Australia Mercury: Frustration, not violence in games to be blamed for gamer aggressionApril 9, 2014 by Walter
April 9, 2014.
A NEW study has revealed that gamers are more likely to experience feelings of aggression from playing a game when it is too difficult or when the controls are too complicated to master.
In comparison, the research found there was “little difference” in levels of aggression when the games themselves depicted violence. Overwhelmingly, the deciding factor was “how the volunteers were able to master the electronic game after 20 minutes of play”.
The study was conducted by research teams from University of Oxford in the UK and the University of Rochester in the US, with the findings published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
The experiment is believed to be the first study of its kind and consisted of six controlled lab tests involving university students. The candidates played a simple puzzle game the researchers were able to manipulate, increasing its difficultly or making the control scheme less intuitive or responsive.
“To date, researchers have tended to explore passive aspects of gaming, such as whether looking at violent material in electronic games desensitises or aggravates players,” says Dr Andrew Przybylski, co-author of the study, from the Oxford internet Institute. “We focused on the motives of people who play electronic games and found players have a psychological need to come out on top when playing. If players feel thwarted by the controls or the design of the game, they can wind up feeling aggressive. This need to master the game was far more significant than whether the game contained violent material. Players on games without any violent content were still feeling pretty aggressive if they hadn’t been able to master the controls or progress through the levels at the end of the session.”
In addition to the lab tests, researchers conducted a survey of over 300 players, focusing the three games they had played most in the last month. Players were asked which they had enjoyed the most, and why. Again, the research demonstrated that some players experienced aggression when they didn’t feel good at the game. Furthermore, these feelings of aggression had even spoiled their level of enjoyment.
“The study is not saying that violent content doesn’t affect gamers,” says co-author Richard M Ryan, from the University of Rochester. “But our research suggests that people are not drawn to playing violent games in order to feel aggressive. Rather, the aggression stems from feeling not in control or incompetent while playing. If the structure of a game or the design of the controls thwarts enjoyment, it is this, not the violent content, that seems to drive feelings of aggression.”
BBC News: Aggression from video games ‘linked to incompetence’April 7, 2014 by Walter
April 7, 2014.
Feelings of aggression after playing video games are more likely to be linked to gameplay mechanics rather than violent content, a study suggests.
Researchers carried out a range of tests, including making a non-violent version of popular game Half-Life 2.
Games modified to have counter-intuitive, frustrating controls – leading to feelings of incompetence – produced more aggressive reactions.
The team called for more sophisticated research into violent gaming.
“There’s a need for researchers who are interested in these questions not just to pull two video games off the shelf from the high street,” said Dr Andrew Przybylski from the Oxford Internet Institute, who carried out the research along with colleagues from the University of Rochester in the US.
Natural News: New study proves exposure to nature directly improves happinessJanuary 15, 2014 by Walter
January 15, 2014.
(NaturalNews) A recently released study featured in the American Chemical Society (ACS) journal Environmental Science & Technology proves that exposure to nature directly improves mental health.
With nearly 80 percent of the world’s population residing in urban areas, ACS researcher Mathew P. White cites mental well-being as a major public health concern, listing “unipolar depressive disorder as the leading cause of disability in middle- to high-income countries.”
The study, which was conducted in the UK, compared the mental health of 100 people who moved from city landscapes to greener, more natural settings and those who relocated in the reverse direction. The data showed that those who relocated to settings with a higher exposure to nature were found to be overall happier during the three years that their mental health was recorded.
The researchers concluded that “[m]oving to greener urban areas was associated with sustained mental health improvements, suggesting that environmental policies to increase urban green space may have sustainable public health benefits.”
Nature makes you feel alive
Previous studies have shown that exposure to the great outdoors directly increases one’s feelings of vitality, which subsequently generates more energy and even helps develop a more resistant immune system.
The lead author and a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, Richard Ryan, insists, “Nature is fuel for the soul. Often when we feel depleted we reach for a cup of coffee, but research suggests a better way to get energized is to connect with nature.”
Not only does direct exposure to nature increase happiness, but simply imagining yourself outdoors or recalling previous outdoor excursions has been shown to increase serotonin levels, thus boosting mood, decreasing exhaustion and improving overall health.
Wired – Wellness & Prevention: Getting Social Without the Networking: Enhancing RelatednessDecember 20, 2013 by Walter
December 20, 2013
In a previous entry, I talked about how engaging people in technology requires supporting their basic needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. This is all described by the Self-Determination Theory of motivation. I’ve found working in health care technology that of these three needs, it can be most challenging to support people’s feelings of relatedness.
The reasons why are varied. One reason is that the most obvious solution to supporting relatedness, social media, is difficult to implement meaningfully in a health intervention. It’s not enough to simply give people a forum to share information; doing so must provide them with some sort of benefit, be it advice on working toward a goal, encouragement from others, or a challenge to try a new approach.
At the same time, health care companies tend to be conservative with respect to use of social media. Inviting users to discuss their health concerns might create a responsibility to respond that companies aren’t able to effectively meet. For these reasons and many others, the integration of social media with a health intervention can be tricky.
Fortunately, there are ways to support relatedness without using social media, or indeed, using any actual other person. I’ll talk about three here, and would love to hear people’s thoughts on other techniques in the comments.
Personalization. The digital health coaching products at Wellness & Prevention, a Johnson & Johnson Company, use a technique called tailoring to create an individualized coaching plan for each user. Users respond to a “consultation” that collects a variety of data, including both standard health risk information as well as information about motivational bases and barriers to change. Then, using this self-report data as well as any available import data from biometrics or EMRs, the digital health coaching system assembles the tailored plan. These plans are built from the word fragment level and reflect an understanding of the user’s needs. A system that recognizes the user in this way can enhance feelings of relatedness by saying, in a way, “I heard you. You matter.”
Personalization algorithms such as those used by Pandora and Amazon to select music or recommend product purchases are another way to show a user that their activities within a system have had an effect. As the algorithms grow increasingly accurate with additional data and feedback, a Pandora listener or Amazon shopper may indeed feel like the company knows them.
Amy Bucher is a psychologist who focuses on designing programs that help people live healthier and happier lives by changing their behaviors. She is Associate Director of Behavioral Science for Wellness & Prevention, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson Company.
Psychology Today: Meditation as Medicine: It’s Not What You ThinkDecember 6, 2013 by Walter
December 6, 2013
Wake up. Make breakfast. Drop off the kids. Go to work. Finish that report. Pick up the kids. Make dinner. Pay the bills. Plan for tomorrow. Go to sleep. Rinse and repeat.
Whether it’s the life of a suburban parent of three or a young urban professional, it never really seems to stop. Neither does the stress and, at times, the pain that comes along with living a life of constant errands, jobs, and responsibilities. But what can we do?
To Jon Kabat-Zinn it’s not a matter of doing, it’s a matter of being. The Professor of Medicine Emeritus and founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School believes that we are losing ourselves amongst the concern and stress of our to-do list. In response to the ever-growing demand for relief from this stress, Kabat-Zinn developed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) approach.
Wired – Wellness and Prevention: Compelling Design is About Psychology, Not TechnologyDecember 5, 2013 by Walter
December 5, 2013
Don’t get me wrong: No one who’s held an iPhone can deny the appeal of beautifully designed technology. But what really makes a product stick has more to do with the psychology behind its design than its physical or functional features. It’s all about the how, not the what.
Every few years the health and wellness industry, like any other, cycles through hot trends and buzzwords. In the last few years there’s been quite a bit of focus in “gamification” in health. The idea is that gamifying a health solution, like a weight loss app, will make it more appealing and addictive to the user. It will make the app stick, and therefore lead to better outcomes.
To figure that out, we need to step back and think about what we really mean when we talk about gamifying something. Gamification refers to the embedding of gaming principles in a non-game activity. Sometimes this results in a product that feels an awful lot like a game, but not always. For example,Kevin Werbach of the Wharton School of Business references a gamified error detection process used by software engineers at Microsoft to test the Office suite. In that case, there are game elements such as competition, leaderboards, and progression of activities, but no engineer would confuse the process with a video game. Yet, it effectively detected thousands of errors prior to the software release.
So if a good gamified solution doesn’t have to look like a game, what does it have to have? I argue that it has to capture the psychology of games, the principles that capture people’s attention and keep them coming back for another experience. Games hook players by fulfilling their psychological needs. Self-determination theory describes what those needs are:
Autonomy. We need to feel in charge of our own destinies, at least to some extent.
Competence. We need to feel like we’re learning and growing, that we’re capable of success, and that we’re good at the things we do.
Relatedness. We need to feel connected to other people. We’re fundamentally social, and take pleasure in our relationships.
The stickiest technology hooks users not through sleek design but by helping to meet these three fundamental needs.
What does that look like? Well, there are a few things that a sticky health and wellness program should do if it’s going to grab users by meeting their fundamental needs:
Autonomy: Offer choices as often as possible, while recognizing that totally free choice is probably not possible for many health and wellness goals. Someone whose doctor has prescribed hypertension medication is going to need to take their medication as prescribed, while also making dietary and physical activity changes. That’s just the way it is. In that case, you can help people feel more ownership of that choice by linking it to really personal goals they have. At the Human Performance Institute, coaches help attendees articulate their ultimate life mission to help put health changes into perspective. Think of it as getting someone to be happier about eating their broccoli because they know it means they’re closer to having the chocolate cake.
Competence: Health and wellness is not easy for people to achieve. People might have to deal with multiple health issues at the same time, or they may be confused by what they need to do. You can support competence by providing clear direction in the simplest possible terms. Less is more; it’s better if people make small changes that aren’t quite enough than no changes at all because they’re overwhelmed. And give feedback whenever you can, as soon as you can. Letting people know what they’re doing right and how they can do better will help them learn.
Relatedness: It’s easy to position social networking as the solution to supporting relatedness, and in fact that is one way to help fulfill this need. But it’s not the only one. People can feel psychologically connected to others without necessarily interacting directly. Consider helping people understand where they fit into the bigger picture — do they fall into a health and wellness segment, for example? Personalizing the user experience of your product is also a way to help people feel related. For example, at Wellness & Prevention, a Johnson & Johnson company, we tailor unique plans for each participant in our digital health coaching programs based on their personal data. In this case, they’re engaged in a relationship with the product.
I’ve used health and wellness as the context here, because it’s the industry with which I’m most familiar. But examples of how self-determination theory has motivated users can be found across industries, including education, video gaming, sports performance, and environmental sustainability.
By all means, sleek technology and elegant functionality increase product appeal. But to really hook users with your product, help fulfill their psychological needs.
Amy Bucher is a psychologist who focuses on designing programs that help people live healthier and happier lives by changing their behaviors. She is Associate Director of Behavioral Science for Wellness & Prevention, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson Company.
RochesterHomepage.net: Put to the Test: Adults Sample Common CoreNovember 7, 2013 by Walter
November 7, 2013.
News 8 gathered a group of parents, along with Greece Assistant Superintendent Shaun Nelms and University of Rochester psychologist Richard Ryan to discuss Common Core and its impact on education.
The Huffington Post UK: It’s Simple, Easy And Free — And It Will Improve Your HealthOctober 8, 2013 by Walter
October 8, 2013.
The human body is made to move, but in today’s world, we don’t do nearly enough of it: As many as 50 million Americans, according to one count, are living sedentary lives.
At the same time, the link between inactivity and chronic health problems has been firmly established. A sedentary lifestyle has been associated with lower life expectancy, slower metabolism, and increased risk of heart attack.
Walking is simple, easy — and free. And there are a few simple, er, steps that can supercharge your typical stroll. We combed the research and talked to Sue Parks, CEO of WalkStyles, Inc., and co-author of iCount: 10 Simple Steps To A Healthy Life, for some tips.
Here are seven ways to optimize your walks for maximum physical and mental health benefits.
Walk through a green space.
In addition to the physical and mental health benefits of walking, spending time in nature has also been associated with stress-relieving and mood-boosting benefits. A2010 University of Rochester study even showed that just 20 minutes spent in nature was enough to make people feel more alive.
“Nature is fuel for the soul,” University of Rochester psychology professor and lead author of the study, Richard Ryan, said in a press release. “Often when we feel depleted we reach for a cup of coffee, but research suggests a better way to get energized is to connect with nature.”
Stuck in the city? Even a little greenery at your local public park could do the trick. Arecent UK study found that walking through urban green spaces could put the brain into a state of meditation.
“A great start is a pedometer,” Parks says. “If someone wants to upgrade, great. But, a simple pedometer can make the world of difference, is simple to use and won’t break the bank.”
Making those changes starts with the awareness — which is where fitness trackers come into play, according to Mayo Clinic researcher Gabriel Koepp.
“Most of the folks I talk to that start wearing it have no idea how many steps they take per day,” Koepp told Good Morning America. “They think they’re active … but people find out they only have 500 or 2,000 steps per day, and it’s kind of an eye opener on the things they need to do for their health.”
Even if you’re already walking those often-recommended 10,000 steps per day, tracking might help incentivize you to keep up the good work.
Walk when you need to solve a problem.
The ancient Latin phrase solvitur ambulando translates to “it is solved by walking.”And that still rings true today: Walking can open the brain up to ideas and insights that may not have been possible while sitting at a desk staring at a screen.
“Several of my most complex problems have been solved during my walks,” Darya Rose recently wrote on Lifehacker. “Your brain truly appreciates a break from the screen.”
Get the right shoes.
The right shoes are important, even for short walks. In addition to preventing injury, good walking shoes will keep you comfortable — which could increase the likelihood that you’ll get out and walk more in the future.
“Making sure you have comfortable shoes is huge, because if your feet hurt, the rest of you hurts,” says Parks.
Avoid extended walks in high heels or flip flops — both serious offenders when it comes to harming feet and throwing off the body’s natural alignment.
Make it mindful.
Walking has long been practiced as a meditative activity. When you’re in an urban area especially, make your walk more mindful by tuning into distractions, rather than shutting them out. Taking a stroll without paying any attention could mean missing out on the full stress-relieving benefits of walking, says Parks.
“Being focused and paying attention wherever possible — and untethering ourselves from technology so that we’re focused on what is around us — is really important,” she says. “You’ll notice all these things that you hadn’t noticed before.”
Try the Walking Meditations app to do a full guided meditation during your walk (so long as you’re in a quiet, safe area) or just go out for a 20-minute walk with the goal of being present to your body and surroundings with each step.
Walk with friends.
Walking can be an excellent opportunity to catch up with friends and family, and could offer the added mental health benefits of social support, which has been linked to boosts in mental health and even longevity.
Furry friends count, too! Research has found that people who own dogs are more likely to take regular walks — and to be generally more active, The New York Times reports.
Squeeze a walk in wherever and whenever you’re able.
“People have no time, and most think they have to go somewhere to exercise,” says Parks. “That becomes the daunting thing.”
Ultimately, according to Parks, any walk is a good walk — and the exercise will provide a number of physical and mental health benefits. Whether it means parking a little further from your office or taking an afternoon break to walk twice around the block, increasing your step count will always pay off, and it’s easier for most people than finding the time and energy for a longer workout.
NY Times: The Accumulated Wisdom on Bribing Your ChildrenOctober 3, 2013 by Walter
October 3, 2013.
When it comes to teaching children about money, there are few tactics that draw more outright hostility from parenting experts than our amateurish attempts to bribe the little people.
Just to be clear, we’re not talking about the money-for-chores trade here. It’s the money as motivation method that gets experts going. Eileen and Jon Gallo, the authors of “Silver Spoon Kids,” worry that children who receive financial incentives for good grades or behavior will grow up to be the sort of adults who try to buy friends and swap money for love.
In her book “The Price of Privilege,” Madeline Levine describes attempts to “buy our children off” as outright modeling of materialism.
Research scientists have spent decades trying to determine how or if tangible rewards like money undermine children’s intrinsic motivation. One school of thought is anchored in the observation that people who are paid to perform an interesting activity, like a puzzle, are less likely to return to it later when they have free time. The theory here is that people crave autonomy and competence, and a reward undermines their own sense of control. These effects can be more pronounced in children.
Ron Lieber will write about children and money every other Thursday for Motherlode. If you have an issue you would like to see covered, e-mail him, leave a comment or suggest a topic on hisFacebook page.
likely to experience feelings of aggression from playing a game when it is too difficult or when the controls are too complicated to master. 
