The Psychological Mechanism Of Prosocial Video Game In Influencing Players’ Helping Intention

Considerable studies showed that violent video games had negative effects on the players’ internal state and their behaviors. However, the effects of video games were not always negative, and recent studies found that the somewhat positive effects of prosocial video games on the players’internal state and their behaviors. The present research examined the effect of prosocial video games on cognition and affect of players and the respective mediated roles of cognition and affect between game content and prosocial behavior tendency as well as the moderated role of agreeable personality trait between game content and helping intention based on the General Learning Model. This paper constituted of four parts. Study1examined the effect of prosocial video game on explicit (experiment1) and implicit (experiment2) humanity; Study2examined the effect of prosocial video game on players’empathy (experiment3); Study3examined the mediated roles of humanity and empathy between game types and helping intention (experiment4); Study4examined the moderated role of agreeable personality trait between game types and helping intention and also examined the mediated roles of humanity and empathy between the interactive effect of game types and agreeable personality trait on helping intention (experiment5). The results were as following:1. Playing a prosocial game, compared to playing a neutral game, led to increase players’ explicit self-humanity as well as explicit other-humanity. Moreover, these effects could not be accounted for by how enjoyable, exciting, or frustrating the game was.2. Playing a prosocial game, compared to playing a neutral game, led to increase players’ implicit self-humanity as well as implicit other-humanity. Moreover, these effects could not be accounted for by how enjoyable, exciting, or frustrating the game was.3. Playing a prosocial game, compared to playing a neutral game, led to increase players’ empathy.4. The types of video game influenced helping intention significantly. That is, playing a prosocial game, compared to playing a neutral game, led to increase players’ helping intention.5. The effect of game types on helping intention was mediated by other-humanity.6. The content of prosocial video game influenced players’ empathy differently, and then the effect of mediated role of empathy between game types and helping intention was different.8. The effect of agreeable personality trait on helping intention was independent of game types.