Abstract
Prosocial and violent games were investigated in relation to empathy with avatars and amount of postgame donation. Participants who played a prosocial game demonstrated greater empathy, while those who played a violent game said they would donate a greater amount of money. Flow was found to be a function of the 3-way interaction between game type, self-perception, and regulatory focus. Higgins's (1987) regulatory focus and self-discrepancy (1997) theories are used to explain the underlying theoretical mechanisms behind these results.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1175-1182 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Social Behavior and Personality |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2011 |
Keywords
- Charitable donation
- Empathy
- Flow
- Ideal self
- Ought self
- Prosocial games
- Self-discrepancy
- Violent games
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology