CCOMPETITIVELY VS. COOPERATIVELY:

AN ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF GAME PLAY ON LEVELS OF STRESS

Amanda A. Roy, B.A., Stetson University Christopher J. Ferguson, Ph.D., Stetson University

How it all started

• Competitive and cooperative game play as they relate to stress reduction.

• Stress coping among players.

• Adachi and Willoughby (2011)-- competition over content.

The Present Study

• This study seeks to address the gaps in literature by examining play style in regards to a mildly violent game, as well as the effects of gender on cooperative and competitive game play in regards to participant self-reported stress levels and blood pressures/heart rates

Hypotheses

• H1: Cooperative video game play will reduce stress more

• H2: Participants playing the cooperative game mode will report liking the confederate better.

CMETHODS

Participants

• 100 undergraduate students from a small liberal arts university in Central Florida (44 Male, 56 Female).

• Random assignment into two game play groups (50 competitive, 50 cooperative).

Measures and Technology • Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT-C; Leujez, Kahler, & Brown,

2003)

• A standard blood pressure cuff

• Psychological Stress Measures questionnaire (PSM-9; Lemyre & Tessier, 2009)

• Experiences Survey

Measures and Technology cont.• One-way mirror and an audio recording device

• Observations used to note negatively valenced physical and verbal behaviors during game play, such as cursing out the game or the confederate, and tensing up or shaking the controller.

• Positively valenced behaviors were also recorded such as friendly conversation, laughter, and sinking into the chair/putting their feet up.

Lego: Marvel Superheroes on the Xbox One Console

Competitive Game Mode• Participants assigned to the

Competitive game mode played “against” the confederate in the streets of New York.

• In this mode, the confederate and the participant were instructed to enter a “shooting match” whenever they ran into each other.

Cooperative Game Mode• Participants assigned to the

cooperative game play mode were tasked with playing alongside the confederate in two of the fifteen game levels.

• In this mode, the participant and the confederate were instructed on how to rotate between characters, and what each characters abilities were.

Research Design

• The study used a 2x2x2 (gender x group x time) mixed factorial design.

• Outcome variables consisted of the PSM-9 ratings, the verbal/behavioral observations, the experiences survey rating of the confederate, and the blood pressure/heart rate/self-report scores.

CRESULTS

Heart RateThe only statistically significant time differential was from pre to post, with heart rate declining from before to after game play

Pre Post68

70

72

74

76

78

80

82

CompetitiveCooperative

Systolic BPSystolic pressures decreased in all players from pre to post

Pre Post105

110

115

120

125

130

CompetitiveCooperative

Blood Pressure and Heart Rate• Heart rate declined from pre (M= 78.89, SD= 14.45) to post game play

(M= 73.48, SD= 11.94), [F (1,89)= 31.67, p <.001, r= .51, 95% CI= .35, .64].

• Blood pressure, systolic pressures declined from pre (M=123.19, SD= 25.70) to post (M = 115.04, SD = 36.98), [F (1, 96) = 7.71, p = .007, r = .27, 95% CI = .08, .44].

• No differences were observed due to game condition or gender, or their interaction.

• A trend was also observed for the interaction between game play and group [F (1, 96) = 3.18, p = .078, r = .18, 95% CI = -.02, .36]. But trends are unreliable, we mention it for transparency only.

Self-Report StressSelf Reported Stress declined from pre to post game play

Pre Post24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

CompetitiveCooperative

Self Reported Stress (PSM-9)• Self Reported Stress declined from pre (M= 31.30, SD= 10.36) to

post game play (M = 25.49, SD = 10.21), [F (1, 96) = 56.70, p < .001, r = .61, 95% CI = .47, .72].

• The interaction between time and game condition approached significance [F (1, 96) = 3.44, p = .067, r = .19, 95% CI = -.01, .37].

• Although both competitive and cooperative groups reported reduced stress levels post game play, cooperative players reported slightly more (33.02 to 25.82) reduction in stress than competitive players (29.58 to 25.16).

Confederate positivity Cooperative players rated the confederate more positively than competitive ones did.

Cooperative Competitive4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

4.6

4.7

4.8

4.9Positive ratings of the confederate

Positive ratings of the confed-erate

Confederate Ratings • Results indicated a significant effect for game play with cooperative

players rating the confederate more positively (M=4.84, SD= 0.47) than competitive players (M = 4.40, SD = 0.88), [F (1, 96) = 9.44, p = .003, r = .30, 95% CI = .11, .47].

• Confederate ratings were analyzed post play only using a 2x2 (gender x gameplay) ANOVA.

• It is important to note that ratings were generally positive regardless of condition.

• No significant gender effects were observed.

Behavioral Observations • A negative valence composite score was created by subtracting the

number of positive behaviors and verbalizations from the number of negative ones observed through the mirror and recording device.

• These results were also analyzed using a 2x2 (gender x gameplay) ANOVA.

• Neither group [F (1, 96) = 0.94, p = .335] nor gender were significant predictors of negatively valenced behaviors.

CDISCUSSION

To reiterate

• H1: Cooperative video game play will reduce stress more

• H2: Participants playing the cooperative game mode will report liking the confederate better.

What does it mean?

• H1 was not supported.

• H2 was partially supported.

Limitations • One Game

• One Confederate

• One Cuff

CTHANK YOU