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Experiment 1

Experiment 1 sought to examine the potential underlying mechanisms (recategorization, empathy) of intergroup cooperation effects (in a violent video game) on bias reduction.

Method

Participants. [...] Participants consisted of 88 Canadian undergraduates at Brock University. [...]

Materials.

Video games and equipment. Participants played either the cooperative or solo-play “Zombie” mode of the violent first-person shooter game Call of Duty: Black Ops on an XBOX360 console. In the cooperative mode, players worked together to kill zombies, cooperating from separate rooms online via XBOXLive. In the solo-play mode, participants played alone. [...]

Attitudes. Attitudes toward University of Buffalo students and Americans were assessed, both pregame and postgame, using attitude thermometers. Participants also rated their attitudes toward 11 other social groups (e.g., immigrants, alcoholics) to disguise the groups of interest. Pretest attitudes were assessed with a visual-analogue scale, indicating attitudes with a mark on a 10-cm line anchored from extremely unfavorable to extremely favorable. Posttest attitudes were assessed on numbered Likert-type 10-point thermometer scales, with responses ranging from 1 (0 –10 degrees extremely unfavorable) to 10 (90 –100 degrees extremely favorable). [...]

Pro-outgroup participant behavior. To assess whether intergroup cooperation versus solo play led to more pro-outgroup participant behavior, participants selected a video for the outgroup participant (i.e., their partner in the cooperation context, or a fellow participant in the solo-play context) to watch (specific video titles were not given to participants), which allegedly elicits positive (happy/pleasant; coded as 1), neutral (coded as 0), or negative (sad/unpleasant; coded as 1) emotions. [...]

Recategorization. After playing the video game, participants reported the degree to which they felt like they and the outgroup participant “were one team playing the game” on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 7  [...]. Participants also indicated their “sense of connection” with the outgroup participant on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (very much so). [...]

Empathy. To assess empathy toward the outgroup participant, we used a 5-item empathy measure [...]. Specifically, participants read a short essay supposedly written by the outgroup participant prior to the study, wherein the author had broken his or her leg during an intramural sports game and was experiencing significant distress. Participants indicated the degree to which they felt empathetic toward the outgroup participant [...].

Suspiciousness. A questionnaire assessed knowledge of the study’s goals or deception.

Procedure. Participants were told that they were in two unrelated studies, the first examining the relation between personality and video game play, the second examining impressions formed about other university students’ experiences (to disguise the purpose of the empathy measure). Participants were told that the researchers were working with researchers at the University of Buffalo (United States), a cross-border university 50 km away. Participants were randomly assigned a context. In the intergroup context, participants were allegedly cooperating online in a firstperson shooter game via XBOXLive with an American at the University of Buffalo; Brock University participants actually played together from different rooms online via XBOXLive. In the solo-play context, participants were told that an American at the University of Buffalo was participating at the same time, but their video game play would be completely independent (i.e., each played the game separately). [...] Participants provided outgroup attitude ratings prior to playing the video game for 12 min and then completed the other measures.

Experiment 2

Experiment 2 sought to replicate and extend the findings from Experiment 1, testing our hypothesis that engaging in cooperative gaming with an outgroup member should boost favorable outgroup attitudes even if violent content is present.

Method

Participants. [...] Canadian undergraduates (n = 259) at Brock University participated for compensation as in Experiment 1. [...]

Materials.

Video games and equipment. In Experiment 2 we used a 2 x 2 design, such that participants either played the violent firstperson shooter game Call of Duty: Black Ops (cooperatively or solo; see Experiment 1) or the nonviolent basketball game NBA 2K14 (cooperatively or solo) on an XBOX360 console. Participants played the same match-up in NBA 2K14 (Oklahoma City Thunder vs. San Antonio Spurs) in both the cooperative and solo-play modes.

Attitudes. See Experiment 1.

Pro-outgroup Participant Behavior. See Experiment 1.

Recategorization. See Experiment 1. [...]

Empathy. See Experiment 1. [...]

Procedure. The procedure was identical to that of Experiment 1, except that participants were randomly assigned to play either a violent (Call of Duty: Black Ops) or a nonviolent (NBA 2K14) video game, either cooperatively or alone.