Game perspective-taking effects on willingness to help immigrants: A replication study with a Spanish sample

Abstract

This study replicated an experiment examining video game character perspective-taking effects on socio-political opinions with a sample of Spanish participants. Random assignment to play a game as an immigration inspector decreased intention and attitudes toward helping immigrants relative to baseline scores. These effects were observed while controlling for social dominance orientation or preference for inequality among social groups. The intention and attitudes of participants randomly assigned to play a control group game featuring the role of a newspaper editor remained unchanged. Overall, this study expanded perspective-taking research by replicating theoretical predictions with a different sample. We discuss future directions and findings that deviated from the original study.

Keywords

Immigration perspective-taking replication video games

Introduction

Video games are a common aspect of the modern media landscape, and thus, much research focuses on the cognitive, affective, and social dimensions involved with playing video games (Bowman, 2018). For example, players apply cognitive resources to understand and navigate a game, and in doing so, their cognitive skills are affected by learning how to play fast-paced action video games (Green, 2018). To the extent to which video games cause players to show explicit or implicit affective responses, video games exert emotional demands on players (Grizzard and Francemone, 2018). Video games also apply physical demands on players because they require users to tap on screens or employ joysticks, gamepads, standard controllers, and motion-sensing controllers (Eden et al., 2018). The presence of artificial game characters in single player games along with the presence of real people operating avatars in multiplayer games exerts social demands on the quantity and quality of the social ties of players and game audiences (Peña, 2018). These perspectives converge on the assumption that playing video games has measurable “effects” on a broad range on social phenomena. Congruent with these assumptions, this study examines how playing video games can influence players’ socio-political opinions, such as willingness to help immigrants.

Perspective-taking and video games

Perspective-taking refers to the cognitive and emotional capacity to consider the world from other viewpoints and thus understand and anticipate the behavior of others (Davis, 1983). Perspective-taking helps people transcend their egocentric frame of reference. For instance, the ability of negotiators to adopt the perspective of their rivals affects success in negotiations (Neale and Bazerman, 1983). Two general perspective-taking standpoints include visuo-spatial and cognitive-affective approaches (Erle and Topolinski, 2017). The former approach focuses on the effects of object visibility and viewing angle, whereas the latter asks participants to imagine that they are a different person depicted in a scenario or video (Erle and Topolinski, 2017). Taking on the perspective of a video game character triggers both visuo-spatial and cognitive-affective perspective-taking mechanisms because players control characters from different visual perspectives (e.g. first-person, third-person, top-down) while also imagining themselves as the game protagonist (Peña et al., 2018).

Visuo-spatial predictions have received much attention in studies examining the perspective-taking effects of video games and virtual reality systems. Participants who take on the perspective of a partner in a virtual reality “day in the life” simulation show increased empathy for their partner relative to participants whom either perform a control condition task or take the perspective of a person different from their partner (van Loon et al., 2018). In addition, facial muscle activity and perceived presence (i.e. sense of “being there” in the game environment) are higher in first-person compared with third-person point of view (Kallinen et al., 2007). A study examining the effects of visual point of view (first-person or third-person) and avatar choice (participant had a choice or no choice) reports heart rate increases when players choose an avatar in third-person perspective relative to when playing in third-person without avatar choice (Lim and Reeves, 2009). This implies that playing in third-person perspective with an avatar of choice decreases attention relative to having no choice, as having a choice aids with players’ mental processing of their avatar (Lim and Reeves, 2009). Players also report increased presence in first-person relative to third-person point of view (Lim and Reeves, 2009). Although there is ample evidence about the effects of first- and third-person point of view, fewer studies use a top-down perspective video game to test perspective-taking effects.

Video game perspective-taking and prejudice reduction

Perspective-taking research focuses on how video games and virtual experiences may enhance an individual’s ability to understand other people’s mental states and, in doing so, show prejudice reduction and decreases in stereotyping. For instance, taking on the perspective of a racial minority member in a video game reduces biases against said racial minority group (Behm-Morawitz et al., 2016). Also, participants who play a video game allowing them to embody an African-American student experiencing race prejudice show decreases in implicit racial biases in comparison with those exposed to a narrative text describing the same discrimination scenario but only if playing the game increases empathy (Gutierrez et al., 2014). In addition, embodying elderly avatars decreases prejudice toward the elderly (Yee and Bailenson, 2006), whereas playing a beat-’em-up game as a hero increases prosocial behaviors, such as delivering a lost letter relative to playing as a villain (Happ et al., 2013). In a cross-national study, participants who play a game featuring the role of the Israeli Prime Minister or the Palestinian President (“PeaceMaker”) report increased knowledge about the conflict, whereas participants who play a game featuring the role of a freelance journalist covering the Israeli–Palestinian issue (“Global Conflicts”) show increased impartiality toward both sides (Kampf, 2015).

The present study

Although the majority of the studies listed above examine how perspective-taking game manipulations decrease prejudice, the same mechanism also predicts opposite effects. It is not uncommon for video game players to take on roles such as villains or anti-heroes and make morally gray or even amoral choices (Krcmar and Cingel, 2016; Weaver and Lewis, 2012). For instance, participants randomly assigned to play a game with a heroic avatar (e.g. Superman) subsequently display more prosocial behavior relative to those assigned to play with a villainous avatar (e.g. Lord Voldemort) (Yoon and Vargas, 2014). Moreover, participants randomly assigned to play a game with a villainous avatar subsequently displayed more antisocial behavior compared with those assigned to a heroic avatar (Yoon and Vargas, 2014). The influence of character perspective is also congruent with the Proteus effect, which predicts that avatar appearance influences individual’s cognition and behavior via self-perception or observation of one’s own behavior when embodied in an avatar (Yee and Bailenson, 2007) and priming or activation of stereotypical learned concepts and behaviors based on avatar appearance and role (Peña et al., 2009).

Based on the above, taking on the perspective of a game character that distrusts immigrants should decrease players’ willingness to help immigrants. For example, participants randomly assigned to play a top-down perspective game featuring the role of an immigration inspector (i.e. “Papers, Please”) report lower intention, subjective norms, and self-efficacy to help immigrants relative to baseline scores (Peña et al., 2018). A control group of participants randomly assigned to play a game similar in style but featuring the role of a newspaper editor (i.e. “The Westport Independent”) show no changes in willingness to help immigrants, thus implying that within-subject reductions from baseline willingness to help immigrants is solely linked to playing as game immigration inspectors (Peña et al., 2018). This study highlights how a mechanism which is used to predict prejudice reduction can also operate in the opposite direction. The direction of the effect depends on the type of character that players get to take the perspective of; in this case, embodying an immigration inspector in a dystopian satire game decreases willingness to help immigrants.

While this study provides initial evidence using a politically liberal US west coast sample, its results deserve further attention in other countries. For instance, Spain has high rates of immigrants from Latin-American and Caribbean countries (Bayona et al., 2018). As in other parts of the world including the United States, far-right parties running on anti-immigrant platforms have also gained strength in Spain (Minder, 2019). Another reason to replicate Peña et al.’s (2018) study with a Spanish sample is that research using only wealthy, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic culture samples may overlook cross-cultural differences in fairness and cooperation principles (Henrich et al., 2010). For example, contextual differences including individualistic-collectivistic culture, urban–rural setting, and racially diverse–predominantly White populations accounted for replication success factors, such as effect size and power of the replication attempt (Van Bavel et al., 2016).

Thus, revisiting Peña et al.’s (2018) study with a Spanish sample allows researchers to test for the robustness of perspective-taking effects using participants with different personal and political experiences. Replication is essential for building theory and accumulating reliable knowledge because replication attempts promote self-correction and falsifiability (Keating and Totzkay, 2019). A common misconception about replication studies is that they are designed to confirm the exact results of a previous study. However, replication studies also provide evidence about the validity of theoretical assumptions and establish boundary conditions for previously reported effects. In particular, direct replications evaluate the reproducibility of a set of findings by using the same methods of a previous study, whereas conceptual replications evaluate the underlying theory by purposefully deviating from the methods of previous studies (Keating and Totzkay, 2019). Considering this, this study directly replicates an experiment reporting how perspective-taking in video games influence socio-political attitudes, such as willingness to help immigrants (Peña et al., 2018) to establish whether a non-US sample provides a boundary condition for the effect.

Peña et al. (2018) operationalize the effects of video game perspective-taking on willingness to help immigrants as planned behavior components (Ajzen, 1991). Performing a behavior can be predicted from people’s intention or willingness to perform the behavior in question and from their perceptions of control over the behavior (Doll and Ajzen, 1992). In particular, attitudes toward a behavior or learned evaluations based on the desirability of expected consequences reliably predict planned behaviors. People have favorable attitudes toward behaviors with expected desirable consequences and unfavorable attitudes about behaviors with expected undesirable consequences (Doll and Ajzen, 1992). Subjective norm refers to the perceived social pressure from significant others to perform or not perform a behavior. Beliefs about normative expectations of salient referent individuals or groups increase perceived social pressure to comply based on expected approval or disapproval of performing a behavior in question (Doll and Ajzen, 1992). Self-efficacy or perceived behavioral control refers to the perceived ease or difficulty of performing a behavior. Perceived control beliefs may be based on direct past experience or vicarious learning, secondhand information, and real or perceived access to resources (Doll and Ajzen, 1992). In general, direct experience has stronger effects on these theoretical components relative to indirect experience (Doll and Ajzen, 1992). Perspective-taking in video games may provide such direct experience and, thus, influence willingness to help immigrants operationalized as intention, attitudes, subjective norm, and self-efficacy (Peña et al., 2018).

Peña et al. (2018) also controlled for social dominance orientation or pre-existing preference for inequality among social groups (Pratto et al., 1994). Pre-existing social dominance orientation is linked to ingroup supremacy but decreased empathy for others (Pratto et al., 1994). In keeping with replicating their original study, all statistical analyses will control for players’ social dominance orientation.

Hypotheses

Based on the above, the present study tests for the following hypotheses:

H1. Relative to baseline, participants playing a game as an immigration inspector (“Papers, Please”) will show decreased (a) intention, (b) attitudes, (c) subjective norms, and (d) self-efficacy to help immigrants after a single playthrough.

H2. Playing a game as an immigration inspector (“Papers, Please”) a second time will further decrease (a) intention, (b) attitudes, (c) subjective norms, and (d) self-efficacy to help immigrants relative to the first play session.

H3. Participants playing a game as an immigration inspector (“Papers, Please”) will show decreased (a) intention, (b) attitudes, (c) subjective norms, and (d) self-efficacy to help immigrants compared with participants assigned to play a game as a newspaper editor (“The Westport Independent”).

Method

Participants

In all, 180 undergraduate students at a university in southeastern Spain—43.82% women, 50.56% men, and 5.62% that did not identify as either male or female—participated in this study for extra credit. The original study had a sample of 172 undergraduate participants and sufficient statistical power (Peña et al., 2018). The participants were in their early 20s (M = 21.41 years, SD = 10.09, range = 18–35 years). All participants were Spanish citizens.

Materials

Game perspective comparisons

This experiment used the same procedure and materials used in Peña et al.’s (2018) study. Participants were randomly assigned to play a game in which they took the perspective of an immigration officer (i.e. “Papers, Please”) or a newspaper editor (“The Westport Independent”). The games had similar graphic style and top-down visual perspective but they featured different narratives. In “Papers, Please,” players become an immigration inspector in charge of granting or denying entry to a fictional authoritarian country (Brown, 2016). In “The Westport Independent,” players become a newspaper editor who either publishes the truth or is complicit with a totalitarian regime. In all, 86.8% and 100% of the participants were unacquainted with “Papers, Please” and “The Westport Independent,” respectively. The effect of playing from the perspective of an immigration officer or newspaper editor on willingness to help immigrants was operationalized as four theory of planned behavior factors (Ajzen, 1991). These factors included intention to accomplish a behavior, attitudes or positive or negative evaluations, subjective norms or perceived social evaluations regarding a behavior, and self-efficacy or people’s confidence that they are capable of performing a behavior. “Papers, Please” was expected to influence all four planned behavior factors equally because the game protagonist’s perspective encourages players to suspect immigrants of presenting fake or missing paper work, carrying bombs, and attempting bribes.

Procedure

The data were collected in Spain in 2018. To decrease awareness and suspiciousness, participants were told that researchers were testing different video games for future studies. The participants filled out a baseline survey before coming to the lab and participated in two play sessions. The two play sessions took place on different days; no session was performed on consecutive days. Most sessions took place at least 2 days from each other during a period not exceeding 1 week after the first session. Once in the lab, participants were shown a 5-minute video tutorial containing an overview of their assigned game’s story, characters, and basic mechanics. Participants played the game for 45 minutes in individual soundproofed rooms and then answered a survey. Participants played four times in total or about twice per lab session. The participants then came to the lab for a second 45-minute play session and answered the same survey. Planned behavior items were intermingled with decoy questions (e.g. game enjoyment).

Dependent variables

Intention, attitudes, subjective norms, and self-efficacy to help immigrants were measured before coming to the lab to provide a baseline and then again at the end of two game sessions. The intention, subjective norms, and self-efficacy items came from a scale measuring willingness to help excluded social groups (Novo-Corti et al., 2011). Attitude items came from a prejudice against immigrants scale (García et al., 2003). All items were presented in 1–7 Likert-type scales worded in Spanish.

Intention

This factor was measured with three items. The items included “I intend to support immigrants living in my community,” “I would like to participate in immigration assistance programs in the real world,” and “I intend to help immigrants opt for a better life in the real world.” Reliability was good (α_baseline = .906, α_{first session} = .882, and α_{second session} = .884).

Attitudes

This factor was measured with seven items that represented positive or negative evaluations of immigrants (e.g. “Please indicate your thoughts and feelings about immigrants in the real world: Dislike-Sympathy, Hostility-Attraction, Hate-Admiration, Contempt-Respect”). Reliability was good (α_baseline = .859, α_{first session} = .888, and α_{second session} = .900).

Subjective norms

This factor characterized normative expectations and significant others’ approval of helping immigrants. It was measured with three items including “My friends would approve of me helping immigrants in the real world,” “My family thinks that we should help immigrants in the real world,” and “Spanish society is ready to help immigrants in the real world.” The scale was unreliable (α_baseline = .522, α_{first session} = .585, and α_{second session} = .525). Unreliable subjective norms’ results appear in a separate OSF website (https://osf.io/pvjdk/?view_only=e28f5e856291439290883700bc49b3d5).

Self-efficacy

This factor was measured with two items and it represented individual’s sense of confidence that they are in control of helping immigrants. Sample items included “If I wanted to help immigrants, I would be able to do so” and “I would be able to help immigrants even if by doing so I disobey expectations.” Reliability was not acceptable (α_baseline = .523, α_{first session} = .550, and α_{second session} = .700). Unreliable self-efficacy results appear in a separate OSF website.

Social dominance

This factor represents preference for inequality among social groups and was assessed before participants came to the lab using a 16-item scale (α = .863) (Pratto et al., 1994). Items included “Some groups are simply inferior to other groups,” “It’s probably a good thing that certain groups are at the top and other groups are at the bottom,” and “If certain groups stayed in their place, we would have fewer problems.” The overall sample had low social dominance scores (M = 2.252, SD = 0.827).

Results

Although participants were randomly assigned to each game condition, participants assigned to play “Papers, Please” had higher baseline intention and attitudes toward helping immigrants, F_intention(1, 177) = 6.793, p = .010, η² = .037, confidence interval (CI) = [0.005, 0.092], and F_attitudes(1, 177) = 19.296, p = .001, η² = .098, CI = [0.039, 0.171]. There were no baseline differences for subjective norms and self-efficacy between the two game conditions, F_s < 1. As noted above, the subjective norms and self-efficacy scales were not reliable and appear in a separate OSF website. Thus, H1c, H1d, H2c, H2d, H3c, and H3d will not be tested here. These shortcomings are addressed in the limitations section.

Table 1 includes baseline intention and attitude scores for the Peña et al. (2018) study and the present sample. Peña et al.’s (2018) US west coast sample had significantly higher baseline intention and attitudes scores relative to the present Spanish sample, t_intention(350) = 5.291, p = .001, CI = [1.144, 0.524], and t_attitudes(350) = 7.770, p = .001, CI = [0.997, 0.594].

Table 1.

Baseline mean and standard deviation for intention and attitudes toward helping immigrants for Peña et al. (2018) and the present study.

	Peña et al. (2018) US west coast sample(N = 172)	Present studySoutheastern Spain sample(N = 180)
Intention	4.9244 (1.3123)	4.091 (1.6200)
Attitudes	5.3846 (0.9854)	4.5889 (0.9359)

In keeping with the replication, the data from the Spanish sample were analyzed with a repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) examining both within- and between-subject effects. The majority of the findings in a previous study were within-subject effects in the condition of playing as an immigration inspector (Peña et al., 2018). All statistical tests used social dominance as a covariate to control for its effects. Each test included simple planned contrasts comparing baseline scores to the same variable after the first and second lab play sessions (see Figure 1 and Tables 2 and 3 for full results).

Figure 1.

Mean for intention to help immigrants by experimental condition (“Papers, Please” or “Westport Independent”) by measurement time (baseline; 1^st play session; 2^nd second play session).

Table 2.

Estimated marginal means and standard error for dependent variables by game condition at three time points.

	Papers, Please(N = 91)	Westport Independent(N = 89)
Intention
Baseline	4.365 (.149)	3.811 (.151)
First play session	4.010 (.145)	3.758 (.147)
Second play session	3.540 (.145)	3.695 (.146)
Total	3.971 (.133)	3.754 (.135)
Attitudes
Baseline	4.893 (.084)	4.278 (.085)
First play session	4.757 (.087)	4.267 (.088)
Second play session	4.538 (.084)	4.264 (.085)
Total	4.729 (.079)	4.270 (.080)

Table 3.

Within-subjects effects at three time points by game condition.

Dependent variable	Game Condition	Comparisons	Mean difference	SE	p value	95% CI
Dependent variable	Game Condition	Comparisons	Mean difference	SE	p value	Lower bound	Upper bound
Intention	Papers, Please	Baseline vs first session	.355	.106	.001	0.146	0.564
		Baseline vs second session	825	.121	.001	0.585	1.064
		First vs second session	.469	.087	.001	0.298	0.641
	Westport Independent	Baseline vs first session	.053	.107	.624	−0.159	0.264
		Baseline vs second session	.116	.123	.347	−0.126	0.358
		First vs second session	.063	.088	.473	−0.110	0.236
Attitudes	Papers, Please	Baseline vs first session	.135	.052	.010	0.033	0.237
		Baseline vs seconnd session	.355	.063	.001	0.231	0.479
		First vs second session	.220	.039	.001	0.142	0.298
	Westport Independent	Baseline vs first session	.011	.052	.831	−0.092	0.114
		Baseline vs second session	.014	.063	.822	−0.111	0.139
		First vs second session	.003	.040	.938	−0.076	0.082

CI: confidence interval.

Intention

Within-subjects contrasts revealed a game condition by measurement time interaction showing that intention to help immigrants was higher at baseline relative to the first, F(1, 177) = 4.054, p = .046, η² = .022, CI = [0.001, 0.070], and second play sessions, F(1, 177) = 16.894, p = .001, η² = .087, CI = [0.032, 0.158]. Intention to help immigrants was also lower in the second relative to the first play session among participants assigned to play as an immigration inspector, F(1, 177) = 10.847, p = .001, η² = .058, CI = [0.014, 0.121].

Breaking apart these effects through pairwise comparisons revealed that participants assigned to play as an immigration inspector had higher intention scores at baseline compared with the first and second play sessions (Figure 1 and Table 3). H1a and H2a were supported. Participants assigned to play as a newspaper editor showed no intention score differences between baseline and the two play sessions (Figure 1 and Table 3). There were also significant between-subjects effects, F(1, 177) = 16.847, p = .001, η² = .087, CI = [0.032, 0.157]. As noted above, intention to help immigrants was higher at baseline in the “Papers, Please” condition, but this difference was insignificant after the first and second play sessions, F_{first session}(1, 177) = 1.487, p = .226, η² = .008, CI = [0.000, 0.044], and F_{second session}(1, 177) < 1. Thus, H3a was not supported as there were no differences between the two game conditions in regard to intention to helping immigrants after gameplay.

Attitudes

Within-subjects contrasts showed a game condition by measurement time interaction implying that attitudes toward helping immigrants was near significantly higher at baseline relative to the first, F(1, 177) = 2.828, p = .094, η² = .016, CI = [0.001, 0.059], and significantly different after second play session, F(1, 177) = 14.566, p = .001, η² = .076, CI = [0.025, 0.144]. Attitudes toward helping immigrants was also lower in the second relative to the first play session, F(1, 177) = 14.938, p = .001, η² = .078, CI = [0.026, 0.146].

Pairwise comparisons showed that participants assigned to play as an immigration inspector had higher attitudes at baseline compared with both the first and second play sessions (Figure 2 and Table 3). H1b and H2b were confirmed. In addition, participants assigned to play as immigration inspectors had higher attitudes at the first play session relative to the second session. There were no pairwise attitude differences between baseline, first, and second play sessions among participants assigned to play as a newspaper editor (Figure 2 and Table 3). Between-subject effects on attitudes were significant, F(1, 177) = 16.847, p = .001, η² = .087, CI = [0.032, 0.157]. As shown earlier, attitudes toward helping immigrants were more positive at baseline in the “Papers, Please” condition. Although the within-subjects tests above showed significant decreases within this condition, attitude differences between the groups remained significant after the first and second play sessions, F_{first session}(1, 177) = 15.666, p = .001, η² = .081, CI = [0.028, 0.151], and F_{second session}(1, 177) = 5.224, p = .023, η² = .029, CI = [0.002, 0.080]. Thus, H3b was disconfirmed. Note that attitude differences between the two game conditions decreased in F ratio and effect size after the two play sessions.

Figure 2.

Mean for attitudes toward helping immigrants by experimental condition (“Papers, Please” or “Westport Independent”) by measurement time (baseline; 1^st play session; 2^nd second play session).

Discussion

This study found evidence for game perspective-taking effects on intention and attitudes toward helping immigrants. Relative to baseline scores, random assignment to playing a game in which participants took the role of an immigration inspector for a totalitarian regime (i.e. “Papers, Please”) diminished intention and attitudes toward helping immigrants whereas participants assigned to play as a newspaper editor in a totalitarian context (“The Westport Independent”) showed no changes. The analysis accounted for preexisting social dominance beliefs linked to decreased empathy and increased support for social inequality.

Intention was significantly influenced in a previous study and in the present replication, suggesting that game perspective-taking as an immigration inspector had more reliable effects on this factor. Intention represents conscious or planned appraisals of future behavior (Ajzen, 1991). It is possible that experiencing negative consequences for their game character when deviating from the instructions of a totalitarian regime had more reliable effects on intentional estimates of planned behavior. Although a main limitation was that intention to help immigrants was higher at baseline in the immigration inspector game condition, it is important to note that intention score differences became statistically insignificant after two “Papers, Please” play sessions. Such reduction further reinforced game perspective-taking effects after playing as an immigration inspector on intention toward helping immigrants.

This replication confirmed the theoretical predictions of game perspective-taking effects and extended this research into games with top-down visual perspectives as most previous studies had used games in first- and third-person point of view. In addition, the original study used a US west coast sample with increased baseline pro-immigrant beliefs whereas the effects reported here were observed in a southeastern Spanish sample with significantly less pronounced pro-immigrant views. This contributes to the literature as studies using only wealthy, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic culture samples may overlook cross-cultural differences (Henrich et al., 2010). Replication also has powerful theoretical, external validity and meta-analytical implications because predictive theories and models are strengthened if their results replicate across different populations, countries, and cultures (McEwan et al., 2018). Replication may also increase researchers’ ability to aggregate and summarize findings across studies by means of meta-analytical techniques in order to estimate the robustness of an effect across studies (McEwan et al., 2018). Although there were differences between the original study and the present replication, using a non-US sample did not provide a boundary condition for the effect as video game perspective-taking effects were similar in direction and strength. It should be noted that the United States and Spain are both western democratic countries, and thus, samples from different countries and cultures may provide a stronger boundary condition for the present effects.

There were several differences between the present replication and the original study. Peña et al. (2018) did not observe significant effects on attitudes toward immigrants, whereas the present study did reliably observe such effect. Peña et al. (2018) reasoned that more participants were needed for attitudinal differences to achieve statistical significance. This is plausible as the present results lend support for game perspective-taking effects on attitudes or negative–positive evaluations about immigrants. It is important to note that attitudes toward helping immigrants were more positive at baseline in the immigration inspector relative to the newspaper editor game condition. This difference remained statistically significant after two play session though the difference shrunk noticeably (see F tests and effect sizes provided above), thus strengthening the case for the influence of perspective-taking as a game immigration inspector on attitudes toward helping immigrants. Another departure from the initial study was that the subjective norms and self-efficacy scales were unreliable in this replication. We did not interpret the subjective norms and self-efficacy results as these factors fell below conventional scale reliability thresholds. The full results for the two unreliable scales appear in a separate website.

By examining perspective-taking effects on intention, attitudes, subjective norms, and self-efficacy, this study further cemented the utility of planned behavior factors to operationalize video game perspective-taking effects. However, intention and attitude scales showed higher scale reliability compared with subjective norms and self-efficacy in the original study and present replication. Scale reliability issues draw attention to the need of contextually sensitive measurement (Ajzen, 1991; Novo-Corti et al., 2011). According to Francis et al. (2004), interviews and behavioral records can be employed to triangulate a sample’s subjective norms (e.g. peers, parents and family, romantic partners, co-workers, etc.). The same is true for self-efficacy as experience, physical (dis)ability, access to resources, and other contextual factors can affect individuals’ control beliefs.

It is worth noting that “Papers, Please” is a satire of totalitarian regimes, and thus, it was conceivable that parodying totalitarianism may perhaps increase players’ intention and attitudes toward helping immigrants. According to Peña et al. (2018), the observed effect echoed with procedural rhetoric principles, which state that processing immigrants, performing searches and background checks, and other game tasks are more persuasive than the political satire content coated on top of game activities (Bogost, 2007). The satiric nature of the game’s narrative was likely lost or was less salient to players relative to what they did in the game.

This study has several limitations. As noted above, the subjective norms and self-efficacy scales were unreliable. Unreliable results appear in a separate website though they were similar to Peña et al.’s (2018) findings for participants assigned to play as immigration inspectors. The two games featured in the study were not the same game played through different character perspectives though critics regard these games as similar (Monroe, 2016; Roberts, 2015). All participants played the games under comparable lab conditions, though some participants might have played more or fewer times within the same session. In addition, both the original study and the present replication used college student samples. Future studies should attempt to study perspective-taking effects with non-student samples. A review of the social and behavioral sciences shows that 68% of study participants came from educated US samples and that other groups around the world show differences in fairness, cooperation, moral reasoning, self-concept, and motivation that question the external validity of assumptions built around samples from western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic societies (Henrich et al., 2010). The results derived from a student sample may not apply to different populations.

Future studies should also attempt to establish the psychological mechanisms associated with game perspective-taking effects, such as empathy and identification. Perspective-taking may increase empathy toward one’s character (Gutierrez et al., 2014), which may in turn decrease intention and attitudes toward helping immigrants if a player’s game character is anti-immigration. Perspective-taking may also trigger increased perceived similarity between players and game characters or it may prompt wishful identification or a desire to be like a game character (Van Looy et al., 2010), which may in turn influence players’ willingness to help immigrants. Overall, the findings were statistically small but consistent and replicable across different samples and they illustrated how video games can change players’ beliefs about socio-political issues such as immigration.

Footnotes

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Jorge Peña

Author biographies

Jorge Peña (PhD, Cornell University) is an associate professor at University of California, Davis. He is director of the Virtual Interaction and Communication Technology Research lab (VICTR). He studies the persuasive effects of video games, avatars, and virtual environments. He has published in journals such as Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Journal of Communication, Communication Research, and Communication Theory, among others.

Juan Francisco Hernández Pérez (PhD, Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia) is an assistant professor at Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM). He a member of the Digital Audiovisual Communication (DIGITALAC) research group. He studies audiovisual communication, digital television viewership and binge-watching, technology adoption, and the social effects of video games.

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