The thesis experiment tested whether card-/board games could be used to increase pro-social behavior among participants. Positive results would give credence to their use for improving team work among groups, e.g. in the work place.
The study utilized three different games, a cooperative, a neutral and a competitive game. Participants were randomly assigned a game to play for 5 minutes before being given a pro-social task. The pro-social task involved asking participants to assign tangram puzzles of varying difficulty for another person to solve, and if the person could solve 10/11 puzzles within a 10 minute time frame they would receive a monetary reward. The participants could, thus, help the other person by assigning easy puzzles or hinder them by assigning difficult puzzles. The study found differences in pro-social tendencies among the three game groups however the differences were not statistically significant. The effect of gender was also analyzed, and no statistically significant difference was found between genders. The result was unexpected as past research testing video games effect on pro-social behavior found significant differences between violent, co-operative games and neutral games.
Three potential reasons for the result were identified. First the utilized game time of 5 minutes was very short, pro-social scripts may not have had enough time to be primed in the participants’ minds and thus their effect on the pro-social task were negligible. The medium of card-/board games may not have been beneficial in inducing the pro-social behavior. Finally it is worth noting that while not statistically significant there was an increase in pro-social tendencies both in the competitive and co-operative game group. Both games were played with other participants, while the neutral game was played solo. This may suggest that the context of playing with other people mattered more than the content of the game played.
The study found that short durations of game play utilizing card-/board games did not show statistically significant benefits in improving pro-social behaviors
