Sujay Prabhu

The Thrill Is Gone, but You Might Not Know: Habituation and Generalization of Biophysiological and Self-reported Arousal Responses to Video Games

Past research on consequences of video game play have conflated two distinct psychological mechanisms, habituation and generalization, into a unified process dubbed “desensitization.” The current paper reports the results of two studies, a repeated exposure study and a single exposure study, which examine habituation and generalization of biophysiological and self-reported arousal responses to violent video games. The findings indicate that repeated play leads to habituation in both biophysiological and self-report responses. Notably, evidence of generalization is more apparent in the biophysiological data. The results are discussed in terms of: (1) implications for game developers and players, (2) implications for game researchers, (3) current conceptual ambiguity between cross-sectional and longitudinal models, and (4) the appropriateness of utilizing self-report measures in longitudinal studies examining arousal.

The effect of moral intuitions on decisions in video game play: The impact of chronic and temporary intuition accessibility

The model of intuitive morality and exemplars (MIME) highlights the central influence of innate moral instincts (or intuitions) in media use. Recent experimental research on the MIME found that moral intuitions that are chronically accessible in video gamers are likely to influence players to uphold related moral principles in the game. This study replicated and extended this research to examine the influence of both chronic and temporary accessibility of moral intuitions. Discussion focuses on the prospect that while chronic accessibility should be a better predictor of behavior in most cases, there are proximal in-game instances where environmental cues temporarily increase the accessibility of other moral intuitions. This suggests that (a) players do not necessarily disengage their morals during gameplay, and that moral intuitions influence their in-game decisions, and that (b) this influence is not fixed, but can be continuously modulated by game design features.

The Importance of Altruistic Versus Egoistic Motivations: A Content Analysis of Conflicted Motivations in Children’s Television Programming

A content analysis examined the frequency with which altruistic versus egoistic motivations were acted upon in television content where these motivations were in conflict with each other. The sample was drawn from children’s television programs popular among different age groups (ages 2–5, 6–11, and 12–17 years). It also examined whether the motivations acted upon were performed by affable (likable, heroic) or surly (unlikable, villainous) characters and whether they were rewarded or punished. Extending previous research (Lewis & Mitchell, 2014), we found that portrayal patterns stressed the importance of altruistic motivations (particularly the care motivation) for content popular among the youngest age group and egoistic motivations (particularly the growth-related motivations of competence, autonomy, and relatedness) for content popular among older children. Findings are interpreted in terms of the model of intuitive morality and exemplars (Tamborini, 2011, 2013), which suggests media representations can influence audience motivations. Implications for scholars, parents, and content producers are explored.

The Influence of Media Exposure on the Accessibility of Moral Intuitions and Associated Affect

The model of intuitive morality and exemplars (MIME) predicts that media content can increase the accessibility of preconscious moral intuitions, which shape subsequent moral decision making. To date, attempts to demonstrate evidence of this intuitive, preconscious process with self-report measures have met with little success. The current paper presents results from a study designed to test the MIME’s predictions, measuring the accessibility of moral intuitions with a moral foundations–affect misattribution procedure (MF-AMP) argued in the current paper to be more capable of detecting the aforementioned effect. An experiment manipulated exposure to media content that focused on care and fairness to test the proposition that media content can increase the accessibility of these moral intuitions. The findings offer preliminary evidence supporting the MIME’s proposition that media content featuring behaviors relevant to specific moral intuitions can increase (temporarily at least) the accessibility of those specific moral intuitions in the audiences.

Media’s Influence on the Accessibility of Altruistic and Egoistic Motivations

Previous research suggests that media featuring exemplars of specific altruistic motivations can make those motivations more accessible in viewers’ minds. The present study extends this research to also examine egoistic motivations. We (a) developed a coding scheme to examine how frequently exemplars of altruistic and egoistic motivations appear in media content, (b) developed an intuitive motivation-affect misattribution procedure to measure the accessibility of altruistic and egoistic motivations, and (c) examined whether exposure to media content portraying specific motivations makes those motivations more accessible in audiences. The findings are discussed in terms of the model of intuitive morality and exemplars.

The Representation of Altruistic and Egoistic Motivations in Children’s TV Programming

A content analysis of children’s television examined the frequency with which behaviors were (a) driven by altruistic versus egoistic motivations, (b) performed by affable/surly characters, (c) rewarded/punished, and (d) present in content popular among different age groups (2–5, 6–11, and 12–17 years old). We found that portrayal patterns stressed the importance of egoistic motivations (particularly competence, autonomy, and relatedness) for older children. The findings are interpreted in line with logic underlying the model of intuitive morality and exemplars (MIME; Tamborini, 2013), suggesting that media representations can influence the motivations of their viewers.

Does Repeated Exposure to Popular Media Strengthen Moral Intuitions?: Exploratory Evidence Regarding Consistent and Conflicted Moral Content

Previous studies have indicated that media consumption may influence moral intuition sensitivity. The present exploratory studies sought to expand on these findings by employing a three-phase, longitudinal experiment conducted over nine weeks, where participants were exposed to two genres of films (romance, action) mixed in various ratios (high = 100% romance, medium = 60% romance, low = 20% romance, none = 0% romance). Findings from the initial study indicate that repeated exposure to romantic films led to increases in sensitivity for four of the five moral intuitions (i.e., care, fairness, authority, purity); at the same time, any exposure to action films seemed to erode these changes. A follow-up post-hoc content analysis sought to confirm these findings and test an operationalization of “moral conditioning.” We discuss the results in regards to media entertainment theory and research, and the societal implications of the role of media entertainment to reinforce standards of moral judgment.

The impact of terrorist attack news on moral intuitions and outgroup prejudice

Using logic suggested by the model of intuitive morality and exemplars, we examined the impact of exposure to terrorist attack news coverage on the salience of moral intuitions and prosocial behavioral intentions toward outgroup members. In an experiment, participants were randomly assigned to watch news of the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks or a control news story. Afterward, we measured the salience of five moral intuitions (sensitivity to care, fairness, loyalty, authority, and purity) and the participants’ prejudice (i.e., the lack of intentions to help outgroup members). Results showed that exposure to terrorist attack news (a) increased the salience of respect for authority and subsequently (b) reduced prosocial behavioral intentions toward outgroup members. Closer inspection revealed that authority salience mediated the effect of terrorist news exposure on these behavioral intentions toward outgroup members. In a second study using the same design as in the first study, we ensured that the ingroup and the outgroup addressed in the first study were indeed perceived differently on dimensions of ingroup membership.

The effect of behavioral synchrony with black or white virtual agents on outgroup trust

Abstract Trust toward outgroup members is generally lower than it is toward ingroup members. Behavioral synchrony with virtual outgroup characters has been identified as a means of improving attitudes toward racial outgroup members, but this effect has not been tested for outgroup trust. We tested the effect of synchrony with an ingroup/outgroup virtual agent on a behavioral measure of outgroup trust. An experiment used an online economic game to obtain pretest and posttest measures of trust. In between these measures, participants played a dance video game on Xbox Kinect. They were randomly assigned to either an ingroup or outgroup agent (black or white) partner. Game score served as a continuous measure of synchrony with the agent. Regression analysis revealed that agent race moderated synchronys effect on change in outgroup trust. Increased synchrony with an outgroup agent led to increased outgroup trust. Conversely, increased synchrony with an ingroup agent led to decreased outgroup trust. Findings are discussed with respect to implications for using virtual interactions to build outgroup trust in the real world.