![Page 1: Video Games, Psychology, and the Brain Tim Brunelle](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022013112/56649cdb5503460f949a5bc2/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Video Games, Psychology, and the
BrainTim Brunelle
![Page 2: Video Games, Psychology, and the Brain Tim Brunelle](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022013112/56649cdb5503460f949a5bc2/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Why study video games?
• In the U.S., 99% of boys under 18 and 94% of girls under 18 play videogames regularly
• The average young person spends 10,000 hours playing video games by the age of 21 – just 24 hours less than they spend in high school and middle school combined, if they have perfect attendance
• That’s a lot of time!
![Page 3: Video Games, Psychology, and the Brain Tim Brunelle](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022013112/56649cdb5503460f949a5bc2/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Why study video games?
• 2 out of 3 teen play action or adventure games – these often have violent content
• 32% of gaming teens report that at least one of their favorite games is rated M (or worse)
• 12-14 year-olds are just as likely to play these games as 15-17 year-olds
• So teenagers are playing a lot of these games
![Page 4: Video Games, Psychology, and the Brain Tim Brunelle](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022013112/56649cdb5503460f949a5bc2/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
How do we study video games?
• The most common tool in psychology is actually pretty simple surveys
• We randomly called a bunch of families (like 6,500) with teenagers around the age of 13 and we asked a bunch of questions about video games and behavior
• We called the same families back every year until the participants were 19, so we could look at changes over time
![Page 5: Video Games, Psychology, and the Brain Tim Brunelle](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022013112/56649cdb5503460f949a5bc2/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
What have we found?
Wave 0 Wave 1 Wave 2 Wave 30
0.20.40.60.8
11.21.41.6
1b: Alcohol Consumption Frequency
Low VG High VG
Wave 0 Wave 1 Wave 2 Wave 30
0.10.20.30.40.50.60.7
3b: Smoked in Last 30 Days
Low VG High VG
• 13 year olds who played a lot of violent video games (like Grand Theft Auto) were more likely to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, drive recklessly, and get in fights as they got older
• Looks like playing violent video games increases impulsivity, which leads to increases in deviant behaviorViolent Video
Games
Impulsivity
Deviant Behavior
![Page 6: Video Games, Psychology, and the Brain Tim Brunelle](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022013112/56649cdb5503460f949a5bc2/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Why does playing these video games cause people to make bad decisions?• What are decisions? How do we make them?
• Psychologists think there are two systems that work together to make decisions – they call this dual processing
• System 1 makes decisions quickly and automatically, based on desires and impulses
• System 2 makes decisions slowly and logically, based on goals and rules
![Page 7: Video Games, Psychology, and the Brain Tim Brunelle](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022013112/56649cdb5503460f949a5bc2/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
An experiment with dual processing
![Page 8: Video Games, Psychology, and the Brain Tim Brunelle](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022013112/56649cdb5503460f949a5bc2/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
So what’s going on in your brain?
• Humans are really good at using System 2
• Most animals aren’t so good at this – they rely more on System 1 – or instinct
System 1
System 2
![Page 9: Video Games, Psychology, and the Brain Tim Brunelle](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022013112/56649cdb5503460f949a5bc2/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
So what’s going on in your brain?
• Certain video games might make players less likely to put on the brakes and use System 2
• So they become more impulsive, and less likely to stop themselves from breaking the rules
![Page 10: Video Games, Psychology, and the Brain Tim Brunelle](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022013112/56649cdb5503460f949a5bc2/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Controlled processing demonstration