Catching more than pocket monsters: Pokémon Go's social and psychological effects on players

ABSTRACT

The augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go has reached unprecedented popularity since its release in 2016. The game has received intense media attention, but scientific inquiry into its popularity and the effects of play are in the early stages. Previous work has used secondary data or simple correlational analysis to draw early conclusions. A seven-day diary study was conducted to investigate potential health, psychological, and social outcomes of daily gameplay. Daily time spent playing Pokémon Go was related to higher scores of life satisfaction, vitality, and greater social interactions and conversation with both friends and strangers, but not with increased daily exercise. Increased total gameplay across the week was associated with increased interaction and conversations along with more exercise. Future directions for this unique type of game along with the need for theoretical development for unique style of games are discussed.     

The production of school violence from a cultural psychology perspective / La producción de violencia escolar desde una perspectiva de la psicología cultural

Abstract

Violence is a complex phenomenon that requires a systemic, multilevel analytical perspective of particular historical and sociocultural contexts and human relations. Here we analyze the multidimensional expressions of violence observed within school contexts, and illustrate our theoretical ideas with data constructed from an empirical study carried out in a public school located at a low-income city close to the capital of Brazil, Brasilia. The study’s goal was to identify different forms of interpersonal violence as well as some of the multiple factors and experiences that might play a role in the emergence and reproduction of violent patterns of interactions and all members of the school community.