Playing and working together : can video games increase real world cooperation? : presented to the Faculty of the Department of Psychology, Massey University, New Zealand in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology

Abstract

Video games are incredibly popular and their prevalence in society increases year to year. Looking at the effects of video games, research has found that cooperative gameplay results in increased cooperation post-game. However, these findings have been mixed, and accordingly the true effects of in-game cooperation are unclear. This study investigated the relationship between short-term cooperation in a video game and post-game cooperative behaviour. Sixty participants were randomly assigned to play a non-violent game (Portal 2) either by themselves, or in a split-screen cooperative game mode for 20 minutes. Following this, cooperation was measured both by a digital form of the give-some dilemma (a coin sharing game) and by the Everyday Cooperation Scale (self-report questionnaire). As prior research has identified social dominance orientations as an important factor in cooperation, participants also completed a questionnaire assessing their Social Dominance Orientation. Based on the General Learning Model and past research, it was predicted that participants who played cooperatively would show higher cooperation levels post-game than those who played the same game in single-player mode. Results did not support the core hypothesis.--Shortened abstract