to be thin, whereas teen suicide appears to be part of a larger phenomenon of adult suicide and general pessimism and polarization in society.
Following the protests and riots over George Floyd's murder in 2020, Chris began investigating data related to race, policing, and violent crime. His research has indicated that, contrary to many popular beliefs, class and mental health issues, not race, predict both police misconduct and violent crime. Similarly, sentencing of offenders in the criminal justice system in the US appears to be more racially egalitarian than many people believe.
Chris has published several books related to psychology including Moral Combat: Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong; How Madness Shaped History and Catastrophe! The Psychology of how Good People Make Bad Situations Worse. He also has several novels including the mystery novel Suicide Kings and the fantasy novel Fury. His work has also been published in outlets ranging from the New York Times to Newsweek to the Chronicle of Higher Education.