Ahn Changhyun, Grizzard Matthew, Lee Seyoung
Health and New Media Research Institute, Hallym University, Chuncheon, South Korea.
School of Communication, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
Front Psychol. 2021 Jun 22;12:666518. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.666518. eCollection 2021.
Research has consistently found that committing immoral actions in video games is capable of eliciting feelings of guilt in players. This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of theoretically-relevant psychological mechanisms: Perceived morality of the player-controlled character and self-attribution of virtual behavior. Based in psychological and communication theory, we derived a model that links these variables to character portrayal and guilt. A between-subjects experiment manipulated the portrayal of the player-controlled character (immoral vs. moral) and measured the mediating variables and self-reported guilt. The hypothesized model was tested using a path model. Data were generally consistent with hypotheses. Controlling an immoral character reduced perceived character morality. Perceived character morality positively predicted self-attribution of character behavior and negatively predicted guilt. Self-attribution positively predicted guilt but self-attribution and perceived character morality did not interact. Our findings suggest novel directions for continued research into how game features elicit emotional responses in players.
研究一直发现，在电子游戏中做出不道德行为能够引发玩家的内疚感。本研究旨在调查理论上相关的心理机制的中介作用：玩家控制角色的感知道德和虚拟行为的自我归因。基于心理学和传播学理论，我们推导了一个将这些变量与角色刻画和内疚感联系起来的模型。一项被试间实验操纵了玩家控制角色的刻画（不道德与道德），并测量了中介变量和自我报告的内疚感。使用路径模型对假设模型进行了检验。数据总体上与假设一致。控制一个不道德的角色会降低对角色道德的感知。对角色道德的感知正向预测角色行为的自我归因，负向预测内疚感。自我归因正向预测内疚感，但自我归因和对角色道德的感知没有相互作用。我们的研究结果为继续研究游戏特征如何在玩家中引发情感反应提供了新的方向。
