Graduate school response #2

Now I’m truly fucked, I got my rejection letter from the psychology department at the University of Michigan. So it seems I won’t research video game effects on aggressive behaviours.

Now I only have one grad school left to hear from. Ryerson University, my last backup grad school left. If you’re reading this and you’re a professional in the video game industry, journalism, advocacy group or anything related. If you’re looking for someone to hire in Montreal or somewhere “close-by”, I will graduating with a BA in psychology with extensive knowledge of video game research, I have good writing skills, excellent analytical skills, intensely hard-working on any tasks at hand, mellowed during stressful or boring times and a penchant for organization.

If you like what you read in this blog and would like to know more on video game psychological research. Please give me a sign of support (financially or sending recent journal articles to me or leaving a comment in the knowledge that someone is listening)

Physiological and emotional responses to violent events in an FPS game (Ravaja et al., 2008)

I recently learned the term science journalism and what I am doing approximate to that: Reporting on scientific findings for the general public, or in this case to gamers.

 Anyways, I was browsing in kotaku when an article in gamecritics.com had made a reference to study about participants emotional and physiological responses to violent events. Since I’m still an undergraduate student, I am so busy with a lot of things that I feel that this blog is neglected…

 Abstract

The authors examined emotional valence- and arousal-related phasic psychophysiological responses to different violent events in the first-person shooter video game “James Bond 007: NightFire” among 36 young adults. Event-related changes in zygomaticus major, corrugator supercilii, and orbicularis oculi electromyographic (EMG) activity and skin conductance level (SCL) were recorded, and the participants rated their emotions and the trait psychoticism based on the Psychoticism dimension of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire–Revised, Short Form. Wounding and killing the opponent elicited an increase in SCL and a decrease in zygomatic and orbicularis oculi EMG activity. The decrease in zygomatic and orbicularis oculi activity was less pronounced among high Psychoticism scorers compared with low Psychoticism scorers. The wounding and death of the player’s own character (James Bond) elicited an increase in SCL and zygomatic and orbicularis oculi EMG activity and a decrease in corrugator activity. Instead of joy resulting from victory and success, wounding and killing the opponent may elicit high-arousal negative affect (anxiety), with high Psychoticism scorers experiencing less anxiety than low Psychoticism scorers. Although counterintuitive, the wounding and death of the player’s own character may increase some aspect of positive emotion.

Graduate school response #1

Approximately one month ago, I sent my graduate application to the University of Michigan’s communication studies in the hopes of the studying the psychology of video games. On February 19, 2008, I receive their response:

The Ph.D. Program in Mass Communication at the University of Michigan receives many more applications than the number of positions available.  I regret we must inform you that you have not been recommended for admission to the program for the Fall of 2007. 

We had a large pool of qualified applicants this year. Due to the program’s limited size, able students often fail to gain admission because others, whose plans of study or aptitudes are more suited to the program, have applied.

We wish you success in your academic plans and appreciate the interest you expressed in doing advanced work here.

With this rejection letter, it might the mean the path in academia might not be open for me for a good while or closed for good. I say this because I also applied to the University of Michigan’s psychology department as well, it is also tougher than communication studies to get into.

As of now, I am waiting for two more responses from grad schools I applied to. I could have applied to 4 more grad schools, but many of the professors I contacted either had a full complement of grad students or their institutions don’t have a graduate program.

To anyone, gamer, journalist or anyone,  what can an avid and knowledgeable gamer with a B.A. in psychology can do in life and in a career?

Most importantly for this blog, will my soon-to-be-lost university library connection and soon-to-be arrested academic development render this blog useless in the coming months?

Gender differences in brain activations while playing video games (Hoeft et al., 2008)

gamepolitics.com had posted a study that was mentioned by a news radio about how men are more likely to be addicted to video games than women. Following the comments in gamepolitics.com, it seems that again we need someone to read the article directly in order to present all the information to prevent any misinformation. More details can be found in the news release from Stanford’s School of medicine.

Abstract

Little is known about the underlying neural processes of playing computer/video games, despite the high prevalence of its gaming behavior, especially in males. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging study contrasting a space-infringement game with a control task, males showed greater activation and functional connectivity compared to females in the mesocorticolimbic system. These findings may be attributable to higher motivational states in males, as well as gender differences in reward prediction, learning reward values and cognitive state during computer video games. These gender differences may help explain why males are more attracted to, and more likely to become “hooked” on video games than females.

Fumiko Hoeft, initially misspelled as Fumiko Hayft, and colleagues conducted a study to look into gender differences in brain activations while playing a simple video game.

Now in their short literature review, they described studies that have found that addiction to video games are more likely to occur among men than women. (Griffiths & Hunt, 1998). Along with other brain scan studies that show brain activations while playing video games. So they decided to look at specific areas of the brain, the mesocorticolimbic system, and see whether there are gender differences.

Video games and positive adolescent development (Durkin & Barber, 2002)

It’s a bit old, but since people have been talking about negative effects of video games on children, I thought getting some positive might cheer people and gamers up.

Abstract

It has been speculated that computer game play by young people has negative correlates or consequences, although little evidence has emerged to support these fears. An alternative possibility is that game play may be associated with positive features of development, as the games reflect and contribute to participation in a challenging and stimulating voluntary leisure environment. This study examined the relationship between game play and several measures of adjustment or risk taking in a sample of 1,304 16-year-old high school students. No evidence was obtained of negative outcomes among game players. On several measures–including family closeness, activity involvement, positive school engagement, positive mental health, substance use, self-concept, friendship network, and disobedience to parents–game players scored more favorably than did peers who never played computer games. It is concluded that computer games can be a positive feature of a healthy adolescence. 

 

Affective response to video games: effects of personality, gender and in-game reinforcement (Chumbley & Griffiths, 2006)

I am getting the impression that American and European psychologists have differing views on video game effects.

Abstract

Previous research on computer games has tended to concentrate on their more negative effects (e.g., addiction, increased aggression). This study departs from the traditional clinical and social learning explanations for these behavioral phenomena and examines the effect of personality, in-game reinforcement characteristics, gender, and skill on the emotional state of the game-player. Results demonstrated that in-game reinforcement characteristics and skill significantly effect a number of affective measures (most notably excitement and frustration). The implications of the impact of game-play on affect are discussed with reference to the concepts of “addiction” and “aggression.”