010 - Can Games Make You Smarter? | Psychology of Video Games Podcast Podcast

006 - Psychology and UX: User Experience ("UX" for short) is one of those disciplines in the gaming industry often tied to psychology. And given how it's interested in understanding and quantifying the experiences of the people who play video games, interact with hardware,... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

52 min listen

011 - How do video games affect our physical and mental health?: I admit it: I'm turning into my parents. When I was a kid I played a lot of games, and they had concerns about how it was affecting my physical and mental health. My mom and dad thought it would wreck my attention span, stunt my social skills, and... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

62 min listen

014: Why Do YOU Play Games?: Hey. I've got a question for you: Why do you play games? That's going to be the topic of discussion in this episode of the podcast, with my guest Dr. Nick Yee from Quantic Foundry. He's going to share some research that he and his colleagues have... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

57 min listen

007 - Video Game Debates and Research: I talk to Rachel Kowert and Throston Quandt about their new book on the the many debates surrounding video games as the scientific study of games. Kowert & Quandt's book, "The Video Game Debate" More about the podcast here:... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

50 min listen

001 - Video Game Frustration, Aggression, and Rage Quitting: Text. Pfft. Text is dead, am I right? Voice without video, THAT'S the future. Given that, I've decided to dip into the world of podcasting and have recorded my first episode. I talked to Dr. Andrew Przybylski from Oxford University about research... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

45 min listen

004 - Toxic Behavior in Video Games: I think most of us have been there: we join an online multiplayer game and suddenly someone is screaming all kinds of nasty things at us, telling us to die in a fire, or spamming us with some hateful string of letters or another. This sort of toxic... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

62 min listen

005 - Psychology and Game AI: Playing with and against other humans is great in many ways (and not so great in others) but the fact is that gamers spend a lot of time interacting with computer-controlled agents. Enemies, shopkeeers, quest givers, teammates, other NPCs --they can... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

61 min listen

023 - Self Determination Theory and Video Games: There's a substantial body of literature that identifies a triforce of motivation: Competence, Autonomy, and Mastery. That is, we're motivated to do something to the extent that we feel like we can get better at it, that we feel like we have... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

66 min listen

022 - Research on Addiction and Aggression: Turns out that doing science is hard. And doing science involving people is particularly tricky and comes with all kinds of caveats. And then doing research on humans involving something as diverse and personal as video game experiences is even more... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

63 min listen

015: Simulation Sickness and Virtual Reality Game Design: In this episode I talk with Ben Lewis Evans, a psychologist and UX researcher at Epic Games, about simulation sickness and virtual reality. We talk about what causes it and what limitations hardware and game designers have to design around in order to... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

57 min listen

Podcast 54 - Sexualization in Games: Should you expect playing as a sexually objectified avatar like Lara Croft to impact women's attitudes towards their own bodies or to create other harmful attitudes? My guests this episode engaged in what they called "adversarial collaboration" to run... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

49 min listen

003 - Psychological Flow: Ever just get "in the zone" with a video game? Like it just clicks with you and it's challenging enough to hold your interest but not too difficult as to get frustrating? This is a mental state called psychological flow, and it's been studied in work,... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

49 min listen

008 - Envy and Microtransactions: I talk to researcher Niels van de Ven about how envy can drive us to make in-game purchases and microtransactions, as well as what effect such purchases have on what we think of other players. What happens if you pay to win while I grind it out?... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

52 min listen

017 - Psychology and the Gamification of Learning: In this episode I talk with Karl Kapp about what video gams have in common with effective classrooms, training, or other learning environments and why an over reliance on "points, badges, and leaderboards" isn't a good idea. About the podcast:... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

65 min listen

009 - How Games Differ From Other Media: In this episode I talk to Dr. Nick Bowman about how video games differ from other media in terms of the demands they place on players and thus how our approaches to studying them should differ. It turns out that video games ARE special and something... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

72 min listen

028 - Avatar Identification and Video Games: In this episode I talk to Dr. Jesse Fox about her research into how we identify with our video game avatars, how that affects how we play, and how it may affect what we take away from games. Specifically, we review a paper entitled "Playing for Love... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

57 min listen

024 - Electronic Gaming Therapy: Games are good for more than just simple fun. Some psychologists and therapists are using them to help people. In this episode I talk to some people who are using video games as part of therapy for kids and families and they explain why games are so... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

60 min listen

010 - Can Games Make You Smarter?: In this episode I talk to Dr. C. Shawn Green about whether or not video games can make us smarter or improve certain mental and perceptual skills. And not just those brain training games --we're talking about mainstream action games that most of us... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

61 min listen

012 - Video Game violence: Does controlling or experiencing violence in video games cause violence, aggression, or other acts of malice outside of the game? This is the main question that I discuss with my guest this episode, Christopher J. Ferguson, Ph.D. He is a prolific... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

72 min listen

021 - Achievements, Goals, and Motivation in Games: Achievements, trophies, badges, and similar rewards are ever present in video games. The assumption seems to be that they motivate players to keep playing a game in order to reach some goal or get some reward, but is that always so? In this episode I... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

59 min listen

020 - Year 1 of Psych of Games Articles: I'm working ahead on new podcasts, new articles, and a conference lecture. In the meantime, enjoy the audio versions of 12 Psychology of Games articles all assembled together for your listening pleasure. About the podcast: Subscribe in iTunes... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

55 min listen

002 - Big Data and Becoming a Video Game Psychologist: Ever wondered how one gets into the field of video game psychology? Is there even such a field, really? In many ways Dr. Nick Yee is the answer to both those questions. He has a background in psychology and experimental design and he has published... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

52 min listen

Podcast 42: Mobile Game Affinity: Say it's time to download a new game for your phone or tablet. What, out of the billions of choices out there, will you choose? Psychology pretty consistently tells us that when we have too many choices we look for strategies and heuristics for making... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

49 min listen

025 - A Parent's Guide to Video Games: Dr. Rachel Kowert returns to discuss her new book, A Parent's Guide to Video Games. We discuss her process for writing the book, who she thinks it benefits, and the questions and concerns that parents tend to have about the mental wellbeing of their... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

45 min listen

013 - Stress, Games, and Recovery: Ever used video games to blow off some steam and recover from a hard day at work or school? Psychologists who study stress and how we recover from it have noted that certain activities are better than others for helping us recharge our reserves and... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

42 min listen

019 - Habit Forming Games: Habits --behaviors we do without thinking about them-- are very powerful forces in our lives. And many products like mobile games are designed specifically to create and maintain habits. In this episode I talk to Nir Eyal about how habits are formed,... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

60 min listen

Podcast 38: Mental Health Professionals and Video Games: It may shock you to hear this, but not everyone is intimately familiar with video games. I know, right? Despite the fact that video games continue to become more mainstream and cut across all kinds of demographic groups, some aspects of games and... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

59 min listen

Podcast 33: Executive Skill Transference and Play Diets: Modern video games are complicated and require a lot of learning, problem solving, memory, planning, and other things that psychologists might identify as executive functions of the brain. There's a lot going on between our ears whenever we play. And... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

63 min listen

018 - Biofeedback and Video Games: I talk to Lennart Nacke from the University of Waterloo about the research he has done around psychophysiology --the physiological basis of psychological phenomena. We discuss how various physiological processes like breathing, heart rate, eye... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

56 min listen

Podcast 48: Loot Boxes Part 2: Special ALL HAWAII EDITION! To give me a little breathing room after finishing up my book manuscript, here are two complete interviews I did while researching the recent loot box podcast episode. One is the full interview with Representative Chris... by Psychology of Video Games Podcast

48 min listen

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010 - Can Games Make You Smarter?

010 - Can Games Make You Smarter?

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