Some Video Games Can Make Children Kinder And More Likely To Help

"Some video games can make children kinder and more likely to help—not hurt—other people.

That's the conclusion of new research published in the June 2009 issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

The article presents the findings of three separate studies, conducted in different countries with different age groups, and using different scientific approaches. All the studies find that playing games with prosocial content causes players to be more helpful to others after the game is over.

The report is co-authored by a consortium of researchers from the United States, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.

'Dozens of studies have documented a relationship between violent video games and aggressive behaviors,' said lead author Douglas Gentile, an Iowa State University psychologist. 'But this is one of the first that has documented the positive effects of playing prosocial games.'

Prosocial video games involve characters who help and support each other in nonviolent ways."