Out of Game: Intergroup Cooperation

Video games have long been the target of criticism for their effects on things like aggression and antisocial behavior. For a review of the literature on this topic, see Anderson et al. (2010). This post, however, will focus on research on the other side of the coin, namely that which indicates ways that video games can promote prosocial behaviors, even in the context of violent games.

First, a study by Velez and colleagues (2014) tested the effects of cooperation versus competition with a perceived outgroup member in a violent multiplayer shooter. Participants played either with or against a research confederate who was perceived as a supporter of either the participant’s university or a rival university. Those in the cooperative group with outgroup members reported less aggression towards those outgroup members in hypothetical situations than those who cooperated with ingroup members. That is, when presented with a hypothetical scenario in which aggression towards an outgroup member was a possible course of action, those participants who cooperated with outgroup members selected that course of action less often. Additionally, cooperative play regardless of the perceived identity of the partner led to more prosocial behavior after play. This was measured with a task in which participants had the option to give coins to the partner or keep them themselves, with the condition that giving the coins to the partner would result in the partner receiving twice the number of coins. Those in the cooperative condition gave more, particularly on the first trial when they would have had no indication of how generous their partner would be. So, playing a violent game cooperatively with perceived outgroup members resulted in less aggression towards outgroup members and more prosocial behaviors.

Another study, by Adachi and colleagues (2015), also examined cooperation in a violent video game with outgroup members. The researchers placed participants in a cooperative game with a remote partner and either told the participants that the partner was a fellow student at the same university or a foreign student at an international university (in this case, the participants were Canadian and the international university was American). They tested whether cooperating with outgroup members would lead to more favorable attitudes towards members of that outgroup. Results indicated exactly this, with participants who cooperated with the foreigner in the video game reporting more favorable attitudes towards both the American university’s as well as the Canadian university’s students. Those who cooperated with the ingroup member did not report significant changes in attitude. Additionally, those who played with the outgroup member did not report significant improvements in attitudes towards unrelated outgroups, only towards that particular group that their partner was a member of. For instance, playing with a student from a foreign university improved attitudes towards other members of that university, but not towards alcoholics or AIDS patients, for example. So, while simply playing a game together with a perceived outgroup member improved attitudes towards their group, it did not extend to outgroups in general.

These studies have several limitations. As with many studies, they both used university students as participants, and they both also used students at a different university as outgroup members. More research will be needed to determine whether playing games cooperatively can improve attitudes and behaviors towards members of outgroups that are less similar than fellow university students. However, this does not detract from the results these studies did find, namely that even a violent video game can improve attitudes and cooperation out of game. Video games have the ability to be played together with people all around the world, so if playing them cooperatively can improve relationships between very distant (physically or metaphorically) groups, then games will be an important tool for creating a more globally aware and cooperative world.

References:

Adachi, P. J. C., Hodson, G., Willoughby, T., & Zanette, S. (2015). Brothers and sisters in arms: Intergroup cooperation in a violent shooter game can reduce intergroup bias. Psychology of Violence, 5(4), 455–462. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037407

Anderson, C. A., Shibuya, A., Ihori, N., Swing, E. L., Bushman, B. J., Sakamoto, A., … & Saleem, M. (2010). Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in Eastern and Western countries: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 151–173. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018251

Velez, J. A., Mahood, C., Ewoldsen, D. R., & Moyer-Gusé, E. (2014). Ingroup versus outgroup conflict in the context of violent video game play: The effect of cooperation on increased helping and decreased aggression. Communication Research, 41(5), 607–626. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650212456202