Playing Prosocial Video Games Increases Empathy and Decreases Schadenfreude


Greitemeyer, T., Osswald, S., & Brauer, M. (2010). Playing Prosocial Video Games Increases Empathy and Decreases Schadenfreude. American Psychological Association 2010, Vol. 10, No. 6, 796 – 802.

This article covers two experiments by Greitemeyer, et al, to show levels of malicious pleasure (schadenfreude) after playing games that were rated as “prosocial”, “antisocial”, and “neutral” in regards to the game’s theme. The first experiment used Tetris (Pajitnov, A., 1984) and Lemmings (Psygnosis, 1991) as the neutral and prosocial games, respectively. The participants were then asked how they felt about a celebrity's misfortune. Those who played the prosocial game were more likely to not feel schadenfreude about the celebrity. The second experiment included the antisocial game Lamers (MobyGames, 1992), a parody of Lemmings where the goal is to kill all of the animals, rather than save them. Those who played the antisocial game experienced the highest level of schadenfreude, and those who played the prosocial game were the least likely to experience schadenfreude.

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