David R. Ewoldsen

Effect of Playing Violent Video Games Cooperatively or Competitively on Subsequent Cooperative Behavior

Research on video games has yielded consistent findings that violent video games increase aggression and decrease prosocial behavior. However, these studies typically examined single-player games. Of interest is the effect of cooperative play in a violent video game on subsequent cooperative or competitive behavior. Participants played Halo II (a first-person shooter game) cooperatively or competitively and then completed a modified prisoners dilemma task to assess competitive and cooperative behavior. Compared with the competitive play conditions, players in the cooperative condition engaged in more tit-for-tat behaviors-a pattern of behavior that typically precedes cooperative behavior. The social context of game play influenced subsequent behavior more than the content of the game that was played.

Ingroup Versus Outgroup Conflict in the Context of Violent Video Game Play The Effect of Cooperation on Increased Helping and Decreased Aggression

Previous research has demonstrated a positive influence of cooperative video game play on participants’ cooperative strategies (tit-for-tat behaviors) in a modified Prisoner’s Dilemma task (Ewoldsen et al., 2012). The current study tested whether these positive effects are applicable to ingroup and outgroup conflict. Eighty participants were assigned to play a violent video game cooperatively or competitively with a confederate posing as an outgroup or ingroup member. The main findings corroborate previous research on the beneficial effects of cooperative game play and suggest playing cooperatively can increase helping behavior. Furthermore, cooperation with an outgroup member can actually reduce aggression. Implications of findings for future research are discussed.

The MODE Model and Its Implications for Studying the Media

Attitude and norm accessibility influence social behavior and how messages are processed. The Motivation and Opportunity as DEterminants (MODE) model is offered as a framework for understanding when attitude and norm accessibility should play an important role in social behavior. In this article, we outline the MODE model and consider the implications of the MODE model for both how people process media messages and the consequences of media messages.

Missed Programs (You Can't TiVo This One) Why Psychologists Should Study Media

Media psychology involves the scientific examination of the cognitive processes and behavior involved in the selection, use, interpretation, and effects of communication across a variety of media (e.g., via the Internet, television, telephone, film). Media are central to people’s lives, with projections indicating that an average person spent over 3,515 hours using media in 2012. New technologies are increasing the importance of media. Data from two content analyses demonstrate the underrepresentation of media psychology in mainstream psychological literature and in undergraduate and graduate psychology course offerings. We argue for the importance of a psychological approach to the study of media because of its presence in people’s lives and because psychologists use it in their research and their choices may affect the external validity of their findings. We provide a useful framework from which psychologists can approach the study of media, and we conclude with recommendations for further areas of scientific inquiry relevant to psychological science.

The Accessibility of Family and Peer Norms in Young Adolescent Risk Behavior

The accessibility of attitudes and norms (i.e., how quickly they are activated from memory) has been shown to predict young adult cigarette smoking, but prior work has not examined this effect in young adolescents or with other health risk behaviors. In this study, the accessibility of attitudes and norms was used to predict young adolescent (N = 325, age M = 14.97, SD = .73) self-reported behavior and behavior intention for cigarette smoking, alcohol use, marijuana smoking, and sexual behavior. The accessibility of attitudes and the accessibility of injunctive norms were significantly related to adolescents’ health risk behavior. When controlling for current behavior, the accessibility of attitudes and of family norms were significantly related to intent to engage in these behaviors in the future. In contrast, the accessibility of peer norms was only related to reports of current behavior, not future behavior intention. This finding replicates across four behaviors when controlling for age, gender, and race, and provides strong evidence that the accessibility of relevant attitudes and social norms are important factors in young adolescent risk behavior. Implications for communication interventions to reduce teen health risk behavior are discussed.

Violent Video Games and Reciprocity The Attenuating Effects of Cooperative Game Play on Subsequent Aggression

Numerous studies have shown that playing violent video games alone increases subsequent aggression. However, social game play is becoming more popular than solo game play, and research suggests cooperative game play is beneficial for players. The current studies explore the effects of cooperative game play on player’s subsequent aggressive behaviors toward video game partners (Experiment 1) and non-video game partners (Experiment 2), while providing a discussion of possible theories applicable to social video game play. Cooperative games resulted in less aggression between video game partners (Experiment 1) and between non-video game partners (Experiment 2) than did competitive or stand-alone games. Interestingly, cooperative game play and no-game play produced similar levels of aggression (Experiment 1), whereas competitive and solo game play produced similar levels of aggression (Experiment 2). These findings are consistent with the theory of bounded generalized reciprocity. Playing violent games cooperatively can offset the aggression-increasing effects of violent video games.

Helping Behaviors During Video Game Play

Research suggests that video games are becoming a social activity. Previous research has neglected the complicated social context in which people now play video games. However, a growing body of literature suggests that playing violent video games cooperatively with others can attenuate their aggression-facilitating effects and increase prosocial behaviors between players. To better understand which types of social game play can foster helping behaviors between players and which players may be engaging in these helping behaviors during game play, the current study administered a survey to 252 students who self-identified as video game players. The results suggest that participants who reported playing cooperatively/competitively with other players were more likely to report engaging in helping behaviors during game play. Additionally, participants who reported being motivated to play specialized roles in group game play and have an altruistic personality were more likely to report engaging in helping beha...

Self-Control Depletion and Narrative: Testing a Prediction of the TEBOTS Model

This study tests propositions derived from the larger notion that entertainment narratives offer the individual a means by which to alleviate the psychological demands of the self. Specifically, individuals in a state of reduced self-control were expected to experience greater enjoyment, audience response, transportation, and identification during narrative exposure. After a manipulation that depleted self-control resources, participants were exposed to a short story. They then reported their enjoyment and response to the story, as well as their transportation and identification during reading. Results supported the predictions, as enjoyment, audience response, and transportation were significantly greater in the depleted group. Identification showed a nonsignificant difference. Additionally, transportation was found to be a mediator of self-control depletions effect on enjoyment. Subsequent analyses ruled out alternative mood management and emotion regulation explanations, demonstrating that depleted self-control resources, rather than affect or story valence, accounted for greater narrative engagement.

The Impact of Subtitles on Comprehension of Narrative Film

Theoretically, viewers of a movie strive to construct coherent mental models to understand the local events as they occur, and to link these situation mental models coherently to understand the movie as a whole. This article reports the results of two experiments on the impact of subtitles on the local and global coherence of mental models of a movie. In both experiments, the extent to which attention and memory resources available for generating local and global mental models was manipulated by having half of the participants watch the movie in English (standard condition) while the other half watched in French with English subtitles (subtitled condition). Experiment 1 examined patterns of inferences generated during movie watching. Results showed that participants in the standard condition made more elaborative inferences than those in the subtitled condition, indicating a higher level of global coherence. In contrast, results also showed that participants in the subtitled condition made more bridging inferences than those in the standard condition, indicating a higher level of local coherence. In Experiment 2, participants sorted movie events according to perceived similarity of events, and the data were submitted to a Pathfinder analysis. The resulting collective network of events for the standard and subtitled conditions corroborated the results of Experiment 1. We argue that the tradeoff between local and global coherence should be addressed in current theories of narrative comprehension.

Dr. Phil and Psychology Today as self-help treatments of mental illness: A content analysis of popular psychology programming

Many people with a diagnosable mental illness do not receive professional treatment. Instead, they may turn to media mental health professionals for diagnosis and treatment recommendations. This study content analyzed episodes of Dr. Phil and issues of Psychology Today to determine what mental disorders are covered and treatments are recommended, and to determine whether their coverage of mental disorders corresponds to the national prevalence of mental disorders. Both sources provide content about depression more than about any other mental illness. Both also make recommendations for psychotherapy more than they recommend other forms of treatment. The study also found no relation between the proportion of times that mental disorders were discussed and the prevalence of the disorders among American adults. This research helps to lay a foundation for future research addressing the relations among mental disorders, self-treatment, and the medias role in mental health.