The Impact Of Game Context In Video Games And Player Relationship Types On Individual Prosociality

In today’s era,the rapid development of Internet technology is driving the rapid growth of the game industry.The types and forms of video games are becoming more diverse and popular..Video games have become the main entertainment method for most people,especially teenagers in the Internet age,and their impact on people in all aspects is highly valued by more and more researchers.Based on the multi-personality and interactivity of most video games,in the process of playing video games,the impact of the situational mode of interaction between individuals and others(i.e.game context)and the "playing with whom" in different game contexts(i.e.the type of relationship between players)on individual psychology and behavior cannot be ignored.At present,many studies have discussed the influence of game contexts on individual prosociality,but most of them only focus on the single level of prosocial behavior or helping behavior.There is less research on the impact of individual prosocial cognition and emotion,and less consideration is given to the differences in the impact of game contexts on individual prosociality in the face of different types of relationships among players.In addition,based on the bounded generalized reciprocity theory,reciprocity expectation may play an important mediating role between game contexts and prosocial behavior,but there is a lack of more empirical supplement.Thus,through two experimental studies,this research will explore the influence of different game contexts on individual prosociality in video games and the internal mechanism of reciprocal expectation between game situations and individual prosocial behavior.And further examine the differences of the impact of game contexts on individual prosociality in different types of relationships among players.Study 1 explored the influence of game contexts on individual prosociality(cognition,emotion,behavior)and the mechanism of reciprocal expectation between game contexts and prosocial behavior.94 college students were randomly paired with the same sex and assigned to three experimental conditions: single context,cooperative context and competitive context.After playing the game for 15 minutes,they completed the follow-up experimental tasks and completed the questionnaires.The results showed that:(1)In terms of prosocial cognition,the reaction time to prosocial words in the cooperative group was significantly less than that in the single group,but there was no significant difference between the competitive group and the single group.(2)In terms of prosocial emotion,the reaction time of positive emotional faces in cooperative group was significantly less than that in single group and competitive group,but there was no significant difference between competitive group and single group.(3)In terms of prosocial behavior,the prosocial behavior of game partners and the willingness and investment time of helping strangers outside the game in the cooperative group were significantly higher than those in the single-player group,but there were no significant difference between the competitive group and the single-player group.(4)In terms of reciprocal expectation,the reciprocal expectation of game partners in the cooperative group was significantly higher than that in the single group and the competitive group,but there was no significant difference between the competitive group and the single group.(5)Reciprocity expectation plays an mediating role between the game context and the prosocial behavior of the individual to the game partner.Study 2,based on the different types of relationships(friends / strangers)between players in the game,to further explore the different impact of game context on individual prosociality in video games.180 college students were randomly paired with friends or strangers of the same sex and assigned to three situations: single context,cooperative context and competitive context.After playing the game for 15 minutes,they completed the follow-up experimental tasks and the questionnaires.The results showed that:(1)In terms of prosocial cognition,the response time of subjects to prosocial words in cooperative context was significantly lower than that in single group,there was no significant difference between competitive group and single group,and there was no significant difference in different relationship types.(2)In terms of prosocial emotion,the reaction time of positive emotional faces in cooperative group was significantly lower than that in single group and competitive group,but there was no significant difference between competitive group and single group,and there was no significant difference in different relationship types.(3)In terms of behavior,the prosocial behavior of game partners in cooperative group was significantly higher than that in single group and competitive group,but there was no significant difference between competitive group and single group.However,in the three game contexts,the prosocial behavior of the friend group was significantly higher than that of the stranger group.(4)In terms of reciprocity expectation,the reciprocity expectation of game partners in the cooperation group was significantly higher than that in the competition group,and there was no significant difference between the competition group and the single group.However,in the three game situations,the reciprocity expectation of the friend group was significantly higher than that of the stranger group.(5)In terms of liking and trust,the liking and trust of the game objects in the cooperative group were significantly higher than those in the single group,but there was no significant difference between the competitive group and the single group.There was interaction between game context and relationship type: when the relationship type was stranger,individual liking and trust in cooperative context were significantly higher than that in single and competitive contexts,and no significant difference from the friend group,and when the relationship type was friend,the individual liking and trust in the three game situations had no significant difference.To sum up,the conclusions of this study are as follows:(1)The cooperative context can promote the individual’s prosocial cognition,emotion and prosocial behavior towards the game object and the subsequent,and increase the individual’s expectation of reciprocity,while the competitive context does not significantly reduce the individual prosociality and reciprocal expectation.And reciprocal expectation plays an mediating role between the game context and the individual’s prosocial behavior to the game object.(2)There is no difference in the type of relationship between the influence of game situation on individual prosociality,but no matter what kind of game context,the reciprocal expectation and prosocial behavior of individuals to friends are higher than that of strangers.In addition,the cooperative context can also promote the individual’s liking and trust to the game object,which is different in the type of relationship.When the relationship type is a stranger,the cooperation context will significantly enhance the individual’s liking and trust to the strange game object.At this time,the individual’s liking and trust to the strange game object is not significantly different from that of the friend,but when the relationship type is a friend,different game context have no significant impact on individual liking and trust,and no matter what type of relationship it is,competitive context will not affect individual liking and trust.