Video Games and Attitude Change: A Meta-analysis

L Kolek; I Ropovik; V. Sisler; Herre van Oostendorp; C Brom

doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2023.102225

Video Games and Attitude Change: A Meta-analysis

L Kolek^*
, I Ropovik
, V. Sisler
, Herre van Oostendorp
, C Brom

^*Corresponding author for this work

Charles University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Video games are increasingly portraying many topics that we face in our everyday lives. Yet we have only limited evidence about the way narrative games affect how we think about the topics they depict; in other words, about the link between these games and attitude change. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis of video games’ effect on attitudinal change. The findings suggest that narrative video games affect players’ attitudes towards the topics depicted in games. This effect was present in studies focused on changes in both implicit (g = 0.36, k = 18) and explicit attitudes (g = 0.24, k = 101). Longer intervention duration and game mechanics such as stereotyping and meaningful feedback resulted in larger implicit attitude change. Regarding the robustness of the underlying evidence, half of the included studies were judged to be at high risk of bias. On the other hand, the impact of publication bias in this literature was found to be negligible. Altogether, this meta-analysis provides evidence that video games shape how we think about topics they represent.

Original language	English
Article number	102225
Number of pages	15
Journal	Contemporary Educational Psychology
Volume	75
Early online date	2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2023.102225
Publication status	Published - Oct 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Inc.

Funding

For this work, CB, LK and VS were supported by the PRIMUS/HUM/03 project at Charles University. IR and VS were supported by NPO Systemic Risk Institute LX22NPO5101 funded by European Union – Next Generation EU. IR was further supported by PRIMUS/20/HUM/009 and APVV-18-0140 grants. VS was further supported by KREASCZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000734. We would like to thank Markéta Matějová and Veronika Petrova for their help in checking the data. For this work, CB, LK and VS were supported by the PRIMUS/HUM/03 project at Charles University. IR and VS were supported by NPO Systemic Risk Institute LX22NPO5101 funded by European Union – Next Generation EU. IR was further supported by PRIMUS/20/HUM/009 and APVV-18-0140 grants. VS was further supported by KREASCZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000734. We would like to thank Markéta Matějová and Veronika Petrova for their help in checking the data.

Funders	Funder number
KREASCZ	.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000734
Univerzita Karlova v Praze	LX22NPO5101
European Commission	APVV-18-0140, PRIMUS/20/HUM/009

Keywords

Attitudes
Video games
Meta-analysis
Game mechanics
Persuasion
Attitude change

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Cite this

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title = "Video Games and Attitude Change: A Meta-analysis",

abstract = "Video games are increasingly portraying many topics that we face in our everyday lives. Yet we have only limited evidence about the way narrative games affect how we think about the topics they depict; in other words, about the link between these games and attitude change. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis of video games{\textquoteright} effect on attitudinal change. The findings suggest that narrative video games affect players{\textquoteright} attitudes towards the topics depicted in games. This effect was present in studies focused on changes in both implicit (g = 0.36, k = 18) and explicit attitudes (g = 0.24, k = 101). Longer intervention duration and game mechanics such as stereotyping and meaningful feedback resulted in larger implicit attitude change. Regarding the robustness of the underlying evidence, half of the included studies were judged to be at high risk of bias. On the other hand, the impact of publication bias in this literature was found to be negligible. Altogether, this meta-analysis provides evidence that video games shape how we think about topics they represent.",

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author = "L Kolek and I Ropovik and V. Sisler and \{van Oostendorp\}, Herre and C Brom",

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doi = "10.1016/j.cedpsych.2023.102225",

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volume = "75",

journal = "Contemporary Educational Psychology",

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AU - Ropovik, I

AU - Sisler, V.

AU - van Oostendorp, Herre

AU - Brom, C

PY - 2023/10

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N2 - Video games are increasingly portraying many topics that we face in our everyday lives. Yet we have only limited evidence about the way narrative games affect how we think about the topics they depict; in other words, about the link between these games and attitude change. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis of video games’ effect on attitudinal change. The findings suggest that narrative video games affect players’ attitudes towards the topics depicted in games. This effect was present in studies focused on changes in both implicit (g = 0.36, k = 18) and explicit attitudes (g = 0.24, k = 101). Longer intervention duration and game mechanics such as stereotyping and meaningful feedback resulted in larger implicit attitude change. Regarding the robustness of the underlying evidence, half of the included studies were judged to be at high risk of bias. On the other hand, the impact of publication bias in this literature was found to be negligible. Altogether, this meta-analysis provides evidence that video games shape how we think about topics they represent.

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Video Games and Attitude Change: A Meta-analysis

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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