| Title |
Virtually numbed: Immersive video gaming alters real-life experience
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, October 2013
|
| DOI | 10.3758/s13423-013-0512-2 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Ulrich W. Weger, Stephen Loughnan |
| Abstract |
As actors in a highly mechanized environment, we are citizens of a world populated not only by fellow humans, but also by virtual characters (avatars). Does immersive video gaming, during which the player takes on the mantle of an avatar, prompt people to adopt the coldness and rigidity associated with robotic behavior and desensitize them to real-life experience? In one study, we correlated participants' reported video-gaming behavior with their emotional rigidity (as indicated by the number of paperclips that they removed from ice-cold water). In a second experiment, we manipulated immersive and nonimmersive gaming behavior and then likewise measured the extent of the participants' emotional rigidity. Both studies yielded reliable impacts, and thus suggest that immersion into a robotic viewpoint desensitizes people to real-life experiences in oneself and others. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 6 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Spain | 1 | 17% |
| Canada | 1 | 17% |
| Germany | 1 | 17% |
| Unknown | 3 | 50% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 5 | 83% |
| Scientists | 1 | 17% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 76 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 2 | 3% |
| Portugal | 2 | 3% |
| United States | 1 | 1% |
| Unknown | 71 | 93% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Bachelor | 13 | 17% |
| Student > Master | 12 | 16% |
| Researcher | 12 | 16% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 10 | 13% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 6 | 8% |
| Other | 11 | 14% |
| Unknown | 12 | 16% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 20 | 26% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 9 | 12% |
| Computer Science | 7 | 9% |
| Business, Management and Accounting | 4 | 5% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 3 | 4% |
| Other | 15 | 20% |
| Unknown | 18 | 24% |