Cooperative Video Games May Help Reduce Prejudice

What is it about?

This study examined whether cooperating with someone believed to be from another social group while playing a video game could reduce prejudice toward that person’s group. Canadian university students played Call of Duty: Black Ops cooperatively for 12 minutes with someone they believed was either another Canadian student from their own university or an American student from the University of Buffalo. Together, they fought zombie-like enemies. After playing, Canadians who believed they had cooperated with an American showed more favourable attitudes toward both Americans and University of Buffalo students. In contrast, attitudes did not change among participants who believed they had played with another student from their own university. Participants who believed they had played with an American also tended to see themselves and their partner as being on the same team and did not favour a Canadian student over their American partner on a behavioural measure. The improvement in attitudes was specific to the partner’s groups and did not extend to unrelated social groups.

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Photo by Alex Haney on Unsplash

Photo by Alex Haney on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The findings show that the social context in which video games are played can matter. Even though the game involved considerable violence, cooperating with someone believed to belong to another social group reduced prejudice toward that group. This suggests that the cooperative features of multiplayer games may sometimes produce positive social outcomes, even in violent games. The study also suggests that online games could provide a practical way for people from different social groups to work together toward a shared goal, which may help improve attitudes between groups. However, the study only measured attitudes immediately after a brief gaming session and focused on Canadian attitudes toward Americans. The authors therefore note that more research is needed to determine how long the effects last and whether they generalize to other groups, particularly groups with more severe histories of conflict or prejudice.