Effects of Prosocial Video Games on Prosocial Thoughts and Prosocial Behaviors

Abstract

In this study, we examined the prosocial video game (PVG) versus neutral video game (NVG) effects on children’s prosocial behaviors. The first objective is to rate and choose the PVG and NVG by 67 experts. The second objective is to test whether playing a PVG can increase prosocial thoughts and behaviors. The third objective is to test the gender effects on prosocial thoughts and behaviors. The final objective is to assess the mediation effect of prosocial thoughts on prosocial behaviors. One hundred and 76 children (50% girls; Mage = 4.89, SD = 0.79) recruited from a Chinese kindergarten participated in the 2 (Game) x 2 (Gender) factorial experiment. Half of them were randomly assigned to play a PVG or an NVG for 20 minutes. Prosocial thoughts were measured by reaction time (RT) to prosocial pictures in the Picture Decision Task (PDT), while prosocial behaviors were measured by difficulty of jigsaw chosen for the “virtual components” in the Tangram Jigsaw Task (TJT). Results were that brief exposure of children to a PVG increased their prosocial thoughts and prosocial behaviors. More precisely, boys reported higher accessibility of prosocial thoughts and more prosocial behaviors than girls. The PVG effect on prosocial behaviors was mediated by prosocial thoughts. These findings suggest that increasing PVG exposure and training prosocial thoughts were effective ways to promote the positive development of prosocial behavior during early childhood.