The raw "talking points" from Dr. Nick Bowman's guest lecture to the Entertainment Arts and Engineering (EAE) students at the University of Utah.

1. MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY AND HUMAN
COMMUNICATION AND YOU
ND Bowman
University of Utah
06 March 2013
Media and
Interaction Lab

3. SOR
“…I view media psychology as the
intersection of human experience and media.
In other words, media psychology is the
applied study of what happens when people
interact with media as producers, distributors,
and consumers through the lens of
psychology.”
Media is more than Chicken Little!
~Dr. Pamela Rutledge
Media Psychology Research Center

4. SOR
Stimulus
Response

5. SOR
Organism
Meaning is
created here!
Stimulus
Response

6. SOR

7. SOR
VIDEO games
• Virtual environments
Video GAMES
• Challenge systems

9. A MANY-SPLINTERED THING
• Which of these is violent?

10. A MANY-SPLINTERED THING
• Content is not “just” violent

11. A MANY-SPLINTERED THING

12. 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

13. A MANY-SPLINTERED THING
• Of course, this all
focused on
enjoyment…but what
about appreciation?
• Narrative justification
vs. user justification

15. UNCANNY VALLEY
• As virtual worlds get
more realistic, we
begin to question
them

16. UNCANNY VALLEY

17. UNCANNY VALLEY
• Suggests that reality is
a perception…
• …but this can extend
beyond graphics
– Control
– Storytelling
– Others?
Novels told us
drama, film and TV
show us conflict, so
what do video
games do?

19. THERE’S NO CRYING IN GAMES?
• Zillmann (2000) ends with:
“Humor can serve as the
antidote to gloom”
• But, can it be the case that
gloom can serve as the
antidote to gloom?

20. THERE’S NO CRYING IN GAMES?
“Indeed, to say that one ‘‘enjoyed’’
or was ‘‘entertained by’’ a film
such as Hotel Rwanda would seem
decidedly odd, at best” (Oliver &
Raney, 2011).

21. THERE’S NO CRYING IN GAMES?
• So, if we don’t enjoy these
films, then what do we do
with them?
• Selection is driven by a
different set of motivations

22. THERE’S NO CRYING IN GAMES?
Hey, this is really:
• Reflective
• Inspiring
• Expressive
• Meaningful
Hey, this is really:
• Arousing
• Exciting
• Pleasurable
• Diversionary

23. THERE’S NO CRYING IN GAMES?

24. THERE’S NO CRYING IN GAMES?
• 97.6% fun vs. 71.9%
meaningful
• “insight” as separate need
• “Pleasure of Control”
• “Pleasure of Cognition”

25. THERE’S NO CRYING IN GAMES?
Enjoyment
Step 1: Controls
Gender
Age
∆R2
Step 2: Intrinsic Needs
Competence
Autonomy
Relatedness
Insight
∆R2
Step 3: CA
Identification
Suspension of Disbelief
Control
Responsibility
∆R2
Appreciation
-.05
-.09
.01
-.22***
-.10+
.06***
.47***
.13*
.01
-.05
.28***
-.02
.02
.36***
.58***
.69***
-.08
.00
.12*
-.08
.02+
-.01
.03
-.06+
.10**
.01+

26. THERE’S NO CRYING IN GAMES?
• Implications

27. THERE’S NO CRYING IN GAMES?
• Do we make virtual worlds or
virtual games?
– In virtual worlds (video) how do
we engage player’s emotions?
– In virtual games (games) how
do we engage player’s actions?
• When we make both, do
players process both?

28. THERE’S NO CRYING IN GAMES?
• As we try to understand the psychology of the
video game experience, we have to
understand our capacity to play as well as
our capacity to reflect …
• …and our capacity period.

29. THERE’S NO CRYING IN GAMES?
• Not…
Unenjoyable
Very Enjoyable
Non-meaningful
Very Meaningful
• …but?
Very Enjoyable
Very Meaningful

31. DEMANDING!
“interactive texts are inherently
unfinished because they
require a participant …
before they can be realized in
various forms” ~ Collins, 2013

32. DEMANDING!
n = 110 (63 ♀)
Training
Mission
Walkers relied on their
dominant habit, while
non-walkers let the game
guide them!
n = 57
n = 53
Roaming

33. DEMANDING!
When players are faced with nonbased moral dilemmas, they tend
to make random (“game”)
decisions, unless the game
violates their moral intuitions!

34. DEMANDING!
Enjoyment
- (?)
Task Demand
-
+
- (?)
R2 ~ 1.00
Narrative Recall
-
Evaluation
+
+
Appreciation

35. DEMANDING!
Performance
?
User Perspective
0 = 2D; 1 = 3D
+
+
R2 ~ 1.00
User Agency
0 = Yes, 1 = No
Task Demand
+
+
-
+
-
+
Presence
User experience drives
down task demand.
Enjoyment

36. OTHER STUDIES
•
•
•
•
•
•
Gender attribution in video games
Ostracism and social gameplay*
Racial priming and evaluations
Habits, intuitions and decision-making*
Player-avatar identification*
Video games and cognitive demand

39. FOR MORE INFORMATION
http://comm.wvu.edu
/fs/research/lab
Nick Bowman, Ph.D. [CV]
Twitter (@bowmanspartan)
Skype (nicholasdbowman)
nicholas.bowman@mail.wvu.edu
Media and
Interaction Lab