The lone gamer: Social exclusion predicts violent video game preferences and fuels aggressive inclinations in adolescent players

Violent video game playing has been linked to a wide range of negative outcomes, especially in adolescents. In the present research, we focused on a potential determinant of adolescents’ willingness to play violent video games: social exclusion. We also tested whether exclusion can predict increased aggressiveness following violent video game playing. In two experiments, we predicted that exclusion could increase adolescents’ preferences for violent video games and interact with violent game playing fostering adolescents’ aggressive inclinations. In Study 1, 121 adolescents (aged 10–18 years) were randomly assigned to a manipulation of social exclusion. Then, they evaluated the violent content of nine different video games (violent, nonviolent, or prosocial) and reported their willingness to play each presented video game. The results showed that excluded participants expressed a greater willingness to play violent games than nonviolent or prosocial games. No such effect was found for included participants. In Study 2, both inclusionary status and video game contents were manipulated. After a manipulation of inclusionary status, 113 adolescents (aged 11–16 years) were randomly assigned to play either a violent or a nonviolent video game. Then, they were given an opportunity to express their aggressive inclinations toward the excluders. Results showed that excluded participants who played a violent game displayed the highest level of aggressive inclinations than participants who were assigned to the other experimental conditions. Overall, these findings suggest that exclusion increases preferences for violent games and that the combination of exclusion and violent game playing fuels aggressive inclinations.

     

Violent Video Games Stress People Out and Make Them More Aggressive

It is well known that violent video games increase aggression, and that stress increases aggression. Many violent video games can be stressful because enemies are trying to kill players. The present study investigates whether violent games increase aggression by inducing stress in players. Stress was measured using cardiac coherence, defined as the synchronization of the rhythm of breathing to the rhythm of the heart. We predicted that cardiac coherence would mediate the link between exposure to violent video games and subsequent aggression. Specifically, we predicted that playing a violent video game would decrease cardiac coherence, and that cardiac coherence, in turn, would correlate negatively with aggression. Participants (N = 77) played a violent or nonviolent video game for 20 min. Cardiac coherence was measured before and during game play. After game play, participants had the opportunity to blast a confederate with loud noise through headphones during a reaction time task. The intensity and duration of noise blasts given to the confederate was used to measure aggression. As expected, violent video game players had lower cardiac coherence levels and higher aggression levels than did nonviolent game players. Cardiac coherence, in turn, was negatively related to aggression. This research offers another possible reason why violent games can increase aggression—by inducing stress. Cardiac coherence can be a useful tool to measure stress induced by violent video games. Cardiac coherence has several desirable methodological features as well: it is noninvasive, stable against environmental disturbances, relatively inexpensive, not subject to demand characteristics, and easy to use. Aggr. Behav. 39:64‐70, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Implications of Technology for Social and Emotional Communication

Abstract

Communication technologies are transforming school psychology training and professional practices. To determine the effect of various communication technologies, this exploratory study contrasted three different communication modalities, including the receipt of messages via video, audio, and text. School psychology students were randomly assigned to those three conditions and asked to interpret the emotional intensity of a message conveyed in a case study concerning sexual and psychological abuse. Results showed different response patterns under the various conditions. Members of the group reading a text of the case study rated the emotional intensity as more extreme than did the members of the video and audio groups, both of whom had nonverbal affective information available to them. Practical implications for training and practice are discussed.     

Instructing Parents to Use Dialogic Reading Strategies with Preschool Children

Abstract

Caregiver use of dialogic reading (DR) strategies in home, preschool, and daycare settings has been shown to facilitate development of oral language and emergent literacy skills in toddlers and preschool age children. Training in the use of DR strategies may be provided ‘live’ or via videotape. Using a randomized, control group, repeated measures design with 18 caregiver-child dyads, we investigated (a) caregivers' ability to learn to use DR strategies with their young children through videotape training in community health centers, and (b) children's verbalizations during shared book reading. Caregivers learned to use DR strategies through the videotape training and maintained their use of DR strategies 12 weeks later. In addition, an intervention effect was observed related to levels of child on-task verbalizations such that children of parents who learned DR strategies talked more about books during shared book reading relative to their baseline and to the control group children, whose parents did not view the DR training video.     

The Effect of Self-Observation on Children's Problem Solving

The effects of self-observation on children's problem solving were investigated. Children (N = 124) aged 6-8 years attempted to solve the 3-disc Tower of Hanoi problem. After pretesting, children were grouped into those who (a) practiced solving the problem independently, (b) received instruction on the most efficient solution, (c) observed a videotape recording of their previous attempt, and (d) served as a control. Subsequently, children were immediately tested on the 3-disc problem and a more difficult 4-disc problem. They were tested again 1 week later. Performance was most improved for children in the practice and video conditions on the 4-disc problem. Improvements were maintained over the 1-week interval. Unique characteristics of video self-observation are discussed.     

Video game experience and its influence on visual attention parameters: An investigation using the framework of the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA)

Experts with video game experience, in contrast to non-experienced persons, are superior in multiple domains of visual attention. However, it is an open question which basic aspects of attention underlie this superiority. We approached this question using the framework of Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) with tools that allowed us to assess various parameters that are related to different visual attention aspects (e.g., perception threshold, processing speed, visual short-term memory storage capacity, top-down control, spatial distribution of attention) and that are measurable on the same experimental basis. In Experiment 1, we found advantages of video game experts in perception threshold and visual processing speed; the latter being restricted to the lower positions of the used computer display. The observed advantages were not significantly moderated by general person-related characteristics such as personality traits, sensation seeking, intelligence, social anxiety, or health status. Experiment 2 tested a potential causal link between the expert advantages and video game practice with an intervention protocol. It found no effects of action video gaming on perception threshold, visual short-term memory storage capacity, iconic memory storage, top-down control, and spatial distribution of attention after 15 days of training. However, observations of a selected improvement of processing speed at the lower positions of the computer screen after video game training and of retest effects are suggestive for limited possibilities to improve basic aspects of visual attention (TVA) with practice.     

An evaluation of video-prompting procedures via telehealth to teach first aid skills to children with intellectual and developmental disabilities

Unintentional injuries are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). First aid training involves teaching critical first aid skills, some of which are designed to treat unintentional injuries. To date, no study has (a) evaluated the effects of a video-prompting procedure to teach first aid skills to children with IDD or (b) attempted to teach these skills to children by using a telehealth delivery format. We used a concurrent multiple-baseline-across-skills design to evaluate the efficacy of a video-prompting procedure via telehealth to teach five children with IDD to perform first aid on themselves for insect stings, minor cuts, and minor burns under simulated conditions. For all participants, our procedure produced large improvements that maintained for a minimum of 4 weeks. Furthermore, the effects of the training generalized to novel confederates for all participants, and these effects maintained for a minimum of 4 weeks.