Playing prosocial video games increases empathy and decreases schadenfreude.

Abstract

Past research provided abundant evidence that exposure to violent video games increases aggressive tendencies and decreases prosocial tendencies. In contrast, research on the effects of exposure to prosocial video games has been relatively sparse. The present research found support for the hypothesis that exposure to prosocial video games is positively related to prosocial affect and negatively related to antisocial affect. More specifically, two studies revealed that playing a prosocial (relative to a neutral) video game increased interpersonal empathy and decreased reported pleasure at another's misfortune (i.e., schadenfreude). These results lend further credence to the predictive validity of the General Learning Model (Buckley & Anderson, 2006) for the effects of media exposure on social tendencies.

Toward Predicting Prosocial Behavior: Music Preference and Empathy Differences Between Adolescents and Adults

“…For instance, it appears that listening to songs with prosocial lyrics can increase prosocial thoughts, affect, and behavior (Greitemeyer, 2009a(Greitemeyer, , 2009b. It was suggested in these studies, that investigations into the prosocial behavior-empathy association may highlight the importance of examining ways to increase empathy in order to instigate helping behavior (Greitemeyer et al, 2010).…”

“…A 2010 study (Greitemeyer, Osswald, & Brauer, 2010), using a non-clinical population, revealed that playing prosocial video games significantly increased empathic concern (t[56] = 2.24, p < .05) for both males and females; although females overall reported more empathy than males (B = .36, t[49] = 2.82, p < .05). The researchers claimed that their results showed a systematic negative association between empathy and antisocial behavior, and it was suggested that these effects may not be limited to video game exposure but may also extend to other media sources such as music.…”

Turning Our Gaze to Prosocial Media Effects: What is and isn’t Known

“…Laboratory experiments support the idea that prosocial media use causes increased prosocial behavior in the immediate situation (Gentile et al, 2009;Greitemeyer, Osswald, & Brauer, 2010;Saleem, Anderson, & Gentile, 2012a). For example, Gentile and colleagues (2009) randomly assigned participants to play a prosocial, violent or neutral video game.…”

“…There has been very little work to date on any of these mechanisms except empathy, and indeed, empathy seems to be one mechanism underlying prosocial media effects on prosocial behavior. Playing a prosocial video game increases empathy and decreases schadenfreude in the short term (Greitemeyer, Osswald, & Brauer, 2010). Listening to songs with prosocial lyrics increases helping behavior in the immediate situation by increasing empathy (Greitemeyer, 2009b).…”

Commentary: Considering Assumptions in Associations Between Music Preferences and Empathy-Related Responding

“…The authors argue that although music preferences have been shown in past studies to influence a range of behaviors and psychological outcomes, more research is needed "that validates music preferences as a measure of developmental accomplishments" (p. 53). They also argue for the relationship between prosocial behavior and empathy, citing investigations such as that by Greitemeyer, Osswald, and Brauer (2010), which found that playing prosocial video games increased participants' empathy concerns. Greitemeyer and colleagues suggested that listening to songs with prosocial lyrics might increase participants' empathy, which in turn might instigate increases in prosocial thoughts, affect, and behavior.…”