Playing Prosocial Video Games Increases Empathy and Decreases Schadenfreude

Emotion

Volumn 10, Issue 6, 2010, Pages 796-802

  Greitemeyer, Tobias ^a   Osswald, Silvia ^b   Brauer, Markus ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF INNSBRUCK   (Austria)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH   (Germany)

^c UNIVERSITÉ CLERMONT AUVERGNE   (France)

Author keywords

Empathy; Media effects; Schadenfreude; Video games

Indexed keywords

ADULT; AFFECT; AGGRESSION; ARTICLE; BEHAVIOR; FEMALE; GAME; HUMAN; HUMAN EXPERIMENT; MALE; NORMAL HUMAN; VIDEO GAME; VIOLENCE;

ADULT; ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER; EMPATHY; FEMALE; HUMANS; INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS; MALE; VIDEO GAMES;

EID: 78650681956     PISSN: 15283542     EISSN: 19311516     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1037/a0020194     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. Anderson C.A., Bushman B.J. Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology 2002, 53:27-51.
2. Anderson C.A., Carnagey N.L., Eubanks J. Exposure to violent media: The effects of songs with violent lyrics on aggressive thoughts and feelings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003, 84:960-971.
3. Anderson C.A., Dill K.E. Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2000, 78:772-790.
4. Anderson C.A., Ford C.M. Affect of the game player: Short term effects of highly and mildly aggressive video games. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 1986, 12:390-402.
5. Anderson C.A., Gentile D.A., Buckley K.E. Violent video game effect on children and adolescents. Theory, research and public policy 2007, Oxford University Press, New York.
6. Anderson C.A., Shibuya A., Ihori N., Swing E.L., Bushman B.J., Sakamoto A., Saleem M. Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in Eastern and Western countries. Psychological Bulletin 2010, 136:151-173.
7. Bartholow B.D., Anderson C.A. Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2002, 38:283-290.
8. Bartholow B.D., Bushman B.J., Sestir M.A. Chronic violent video game exposure and desensitization to violence: Behavioral and event-related brain potential data. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2006, 42:532-539.
9. Batson C.D. The altruism question: Towards a social-psychological answer 1991, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
10. Batson C.D., Eklund J.H., Chermok V.L., Hoyt J.L., Ortiz B.G. An additional antecedent of empathic concern: Valuing the welfare of the person in need. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2007, 93:65-74.
11. Buckley K.E., Anderson C.A. A theoretical model of the effects and consequences of playing video games. Playing video games: Motives, responses, and consequences 2006, 363-378. Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ. P. Vorderer, J. Bryant (Eds.).
12. Bushman B.J., Anderson C.A. Violent video games and hostile expectations: A test of the general aggression model. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2002, 28:1679-1686.
13. Bushman B.J., Anderson C.A. Comfortably numb: Desensitizing effects of violent media on helping others. Psychological Science 2009, 20:273-277.
14. Carnagey N.L., Anderson C.A., Bushman B.J. The effect of video game violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2007, 43:489-496.
15. DeWall C.N., Baumeister R.F. Alone but feeling no pain: Effects of social exclusion on physical pain tolerance and pain threshold, affective forecasting, and interpersonal empathy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2006, 91:1-15.
16. Dietz T.L. An examination of violence and gender role portrayals in video games: Implications for gender socialization and aggressive behavior. Sex Roles 1998, 38:425-442.
17. Feather N.T. Attitudes towards high achievers and reactions to their fall: Theory and research concerning tall poppies. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 1994, 26:1-73.
18. Feather N.T. Values, achievement, and justice: Studies in the psychology of deservingness 1999, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press, New York.
19. Feather N.T., Sherman R. Envy, resentment, Schadenfreude, and sympathy: Reactions to deserved and undeserved achievement and subsequent failure. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2002, 28:953-961.
20. Fischer P., Greitemeyer T. Music and aggression. The impact of sexual-aggressive song lyrics on aggression-related thoughts, emotions and behavior toward the same and the opposite sex. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2006, 32:1165-1176.
21. Funk J.B., Buchman D.D., Jenks J., Bechtoldt H. Playing violent video games, desensitization, and moral evaluation in children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 2003, 24:413-436.
22. Galinsky A.D., Moskowitz G.B. Perspective-taking: Decreasing stereotype expression, stereotype accessibility, and ingroup favoritism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2000, 78:708-724.
23. Gentile D.A., Anderson C.A., Yukawa S., Ihori N., Saleem M., Ming L.K., Sakamoto A. The effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behaviors: International evidence from correlational, longitudinal, and experimental studies. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2009, 35:752-763.
24. Greitemeyer T. Effects of songs with prosocial lyrics on prosocial thoughts, affect, and behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2009, 45:186-190.
25. Greitemeyer T. Effects of songs with prosocial lyrics on prosocial behavior: Further evidence and a mediating mechanism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2009, 35:1500-1511.
26. Greitemeyer T., Osswald S. Prosocial video games reduce aggressive cognitions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2009, 45:896-900.
27. Greitemeyer T., Osswald S. Effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2010, 98:211-221.
28. Hareli S., Werner B. Dislike and envy as antecedents of pleasure at another's misfortune. Motivation and Emotion 2002, 26:257-277.
29. Heider F. The psychology of interpersonal relations 1958, Wiley, New York.
30. Huesmann L.R., Miller L.S. Long-term effects of repeated exposure to media violence in childhood. Aggressive behavior: Current perspectives 1994, 153-186. Plenum Press, New York. L.R. Huesmann (Ed.).
31. Huston A.C., Wright J.C., Marquis J., Green S.B. How young children spend their time: Television and other activities. Developmental Psychology 1999, 35:912-925.
32. Leach C.W., Spears R. Dejection at in-group defeat and schadenfreude toward second- and third-party groups. Emotion 2009, 5:659-665.
33. Leach C.W., Spears R., Branscombe N.R., Doosje B. Malicious pleasure: Schadenfreude at the suffering of another group. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003, 84:932-943.
34. Maner J.K., Gailliot M. Altruism and egoism: Prosocial motivations for helping depend on relationship context. European Journal of Social Psychology 2007, 37:347-358.
35. Smith R.H., Turner T.J., Garonzik R., Leach C.W., Urch-Druskat V., Weston C.M. Envy and schadenfreude. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 1996, 22:158-168.
36. Van Schie E.G., Wiegman O. Children and videogames: Leisure activities, aggression, social integration and school performance. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 1997, 27:1175-1194.
37. Walsh D., Gentile D., Gieske J., Walsh M., Chasco E. Eighth annual video game report card 2003, December, National Institute on Media and the Family, Minneapoli, MN.