Positive Effects of Entertainment Technology on Human Behaviour Essay Example

VOD (including music on demand), computer game, game console, video arcade, gambling machine, internet (e. g. chat room, board and card games, MUD), intelligent toy, edutainment, simulation, VR, and upcoming service robots.

Meta review approach

This paper presents the preliminary results of a literature search and review. We searched for the following keywords (context-specific in different combinations): ‘academic achievement, altruism, ANOVA, attainment, children, computer, education, edutainment, entertainment, gamble, game, meta-analysis, PDF, performance, pet, positive effect, religion, robot, school record, review, survey, technology, therapy, user study, video’, using the following search engines/databases: ‘ACM Digital Library, IEEE Computer Society Digital Library, Internet via Google, ISI web of science, Kluwer online, LookSmart, Prentice-Hall, Science Direct, Scirus for scientific information, SpringerLink, Wiley Interscience.

We could find, select and process 393 online available publications according to the following categories: meta-review (N=34), meta-analysis (N=13), literature review (N=38), literature survey (N=36), empirical study (N=91), survey study (N=44), design study (N=91), any other document (N=46) (for a complete reference list see [27]). The preliminary and selective results presented in this paper summarize the research so far available on how the use of entertainment technology affects human daily life in a positive and promising manner.

General Remarks

It has to be pointed out that addiction, racism, sexism, violence, etc are not new inventions of the entertainment and game industry and would not disappear from the world, where games are abolished. They should better be seen as a reflection of underlying dimensions of a society or culture into economical and socially accepted artifacts. In this respect criticism of games can not be separated from a fundamental critique of the society which produces, accept, and promote these games.

It could be shown

that misunderstanding is endemic in the Western culture because most Western societies tend to believe that the best way to a common goal is by rigorous and often aggressive disputes. Therefore a lot of confrontational public forums are established, from congressional politics to media hearings. Tannen argues that thoughtful debate and real understanding get lost in all Positive Effects of Entertainment Technology on Human Behaviour 53 these disputes.

She suggests considering other methods of communication and offers a survey of mostly non-Western ways of dealing with conflict, including the use of intermediaries and rituals. It is our responsibility as researchers, engineers, politicians, parents, and educators to pay attention to all relevant issues and to discuss them in the proper context of references and values so that the entertainment industry can be enabled to make correct choices for their future developments. How can we get an appropriate orientation, given the fact that controversial discussions take place

Results and recommendations effects in educational context play: People who have been allowed and encouraged to play stand the best chance of becoming healthy, happy, and productive members of society. Some positive aspects of playing can promote literacy, thinking, reflection and creativity. General development: Games require the use of logic, memory, problem-solving and critical thinking skills, visualization, and discovery. Their use requires that players manipulate objects using electronic tools and develop an understanding of the game as a complex system.

Play is an effective teaching strategy both inside and outside school. According to Goldstein “more than 40 studies concludes that play enhances early development by at least 33%”. Play with games and toys is an important part of child development to acquire a

variety of skills for life, such as motor coordination, social and cognitive skills. As societies become increasingly concerned about the physical and psychological well-being of children, the value of playing and learning is getting crucial.

Players can progress from newcomer to expert, in particular in belonging to a social system.

Teaching: If computer games are to become part of educational settings, it is crucial to question existing stereotypes and to ensure that the culture of games players in education conforms to neither. It is teachers’ stereotypes that resist change and not people; therefore, by interrogating conceptions of these stereotypes it is possible to avoid falling into the error of believing them to be exclusive descriptors of games players.

Academic performance: In a research program the use of electronic communication and games with children was investigated in both classroom and after-school settings for nearly 15 years. The after-school program was called “The Fifth Dimension”, and include the typical uses of home computers, such as educational software, computer games, searching the 54 Matthias Rauterberg Internet, and multi-user dungeons (MUD) activities. Subject matter includes social development, geography, communications, reading, writing, math, social studies, health, technology, language, and problem-solving.

Computer games and Internet activities are based in a social and cognitive context that includes a ladder of challenges. This research program's effects include advances in reading and mathematics, computer knowledge, following directions, grammar, and school achievement tests. A considerable body of research has examined the effects of computer use on academic performance. Reviews of this literature typically conclude that the results are preliminary. Although benefits of computer use have been observed, they typically depend on a variety of factors (mainly on context

of use and content).

The only positive cognitive effect has been consistently observed is visual-spatial skills. Gaming in 2D or 3D applications contributes to visual-spatial skills, at least when these skills are assessed immediately after the computer activity.

Effects on Social Behavour

Collaboration: Collaborative game playing necessitates the development of social skills, for example in order to decide on, define and agree on goals. All of these features should be usefully incorporated into the next generation of computer games that will support positive effects on the social and intellectual development of the users.

In a meta-analysis study, 122 empirical studies on the effect of competition on the result of players’ improvement are reviewed. This meta-analysis included every study that could be found on achievement in cooperative, competitive and/or individualistic tasks (not only games and play). 65 studies found that co-operation tasks promotes higher achievement than, competitive tasks, 8 found the reverse, and 36 found no statistically significant difference. Co-operation tasks promoted higher achievement than, individualistic tasks in 108 studies, while 6 found the reverse, and 42 found no difference.

The superiority of cooperation could be justified for higher achievement for all subject areas and all age groups. Prosocial behavior: The results of a meta-analysis about positive effects of television on social behavior indicate clearly that prosocial content of entertainment technology does have positive effects as follows:

“Children exposed to prosocial content have more positive social interactions, show more altruistic behavior and self-control, and have less stereotyped views of others. The strongest effects of prosocial content were found for measures of altruism. Relying on children’s ability to pick out the moral messages from programs that feature violence or conflict and some prosocial

resolution may backfire, leading to more aggression than merely showing the conflict. Effects of prosocial content are often strongest when Positive Effects of Entertainment Technology on Human Behaviour 55 viewing is combined with discussion. The effect sizes overall ranged from small to medium.  Effects of prosocial content were strongest for pre-school and grade-school children, diminishing in adolescence.  Effects are somewhat stronger for girls than for boys”

In a more recent literature review, the following results are presented “game playing did not impact the social network and characteristics of interactions among children”, “socially anxious and lonely people find more honest and intimate human relationships with others on the Internet than in the real world, and they tend to successfully integrate these online relationships into their offline lives”

Recommendations: Cole's results indicate that well designed computer games and Internet activities for home use can have a lasting positive impact on children's academic performance. The design of entertainment products should focus on prosocial and altruistic content. Based on the results of Johnson’s meta-analysis cooperative entertainment systems are strongly recommended. The results of an experimental study show that separated audio communication lines per team should be provided to increase cooperation among team members.

Therapeutic Effects ealth Care: The introduction of the ‘mental commit’ robot pet Paro in a hospital environment showed promising results: the mood of children and elderly patients could be positively changed. Turnin et al could find a positive influence of a computer game on 2000 children for nutritional teaching. “In conclusion, it is possible for children to learn good eating habits by playing computer games”. Hyperactivity: Early research suggests that active play may reduce impulsivity thereby helping children with attention

deficit and hyperactivity disorder.

Goldstein concludes that play is of fundamental importance to children, but it is not always recognized and fully appreciated by adults and society. Playing is fun and contributes to children’s happiness, but it is also vital to their health and well-being.

Phobia: Using a low-cost commercial computer game VR application with a head-mounted display applied to phobic and non-phobic persons resulted in a sufficient amount of immersion and presence for the phobic patients to be useful for therapeutic settings.

Recommendations: “The photogenic effectiveness of the inexpensive hardware and software used in this study shows that VR technology is sufficiently advanced for exposure therapy to move into the clinical mainstream”. The authors conclude that low-cost, therapeutic applications based on desktop games are superior to their expensive 56 Matthias Rauterberg commercial counterparts. Mental commit robots and computer games with proper content have positive health effects as well.

Conclusions

So far, two main conclusions can be drawn: not the technology in its self, but the content of the product or service really matters, the context of use is almost as important as the content. If the content and the context of use are properly designed, positive effects on the users can be achieved. The following contents and contexts of use can maximize positive effects on human behavior of different ages (children, adults, elderly): prosocial content, game-like computer-aided instructions/learning application, and robot pets in a multi-user, collaborative, educative or therapeutic setting.

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