scholarly journals Go with the Flow: The experience and affective outcomes of solo versus social gameplay

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Katherine Kaye ◽  
Jo Bryce

This study examined differences in flow experiences and post-gameplay Positive and Negative Mood between solo and social digital gaming. This was achieved by obtaining gamers’ (N = 302) retrospective ratings of the experience of flow and post-gameplay mood based on recent solo and social gaming experiences, through the use of an online questionnaire. Positive mood was found to be significantly higher following social compared with solo gameplay, suggesting that playing games with others enhances enjoyment of the activity. Different levels of flow in gameplay were also found to be related to positive mood following both solo and social gameplay. There were no observed differences in experiences of flow and post-gameplay mood between online and offline, or competitive and cooperative gaming contexts. The findings suggest that “group flow” may be a useful concept in understanding the dynamics of social gaming as this has not been sufficiently examined in the current videogame literature.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Katherine Kaye

Given the social nature of digital gaming, an investigation into social processes underpinning the experiences within social contexts of play is greatly warranted. The current research explored the underpinnings of “group flow” within cooperative-based gaming. In particular, this was intended to provide insight into the social processes which facilitate flow experiences in these contexts. This was achieved through a questionnaire in which gamers (N = 76) provided retrospective open-ended accounts of flow during cooperative gaming. Additionally, quantitative data was obtained on flow and post-gameplay mood within this experience, as well as in solo gaming for comparative analysis. Thematic analysis of the qualitative responses revealed a number of factors which determined the experience of flow. These were; effective communication and team-work and task relevant knowledge of group members. Additionally, although flow was found to be lower in cooperative versus solo gaming, no differences in post-gameplay mood were observed. These findings aid conceptual development of facilitators of group flow in cooperative gaming, with insights into how this may extend to other cooperative activities. Additionally, they also provide new practical insight for representatives in the gaming industry on how gaming may be developed with the aim of promoting positive shared group experiences.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Katherine Kaye ◽  
Rebecca Monk ◽  
Helen Joanne Wall ◽  
Iain Hamlin ◽  
Adam W Qureshi

Although research extols the positive effects of social gaming, the dynamic processes underlying these effects remain unclear. In a hitherto unused approach in this field, we utilised a Smartphone App to model the effect of in-vivo flow and gaming context on positive mood. We also explored individual-level factors including demographic gaming variables (average hours per week playing, gamer-type, preferred type of play) and Big-5 personality traits. Data was obtained from 41 gamers producing a total of 2796 data-points. Multi-level modelling revealed positive mood was associated with in-vivo reports of flow in gameplay, current context and individual-level variance in the number of hours typically spent engaged in playing per week. Specifically, in-vivo positive mood was higher for players when playing online with friends (relative to those playing solo). Higher reports of flow were, nonetheless, associated with decreases in positive mood. Finally, players who indicated playing less frequently experienced higher positive mood, relative to those who played more. These findings support and extend previous work which explores the emotional affordances of gaming and highlight the importance of obtaining situated measures of experiences. They demonstrate that positive mood in gaming is not static, but changeable depending on one’s current gaming environment and flow.


1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 271-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Steinberg ◽  
Briony R. Nicholls ◽  
Elizabeth A. Sykes ◽  
N. LeBoutillier ◽  
Nerina Ramlakhan ◽  
...  

Mood improvement immediately after a single bout of exercise is well documented, but less is known about successive and longer term effects. In a “real-life” field investigation, four kinds of exercise class (Beginners, Advanced, Body Funk and Callanetics) met once a week for up to 7 weeks. Before and after each class the members assessed how they felt by completing a questionnaire listing equal numbers of “positive” and “negative” mood words. Subjects who had attended at least five times were included in the analysis, which led to groups consisting of 18, 20, 16, and 16 subjects, respectively. All four kinds of exercise significantly increased positive and decreased negative feelings, and this result was surprisingly consistent in successive weeks. However, exercise seemed to have a much greater effect on positive than on negative moods. The favorable moods induced by each class seemed to have worn off by the following week, to be reinstated by the class itself. In the Callanetics class, positive mood also improved significantly over time. The Callanetics class involved “slower,” more demanding exercises, not always done to music. The Callanetics and Advanced classes also showed significantly greater preexercise negative moods in the first three sessions. However, these differences disappeared following exercise. Possibly, these two groups had become more “tolerant” to the mood-enhancing effects of physical exercise; this may be in part have been due to “exercise addiction.”


2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 97-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Smita C. Banerjee ◽  
Kathryn Greene ◽  
Marina Krcmar ◽  
Zhanna Bagdasarov ◽  
Dovile Ruginyte

This study demonstrates the significance of individual difference factors, particularly gender and sensation seeking, in predicting media choice (examined through hypothetical descriptions of films that participants anticipated they would view). This study used a 2 (Positive mood/negative mood) × 2 (High arousal/low arousal) within-subject design with 544 undergraduate students recruited from a large northeastern university in the United States. Results showed that happy films and high arousal films were preferred over sad films and low-arousal films, respectively. In terms of gender differences, female viewers reported a greater preference than male viewers for happy-mood films. Also, male viewers reported a greater preference for high-arousal films compared to female viewers, and female viewers reported a greater preference for low-arousal films compared to male viewers. Finally, high sensation seekers reported a preference for high-arousal films. Implications for research design and importance of exploring media characteristics are discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Tobias Kube ◽  
Lukas Kirchner ◽  
Thomas Gärtner ◽  
Julia Anna Glombiewski

Abstract Background In two experimental studies, we tested the hypothesis that negative mood would hinder the revision of negative beliefs in response to unexpectedly positive information in depression, whereas positive mood was expected to enhance belief updating. Methods In study 1 (N = 101), we used a subclinical sample to compare the film-based induction of sad v. happy mood with a distraction control group. Subsequently, participants underwent a well-established paradigm to examine intra-individual changes in performance-related expectations after unexpectedly positive performance feedback. In study 2, we applied the belief-updating task from study 1 to an inpatient sample (N = 81) and induced sad v. happy mood via film-clips v. recall of autobiographic events. Results The results of study 1 showed no significant group differences in belief updating; the severity of depressive symptoms was a negative predictor of belief revision, though, and there was a non-significant trend suggesting that the presence of sad mood hindered belief updating in the subgroup of participants with a diagnosed depressive episode. Study 2 revealed that participants updated their expectations significantly less in line with positive feedback when they underwent the induction of negative mood prior to feedback, relative to positive mood. Conclusions By indicating that the presence of negative mood can hinder the revision of negative beliefs in clinically depressed people, our findings suggest that learning from new experiences can be hampered if state negative mood is activated. Thus, interventions relying on learning from novel positive experiences should aim at reducing state negative mood in depression.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-114
Author(s):  
Sanda Pletikosić Tončić ◽  
Mladenka Tkalčić

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a complex disorder that results from interactions of numerous factors. The biopsychosocial model describes a number of predisposing, precipitating, and perpetuating factors, which contribute to the onset and maintenance of symptoms and consequently to quality of life (QoL) impairment. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of several psychological and biological factors on the physical and mental components of QoL in IBS patients. A total of 46 IBS patients completed a set of questionnaires (Big Five Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Medical Outcome Study Short-Form 36) and kept a diary of their mood, daily stress, and symptoms over a period of two weeks. Patients' heart rate variability, serum cortisol, and fecal calprotectin levels were also measured. The results of regression analyses showed that depression (β = -.30) and negative mood (β = -.28) predicted physical QoL, while depression (β = -.45) and positive mood (β = .33) significantly predicted mental QoL. The model, which included calprotectin, cortisol, anxiety, depression, and positive and negative mood, explained a total of 47% of variance of physical and 57% of variance of mental QoL. Our results confirm the role of negative affect in IBS QoL impairment. They also indicate that biological factors seem important for physical QoL in IBS patients. The role of positive mood as a protective factor for mental QoL might be significant for psychological interventions with IBS patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie A. E. Mueller ◽  
Eirini Flouri

Mental health and well-being in adolescence are associated with many short- and long-term outcomes. The evidence suggests that greenspace may play a role in adolescents' mental well-being, but we do not know much about the specifics of this link. In this paper, we investigated the role of other factors in the association. In a cross-sectional study, we investigated the role of neighbourhood greenspace in emotional and behavioural outcomes in 11-year-old urban adolescents participating in the UK Millennium Cohort Study (n = 4,534). We used linear regression models to test for an association of greenspace with self-esteem, happiness, positive mood, negative mood, and antisocial behaviour. We also investigated effect modification/moderation by garden access, physical activity, and perceived area safety. We did not find a main effect of greenspace, but we did find interaction effects. First, in adolescents without a garden, higher levels of greenspace were associated with lower levels of self-esteem and positive mood. Second, in adolescents who reported lower levels of physical activity, higher levels of greenspace were associated with lower levels of negative mood. Third, in adolescents who perceived their areas to be unsafe, higher levels of greenspace were associated with higher levels of antisocial behaviour. Our findings suggest that merely more greenspace in the neighbourhood may not be sufficient to promote the mental well-being of urban adolescents in the UK. However, greenspace does seem to have an influence under certain conditions which should be investigated further in future studies.


1984 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 327-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald M. Devins ◽  
Yitzchak M. Binik ◽  
Tom A. Hutchinson ◽  
David J. Hollomby ◽  
Paul E. Barré ◽  
...  

The emotional impact of the intrusiveness of illness and patients' reduced control over several aspects of life were examined in the context of end-stage renal disease. A sample of thirty-five hemodialysis, ten continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), and twenty-five posttransplant patients participated in a standardized interview in which a series of eight self-report measures of positive and negative mood, life happiness, self-esteem, depression, and somatic symptoms of distress were obtained. Attending staff also completed a depression rating scale for each participant. Data reduction via principal-components analysis yielded two factors, corresponding to negative and positive mood, and these were submitted to covariance analyses in which age, general nonrenal health, and defensiveness were controlled statistically. Patients' perceptions of increased intrusiveness, and their perceptions of limited control over eleven life dimensions, each correlated significantly and uniquely with increased negative and decreased positive mood, suggesting that each of these two factors contributes importantly and independently to patients' distress. An “objective” continuum of intrusiveness, constructed by ranking the various treatment modalities represented in the sample, also related significantly to positive (but not to negative) mood levels.


2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 1144-1161
Author(s):  
Pei Hwa Goh ◽  
Peter Lucas Stoeckli ◽  
Dominik Schoebi

The current study examined, on the basis of past findings and theories on mood and cognition, whether people’s perception of sexual interest from others would decrease when they are in a negative mood and increase when they are in a positive mood. Using repeated-measures experiments, university students in Switzerland ( n = 117) and Malaysia ( n = 117) underwent mood inducement procedures followed by participation in video-guided imagined interactions, where they judged the sexual interest of their interaction partners. Results revealed a dampening effect of negative mood on sexual perceptions in the Swiss sample. No significant mood differences in sexual perception were found in the Malaysian sample. Our results suggest that this sample difference may be associated with differences in endorsement of cultural values. The more people valued social harmony and stability, the less likely they were to succumb to mood effects on sexual perception.


2022 ◽  
pp. 217-231
Author(s):  
Chenxiang Elaine Ji

After mapping dimensions and directions of experience in applying mobile technologies to Chinese language learning, another key task is to measure different levels of experience in terms of its dimensions and directions of learners' experience in leveraging mobile technologies, mobile learning apps in particular. Equipped with the proposed 6E-r framework of mobile experience, this chapter provides indicators and criteria in measuring mobile learning experience in applying mobile technologies to Chinese language learning around the world. This chapter also developed an online questionnaire for future research reference in order to successfully gauge the different levels of experience in applying mobile technologies to Chinese language learning. Ultimately, this chapter attempted to resolve the research question, that is, how mobile learning experience is enhanced by narrowing the gap between the normative experience and the empirical experience.


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