title: Playing prosocial video games increases the accessibility of prosocial thoughts.
abstract: Past research has provided abundant evidence that playing violent video games increases aggressive tendencies. In contrast, evidence on possible positive effects of video game exposure on prosocial tendencies has been relatively sparse. The present research tested and found support for the hypothesis that exposure to prosocial video games increases the accessibility of prosocial thoughts. These results provide support to the predictive validity of the General Learning Model (Buckley & Anderson, 2006) for the effects of exposure to prosocial media on social tendencies. Thus, depending on the content of the video game, playing video games can harm but may also benefit social relations.
authors.affiliation: University of Innsbruck, Psychology Department, Maximilianstr. 2, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. tobias.greitemeyer@uibk.ac.at
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Greitemeyer
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Osswald
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012919:Social Behavior; D012951:Socialization; D013850:Thinking; D018910:Video Games / Q000523:psychology*; D014754:Violence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult