Communication & Media Psychology: Understanding Processing to Understand Processes

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

COMMUNICATION & MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY: UNDERSTANDING PROCESSING TO UNDERSTAND PROCESSES

Bowman, N.D.

31 July 2013

Universität MünsterMedia and Interaction Lab

http://serious.gameclassification.com/EN/about/article.html


OUTLINE

• Task Demand as Selective Exposure • Pleasures as Control + Cognition• Violence as a Many-Splintered Thing• Real Habits as Virtual Behaviors


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSJaime Banks

Frank Biocca

Ian Bogost

Jennings Bryant

Yen-Shen Chen

Mun-Young Chung

Elizabeth Cohen

Leyla Dogruel

Allison Eden

Sven Joeckel

Alexander Lancaster

Ryan Lange

Amanda Lange

Mary Beth Oliver

Brett Sherrick

Art Raney

Ryan Rogers

Christina Schumann

Daniel Schultheiss

John Sherry

Ron Tamborini

Rene Weber

Julia Woolley

Many, Many More


BACKGROUNDCommunication & Media Psychology


WHO AM I?

• BA/MA, U Missouri-St. Louis• Fmr. media professional • PhD, Michigan State U• Experimental research• Path analyses as process

models


S O R

Stimulus Response


S O R

Stimulus Response

Organism


S O R


THE “MEAT”Communication & Media Psychology


• Are video games good mood managers? – YES: they are more distracting that other

forms of media– NO: they are too complicated

• Question posted by Bryant and Davies (2006) with very little empirical follow-up

TASK DEMAND AS SELECTIVE EXPOSURE






PLEASURES OF CONTROL + COGNITION• Games tend to feature “adolescent fantasies

of gladiator battles and zombie shootouts”• 2009 = Year of the “Grown-Up” Game• Can games be both fun and meaningful?

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/36968970/ns/technology_and_science-games/t/video-games-get-real-grow/#.UfWSn403CSo


PLEASURES OF CONTROL + COGNITION

http://www.slideshare.net/bowmanspartan1/video-games-as-meaningful-entertainment-exeriences


PLEASURES OF CONTROL + COGNITION• 97.6% fun vs. 71.9%

meaningful• “insight” as separate need• “Pleasure of Control”• “Pleasure of Cognition”


PLEASURES OF CONTROL + COGNITION

Enjoyment AppreciationStep 1: Controls Gender -.05 -.22***

Age -.09 -.10+

∆R2 .01 .06***

Step 2: Intrinsic Needs Competence .47*** -.02 Autonomy .13* .02 Relatedness .01 .36***

Insight -.05 .58***

∆R2 .28*** .69***

Step 3: CA Identification -.08 -.01 Suspension of Disbelief .00 .03 Control .12* -.06+

Responsibility -.08 .10**

∆R2 .02+ .01+


PLEASURES OF CONTROL + COGNITION• Implications

??


• Which of these is violent?

VIOLENCE AS A MANY-SPLINTERED THING


• Content is not “just” violent

VIOLENCE AS A MANY-SPLINTERED THING

Violence

Graphicness Realism Justification


VIOLENCE AS A MANY-SPLINTERED THING• Blood Reign (+G, -R, -J)

– Very Violent– Least Preferred

• Bloody Justice (+G, +R, +J)– Most Violent– Most* Preferred

• Underlord (-G, +R, -J) – Somewhat Violent– Most Preferred

• Mystic Battle (-G, -R, +J) – Least Violent– Somewhat Preferred

http://bit.ly/SwgUTF


VIOLENCE AS A MANY-SPLINTERED THING• Of course, this all

focused on enjoyment…but what about appreciation?

• Narrative justification vs. user justification


REAL HABITS AS VIRTUAL BEHAVIOR

• How virtual is virtual?– Media used in habit

training– Our minds don’t

separate “actual” and “virtual”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtN1YnoL46Q


Walking as dominant lifestyle activityStep one

Video game skill -.382 -3.05 .004Body shame .338 2.71 .010

F(2,47) = 12.6p < .001

R2 = .348

Step twoVideo game skill -.387 -3.08 .003

Body shame .326 2.59 .013Experimental condition

(0 = waypoint, 1 = freeplay)-.109 -.919 .363

F(4,46) = .844p = .363

ΔR2 = .012

REAL HABITS AS VIRTUAL BEHAVIOR

β T Sig.Walking not dominant lifestyle activity

Step oneVideo game skill -.264 -1.72 .093

Body shame .165 1.07 .289 F(2,47) = 3.78

p = .030R2 = .139

Step twoVideo game skill -.189 -1.24 .221

Body shame .218 1.45 .154Experimental condition

(0 = waypoint, 1 = freeplay)-.285 -2.21 .039

F(3,46) = 4.50p = .039

ΔR2 = .077


REAL HABITS AS VIRTUAL BEHAVIOR• Implications

– , in decreasingly-”virtual” spaces, real habits = virtual habits

– IDs external predictors of observed game choices


OTHER PUBLISHED OR IN PROGRESS WORK• How does the presence of an audience influence the media experience?

– Makes us try harder (Media Psychology [link])– Induces contagion (NCA ‘13 Top Paper [link])

• How might moral salience influence media usage?– Results in variable content in different (sub)cultures (Mass Communication and

Society [link])– Transforms “game (random)” behaviors to “gut (biased” ones (Media Psychology

[link])

• How does character identification work? – Allows us to use avatars as tools or as social beings (AoIR ‘13 [link])– Explains pro-social and anti-social gameplay (CyberPsychology [link]

Side-Projects• “Big Data” privacy perceptions

& networked cultures • Corporate cyber-bullying• Social media & sports• Subjective quality in games• Learning German• Understanding Canada• Consuming *all of the media*

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15213269.2012.742360

http://www.academia.edu/3683503/Are_u_With_Some1_Using_Text_Message_Experience_Sampling_to_Examine_the_Relationship_Between_Co-Viewing_Enjoyment_and_Eudaimonia

http://www.academia.edu/3982663/The_Morality_of_May_2_2011_A_content_analysis_of_US_headlines_regarding_the_death_of_Osama_bin_Laden

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15213269.2012.727218

http://onmediatheory.blogspot.de/2013/05/close-intimate-playthings-understanding.html

http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cyber.2011.0311


FOR MORE INFORMATION

• Nick Bowman, Ph.D. [CV]Twitter (@bowmanspartan)Skype (nicholasdbowman)[email protected]

Media and Interaction Lab

http://ndbowman.info/cv.htm

mailto:[email protected]

Communication & Media Psychology: Understanding Processing to Understand Processes

Education

control cognition violence

violent violence

selective exposure pleasures

splintered thing real

forms of media

video game skill

virtual behaviors

virtual behavior t