Effects of cooperative video games on prosocial outcomes

Previous research has predominantly focused on negative effects of media exposure. For instance, it has been shown that playing violent video games increases aggressive behavior. But clearly not all video games contain violence so that media exposure may even have positive effects. In fact, previous research has shown that playing a prosocial video game (in which the predominant goal is to benefit another game character) increases prosocial emotions (Greitemeyer, Osswald & Brauer, 2010) and behavior (Gentile et al., 2009; Greitemeyer & Osswald, 2010) and decreases the accessibility of aggressive thoughts (Greitemeyer & Osswald, 2009). Likewise, listening to prosocial music increases the accessibility of prosocial thoughts, affect, and behavior (Greitemeyer, 2009a, 2009b) and decreases aggressive outcomes (Greitemeyer, 2011). Of utmost importance for the proposed research are two unpublished studies showing that playing video games in a team (the goals of the players are positively linked in that they only attain their goals when other players also attain their goals) is associated with cooperative behavior. Participants either played a video game on their own (single-player condition) or the same video game but together with a teammate (team-player condition). Afterwards, cooperative behavior toward a person who was NOT the video game partner was assessed. Results revealed that participants in the team-player condition were more likely to behave cooperatively than participants in the single-player condition. However, some important limitations have to be acknowledged. First, in both studies the sample size was small. Second, the findings might have been due to specific features of the particular games used. Third, it is important to note that the effects of cooperative game play on immediate, subsequent behavior were examined. Thus, possible long-term effects are unknown. Fourth, it is unknown why playing a team-player video game leads to more cooperative behavior than playing a single-player video game. The proposed research aims to address these limitations. To this end, three studies will be carried out. No single methodological approach can provide unequivocal answers to the effects of video game exposure. Thus, multiple methodologies will be employed (one correlational, one longitudinal, one experimental). Inasmuch as playing video games in a team becomes more and more popular, the proposed research does not only have important theoretical but also practical implications. The findings will prove useful to anyone whose goal it is to increase prosocial and cooperative behavior. For example, convincing the video game industry to create cooperative video games that are highly attractive to consumers may increase prosocial and cooperative behavior in everyday life and thus contribute to improved social interactions.

This project examined the extent to which playing video games cooperatively in a team enhances subsequent prosocial behavior. Previous research has predominantly focused on negative effects of media exposure. For instance, it has been shown that playing violent video games increases aggressive behavior. In contrast, this project indeed showed that playing video games may have a positive impact on the players social behavior. Participants played together with another human player a video game in a cooperative mode. That is, the goals of the players were positively linked in that they only attained their goals when the other player also attained their goals. Other participants played the very same video game, but on their own. Afterwards, cooperative behavior toward a new human partner was assessed. For example, participants received money that they could either share with the other person or kept on their own. Results revealed that participants who had played the video game cooperatively in a team were more cooperative toward the new partner than were participants who had played the same video game on their own. Importantly, the effect of cooperative team-play on cooperative behavior generalized across different persons in that playing a video game with a partner increased cooperative behavior toward a person who was NOT the video game partner. Thus, it appears that not only the video game partner benefits from cooperative game play but all of us can be recipients of the players benevolent behavior. Because participants were randomly assigned to the experimental conditions, playing video games cooperatively in a team has a causal impact on subsequent cooperative behavior. Similar effects were found for empathy and aggression as dependent measures. However, further studies could not document significant long-term effects. In the experimental studies, it was shown that cooperative game play has an impact on immediate, subsequent behavior. It was conceivable that repeated encounters with cooperative video games may yield long term changes in personality through the development and construction of knowledge structures. Studies employing correlational and longitudinal designs, however, did not reveal significant associations between cooperative video game play and the social behavior of the player. In sum, it appears that playing video games cooperatively in a team does have an immediate impact on the players social behavior, but these effects are not observable in the long-term. Nevertheless, and because many video games can be played cooperatively with others, the research findings have not only important theoretical but also practical implications in that cooperative video games may increase prosocial and cooperative behavior in everyday life and thus contribute to improved social interactions.