Experiencing Poverty in an Online Simulation: Effects on Players’ Beliefs, Attitudes and Behaviors about Poverty

Digital simulations are increasingly used to educate about the causes and effects of poverty, and inspire action to alleviate it. Drawing on research about attributions of poverty, subjective well-being, and relative income, this experimental study assesses the effects of an online poverty simulation (entitled Spent) on participants’ beliefs, attitudes, and actions. Results show that, compared with a control group, Spent players donated marginally more money to a charity serving the poor and expressed higher support for policies benefitting the poor, but were less likely to take immediate political action by signing an online petition to support a higher minimum wage. Spent players also expressed greater subjective well-being than the control group, but this was not associated with increased policy support or donations. Spent players who experienced greater presence (perceived realism of the simulation) had higher levels of empathy, which contributed to attributing poverty to structural causes and support for anti-poverty policies. We draw conclusions for theory about the psychological experience of playing online poverty simulations, and for how they could be designed to stimulate charity and support for anti-poverty policies

Violent video games and attitudes towards victims of crime: an empirical study among youth

Previous research has indicated that playing violent video games may be associated with an increase in acceptance of violence and positive attitudes towards perpetrators of crime. This study is the first to investigate the relationship between playing violent video games and attitudes towards victims of crime. A total of 206 young people (aged 12-24 years) completed measures of attitudes towards victims and violent video game exposure. The results suggest that exposure to violent video games is associated with less concern being reported for victims of crime. Young people who play more violent video games reported less concern for general victims and for culpable victims, and these effects cannot be explained by gender or age differences. The results are discussed in relation to relevant research in the area, along with recommendations for future research

Identifying risk and mitigating gambling-related harm in online poker

The present paper conducts a critical analysis of the potential for gambling-related harm in relation to online poker participation, and a theoretical evaluation of current responsible gambling strategies employed to mitigate harm in online gambling and applies the evaluation of these strategies specifically to online poker gambling. Theoretically, the primary risk for harm in online poker is the rapid and continuous nature of poker provisions online, and has been demonstrated to be associated with disordered gambling behaviour, including the chasing of monetary losses. The following responsible gambling features were deemed relevant for consideration: informed player choice, voluntary self-exclusion, employee intervention, pre-commitment, in-game feedback, behavioural tracking tools, and age restriction and verification. Although current responsible gambling features are evaluated as theoretically robust, there remains a fundamental need for experimental validation of their effectiveness. Furthermore, despite online poker gamblers perceiving the responsible gambling features as valuable tools, in reality very few players regularly use available responsible gambling features. Ultimately, for the online poker gambling industry to retain market credibility and avoid substantial top-down regulation, it is imperative to demonstrate effectiveness of responsible gambling approaches, and increase customer utilisation of available harm-mitigation features

Violent video games and attitudes towards victims of crime: An empirical study among youth

Previous research has indicated that playing violent video games may be associated with an increase in acceptance of violence and positive attitudes towards perpetrators of crime. This study is the first to investigate the relationship between playing violent video games and attitudes towards victims of crime. A total of 206 young people (aged 12-24 years) completed measures of attitudes towards victims and violent video game exposure. The results suggest that exposure to violent video games is associated with less concern being reported for victims of crime. Young people who play more violent video games reported less concern for general victims and for culpable victims, and these effects cannot be explained by gender or age differences. The results are discussed in relation to relevant research in the area, along with recommendations for future research

How Geek Therapy Plays Into Expressive Arts Therapy: A Literature Review

Within this paper, I explore how geek therapy plays well with the methods of expressive arts therapy. The combination of geek therapy and expressive arts therapy can assist clinicians in immediately connecting with their clients and identifying strength-oriented narratives that honor the client’s preferences, modes of expression, and pop culture affinities. This engagement with expressive approaches utilizing affinity-based interventions can lead to a deeper sense of understanding of the client’s intra-, inter-, and extra-personal relationships. Through this literature review of expressive arts therapy and geek therapy, primarily focusing on video games in therapy, clinicians from all walks of life can explore these techniques with clients in multiple settings and within a variety of age groups. Video games are immersive, multimodal, and interactive digital experiences that can promote wellness through engaging a spectrum of cognitive processes, regulating emotion and physical states, exploring meaning, identity, and expression, and building interpersonal tools through in-person and/or virtual means. This paper explores how video games can impact bio-psycho-sociocultural-spiritual domains as well as other potentially therapeutic characteristics of video gaming, whether through in-direct/direct or active/passive experiences. Through understanding gamer motivations, this paper explores player taxonomy models and profilers that can assist in gathering assessment information. Lastly, ethical considerations and the potential for maladaptive behaviors are explored

Воспитание социально-ответственного поведения у студенческой молодежи

Introduction. The development of social responsibility as a personal and professional quality among young people at the university stage of their growth has become an important state goal of education today. Purpose setting. To study the components of socially responsible behavior among university students, the formation of which is carried out in the process of educational activities of curators of student groups. Methodology and methods of the study. Organizational, empirical methods (experiment, testing, questionnaire, expert survey), quantitative and qualitative analysis, methods of data interpretation were used. Results. When studying the motivational component of socially responsible behavior using the methodology «Motivation to participate in socially significant activities», it was revealed that 68% of respondents have a high level of motivation for socially significant activities; 32% have an average level. Reflection as the ability to analyze one's own behavior and assess its social significance was studied using the O. V. Kalashnikova test. In the studied sample, 37% of respondents had a high level of reflection, 63% – on average. During the survey, it was revealed that the work of curators at the Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University satisfies students, is considered important and useful. The dynamics of the formation of socially responsible behavior was studied using the methodology «Responsibility before and now». All respondents indicated a subjectively felt increase in indicators of responsibility in their student years. Conclusion. The essence of socially responsible behavior of students is determined, its components are specified, the indicators of which were identified in the diagnostic process; on the basis of an expert survey, the role of curators in the education of socially responsible behavior of students is revealed; the fundamental components of the curatorial support model implemented at the Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University are described. The most significant, in the opinion of young people, events and activities of curators, as well as their personal qualities that affect the process of educating socially responsible behavior among students, were identified. The correlation of data on all the methods used allowed us to draw a general conclusion about fairly good results for all the studied indicators of socially responsible behavior of students. Most of the students gave a highly positive assessment of the contribution of the curators in educating them socially responsible behavior.Введение. Выработка социальной ответственности как личностно-профессионального качества у молодых людей на вузовском этапе их развития сегодня стала важной целью воспитания. Постановка задачи. Изучение компонентов социально-ответственного поведения у обучающихся вуза, становление которых осуществляется в процессе воспитательной деятельности кураторов студенческих групп. Методика и методология исследования. Использовались организационные, эмпирические методы (эксперимент, тестирование, анкетирование, экспертный опрос), количественный и качественный анализ, методы интерпретации данных. Результаты. При изучении мотивационного компонента социально-ответственного поведения с помощью методики «Мотивация к участию в социально-значимой деятельности» выявлено, что 68 % опрошенных имеют высокий уровень мотивации к социально значимой деятельности; 32 % – средний уровень. Рефлексия как способность проводить анализ собственного поведения, оценивать его общественную значимость изучалась с помощью теста О. В. Калашниковой. В изучаемой выборке у 37 % опрошенных рефлексия была развита на высоком уровне, у 63 % – на среднем. В ходе анкетирования выявлено, что работа кураторов в ТГПУ им. Л. Н. Толстого удовлетворяет студентов, считается важной, полезной. Динамика становления социально ответственного поведения изучалась посредством методики «Ответственность раньше и сейчас». Все опрошенные указали на субъективно ощущаемый рост показателей ответственности у себя в студенческие годы. Выводы. Определена сущность социально-ответственного поведения студенческой молодежи, конкретизированы ее компоненты, индикаторы которых выявлялись в процессе диагностики; на основе экспертного опроса выявлена роль кураторов в воспитании социально-ответственного поведения студентов; описаны основополагающие составляющие модели кураторской поддержки, реализуемой в ТГПУ им. Л. Н. Толстого. Определены наиболее значимые, по мнению молодых людей, мероприятия и виды деятельности кураторов, а также их личностные качества, влияющие на процесс формирования социально-ответственного поведения у обучающихся. Соотнесение данных по всем используемым методикам позволило сделать общий вывод о хороших результатах по всем изучаемым показателям социально-ответственного поведения студентов. Большинство обучающихся дали высокую положительную оценку вкладу кураторов в воспитании у них социально-ответственного поведения

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

2016 - The Twenty-first Annual Symposium of Student Scholars

The full program book from the Twenty-first Annual Symposium of Student Scholars, held on April 21, 2016. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/sssprograms/1015/thumbnail.jp

Exploring Compassion towards Laboratory Animals in UK- and China-Based Undergraduate Biomedical Sciences Students

Taking a compassionate approach to the non-human animals used in biomedical research is in line with emerging ideas around a “culture of care”. It is important to expose biomedical sciences students to the concept of a culture of care at an early stage and give them opportunities to explore related practices and ideas. However, there is no simple tool to explore biomedical sciences students’ attitudes towards laboratory animals. Accordingly, there is little understanding of students’ feelings towards these animals, or a means of quantifying potential changes to these feelings. We developed a 12-item questionnaire designed to explore compassion (the Laboratory Animal Compassion Scale; LACS) and used it with UK-based and China-based samples of undergraduate biomedical sciences students. In the same samples, we also explored a harm–benefit analysis task and students’ beliefs regarding some mental characteristics of laboratory animals, then drew correlations with the quantitative measure of compassion. Compassion levels were stable across years of study and were not related to students’ level of experience of working with laboratory animals. We observed a higher level of compassion in females versus males overall, and a higher level overall in the UK-based versus China-based sample. In a task pitting animal suffering against human wellbeing, students’ compassion levels correlated negatively with their acceptance of animal suffering. Compassion levels correlated positively with a belief in animals being conscious and possessing emotions. These data are in line with studies that show compassion is gender- and nationality/culture-dependent, and points to links between compassion, beliefs, and choices