May 22, 2009 by Shannon
May 22nd 2009. “Having lots of money, good looks and fame may sound like a sure ticket to happiness, but a new study suggests otherwise. Researchers at the University of Rochester in New York tracked 147 college graduates, evaluating their goals and their happiness at two points in time — one year after graduation,...
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February 16, 2009 by Shannon
January 16th 2009. “These elements, said coauthor Richard Ryan, a motivational psychologist at the University, represent “the core reasons that people find games so entertaining and compelling. Conflict and war are a common and powerful context for providing these experiences, but it is the need satisfaction in the gameplay that matters more than the...
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February 14, 2009 by Shannon
February 14th 2009. Blood, guts and gore aren’t what thrill avid gamers when they slaughter zombies in The House of the Dead III video game, a new study suggests. Instead, feelings of control and competence are what the players crave. The new research, led by psychologist Richard Ryan at the University of Rochester in New...
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January 16, 2009 by Shannon
Richard Ryan interviewed by ScienCentral on a new SDT study, released today, showing that “violence” is not what attracts players. This comes just a few days after a U.S. congressman proposed legislation that would brand violent video games with a health warning. The research could be reassuring news for parents. University of Rochester Press Release on...
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July 22, 2008 by Shannon
July 22nd 2008. Scientists say this need for community may be a result of humanity’s long evolution in groups. Living together conferred an advantage, they say. In the hunter-gatherer world, relatedness, autonomy, curiosity, and competence – the very things that psychologists find make people happy – “had payoffs that were pretty clear,” says Richard Ryan, a...
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May 4, 2007 by Shannon
May 4th 2007. Realizing that some people may feel guilty about reporting pleasure-seeking behaviors, Steger and his colleagues then modified the survey questions slightly to make them seem less exceptionable, and asked a new group of students to perform the study again, this time over a four-week period. The psychologists got the same results. “A...
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January 16, 2007 by Shannon
January 15th 2007. Researchers say they’ve found another reason why video games are so hard to give up: They may help fulfill basic psychological needs. In a study published in the January issue ofMotivation and Emotion, investigators from the University of Rochester and Immersyve Inc. looked at what motivated 1,000 gamers to keep playing...
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