Playing helper and hero: The effects of video games on our willingness to take risks

© 2010 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved

Some violent games seem to make kids more aggressive immediately after play.

They also seem to make people less sympathetic and responsive to victims of violence.

(For the details, see this article about the effects of video games with violent themes. )

Other video games--nonviolent games that cast players in the role of friendly helper--are linked with better behavior. Kids who play such games are more likely to be helpful to others.

But do such “prosocial” games make people more helpful? And, if so, are the benefits trivial?

Or can the right play experiences prepare kids to act bravely--rescuing victims or confronting bullies?

Researchers Tobias Greitemeyer and Sylvia Osswald assigned college students to play one of two video games:

• Tetris (a puzzle game that lacks social content), or

• City Crisis (a simulation game in which the player takes on the role of a rescue helicopter pilot who saves people from fires and other threats)

Each player sat alone in a room with a young female experimenter. The player was allowed to play for 10 minutes.

Then an interruption occurred--a deception staged by the researchers.

A young man (an actor working for the researchers) entered the room. He approached the female experimenter, and he seemed angry. He said to her:

“Ah, there you are! I was looking for you in the whole building! Why do you ignore me like that? Why do you do that to me? Now you have to talk to me!”

The man talked loudly, then shouted and kicked a trash can. He also pulled the arm of the woman, attempting to force her to leave the room with him. Throughout, the female experimenter acted passively. She repeated the same sentences in a quiet voice:

“Shush, be quiet please. I have to work in here, I cannot talk to you. You are disturbing the experiment. Please do not be so loud.”

How did people react? The researchers recorded whether or not each participant did anything to help the woman, like ask her if she needed assistance.

And the results suggest that playing City Crisis--the prosocial video game--made a difference. Ten out of 18 people who played City Crisis intervened. By contrast, only 4 of the 18 people who played Tetris did so.

For one thing, the study addresses only short-term effects.

For another, I wonder if playing a game like Tetris--which requires intense concentration--makes people less likely to pay attention and get involved in the world around them. Then again, it’s not clear that Tetris is any more engrossing than a simulation helicopter game.

But there is other evidence that prosocial games make people more friendly.

And similar experiments suggest that playing violent video games makes people less likely to help when they witness a person in trouble (Anderson et al 2010).

So it seems reasonable to think that simulation and role-playing games can influence behavior. And why wouldn’t they?

It’s clear that what we think about affects how we feel and behave. This is true for intense emotional experiences, like viewing images of death. But the effect isn’t limited to extreme cases.

Research shows that merely reminding people of rudeness--by asking them to solve word puzzles that include words like “obnoxious,” “intrude” and “disturb”--makes people more likely to interrupt a conversation (Bargh et al 1996).

Perhaps, then, it's worthwhile to steer kids towards games with prosocial themes.

More information

For more information about the beneficial effects of video games, see this article about the effects of video games on the development of visual-spatial skills.

In addition, you can read about the educational benefits of video games designed to teach math, critical thinking, and other academic skills.

References: The effects of video games on altruistic behavior

Bargh JA, Chen M, Burrows L. 1996. Automaticity of Social Behavior: Direct Effects of Trait Construct and Stereotype Activation on Action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 71 (2): 230-244.

Bushman BJ and Anderson CA. 2009. Comfortably numb: desensitizing effects of violent media on helping others. Psychol Sci. 20(3):273-7.

Greitemeyer T and Osswald S. 2009. Prosocial Video Games Reduce Aggressive Cognitions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 21(4):463-70.

Content last modified 6/10

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