Archive for March, 2011

Video games attract millions of players and billions of dollars of revenue. What makes them so alluring? Here are some thoughts: They use reinforcement and shaping. Having your character meet some challenge tends to be reinforcing by itself because of our strong desire to achieve. Games often reward effective players with gifts of extra time, power, or opportunities. The best games adjust difficulty level to fit each player, so that the challenge is stiff but within the range of the possible, making reinforcement intermittent. The best games have story lines that put the player into exciting (reinforcing) roles with a clear mission involved. Players interact with friends and with villains. Hence, there is usually the tension of good vs. evil. Failure exists as a constant risk, but the opportunity to try again and again is a countervailing blessing.

What psychological lessons can we take from the success of video games? Here are several:

1. Humans, including students and psychotherapy clients, like challenges. Think of athletes and warriors.
2. Everyone likes a chance to start again. Think of criminals and individuals who have gone bankrupt.
3. Humans like taking actions and seeing what happens. Think of gamblers.
4. Immediate success/failure feedback can be very motivating. Think of archers and target shooters
5. Humans like carrying out missions. Think of soldiers.
6. Humans like to know who is good and who is bad. Think of the formation of nations, religions, etc.
7. Humans like to interact with others. Think of individuals at a Rotary or AA meeting.
8. Humans like roles. Think of police officers, teachers, rebels.

What psychological lessons of the success of video games have I missed?

Thanks to Ashley Emmerton for suggesting this blog topic.

John Malouff, PhD, JD
Associate Professor of Psychology

Self-compassion is in the news thanks to a forthcoming book on the subject by Kristin Neff:  “Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind.”  Self-compassion involves being kind to yourself, even if you make mistakes. Individuals with high levels of self-compassion tend to feel happier and less stressed than other individuals. Perfectionists with self-compassion try hard, criticize their own mistakes but not themselves, and do their best to learn from the mistakes. You can take a test at nnn to check your level of self compassion. Go to Neff’s web page at http://www.self-compassion.org/ and click on “How self-compassionate are you?” My score on the questionnaire was above average — I tend not to get down on myself.

If you want to increase your level of self-compassion, what can you do? I suggest setting a daily goal to show self-compassion and keeping a record every day indicating to what extent you met the goal. Another strategy is to try to speak to yourself (in your thoughts) as respectfully and positively as you speak to others. Neff’s web site and book present additional ideas.

What do you do that shows self-compassion? What are the effects of that?

John Malouff, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology