| Children’s prosocial behavior refers to the behavior beneficial to others,such as sharing,cooperation,donation and so on.With the advent of the era of information and intelligence,children in China are exposed to a large number of video games in the context of the increasing popularity of touch video devices.Due to the imitative nature of children’s social thinking and social behavior acquisition,the development of their pro-social behaviors may be affected by video games.However,at present,studies on prosocial behaviors in the context of prosocial video games mainly focus on adults from western countries,while relatively few samples focus on children in the context of Chinese culture.However,there is a close relationship between video games and children’s prosocial behaviors.In view of this,based on the General Learning Model(GLM)and Ecological Techno-Microsystem Theory,this study conducted 2(game type: prosocial vs.Neutral)× 2(Gender:Male vs.female)between the group of experimental design,control of age as the covariate,situational variables for game type,the individual independent variables as gender,the dependent variable is the thinking in prosocial(" picture decision task " children’s response to pro-social attribute pictures in average score)and pro-social behavior(in the jigsaw puzzle task children puzzle difficulty of virtual partner selection).First,67 experts were invited to fill out the "Video Game Prosocial Rating Scale" and to select prosocial and neutral video game materials from the six initially selected video game materials for children by a 5-point score rating(manipulation check).Secondly,E-Prime 3.0 software is used to write the program of Picture Decision Task(PDT).Thirdly,176 children(50% female;M = 4.89,SD= 0.79)for random cluster sampling method,In the experiment,88 children were assigned to intimate social or neutral video game situations.After children were exposed to video games for 15 minutes,the level of prosocial thoughts(mean response time to pictures of prosocial nature)was measured using the Picture Decision Task(PDT).Children’s prosocial behavior was measured using a jigsaw puzzle task(the difficulty of the puzzle task was selected for the "virtual companion").Then,received the data of experiments,two types of(game)x 2(sex)two-factor variance analysis,control will age as the covariate,prosocial video games,and gender on prosocial thoughts and social behavior of the main effects and their interactions,and uses the Process macro 3.0(model4)prosocial thoughts whether in prosocial video games and there is a potential intermediary role between prosocial behavior.This study has the following advantages: first,given the close social media and individual behavior of the samples selected from the western countries,this study focus on the Chinese culture under the background of children sample,prosocial video games on children’s prosocial thoughts and the positive effects of social behavior,prosocial media are discussed for different age groups and cross-cultural context influence children’s prosocial thoughts and behaviors.Secondly,the causal relationship between prosocial video games and prosocial behaviors was measured through randomized experimental orientation and experimental paradigm with good external validity,which made up for the relative lack of experimental research on prosocial media effects among young children in China,and contributed to the enrichment of ways to cultivate children’s prosocial behaviors.Third,prosocial video games significantly enhance children’s prosocial thoughts and prosocial behavior,and prosocial thoughts plays a mediating role between prosocial video games and prosocial behavior,which provides a research reference and empirical basis for educators to choose prosocial video games as a means to cultivate children’s prosocial behavior.However,this study has the following shortcomings: first,the game materials are relatively single,and only one of the two themes of video games is presented respectively.The game content focuses on helping others and does not cover all kinds of prosocial behaviors,which may limit the generalization of the research results.Second,there is no strict control over the possible confounding variables,such as children’s existing video game exposure times and experience,children’s emotional changes after the game,etc.These confounding variables need to be strictly controlled in the future to enhance internal validity.Third,cross-sectional experiment design by the mediation analysis results orientation may be unstable,because the mediation effect of longitudinal tracking experiment design to obtain the result might be more convincing,the future need to adopt longitudinal tracking experiment design orientation,the use of a series of video games to as experiment material,and for a period of time to investigate the long-term effect of children’s prosocial behavior and its corresponding mediation mechanism,enhance the stability and repeatability.This research has the following educational enlightenments and suggestions for the practice of children’s pro-social behavior training: First,based on the results that pro-social video games can significantly enhance children’s pro-social thinking and pro-social behaviors,it inspires preschool educators and parents to use pro-social video games.As a new method,it combines the concept of gamification of the kindergarten curriculum and family education to scientifically and effectively cultivate children’s pro-social behavior.Second,based on the mediating role of pro-social thinking between pro-social video games and pro-social behaviors,preschool teachers and parents should be trained to improve children’s pro-social thinking level,thereby enhancing their external pro-social behaviors.Third,based on the results of pro-social video games significantly enhancing boys ’pro-social thinking and pro-social behaviors,it inspires kindergarten teachers and parents to regard boys as the key target group for behavior training in the context of pro-social video games.Scientific video game exposure conditions and opportunities,and appropriately strengthen the training of their pro-social thinking,and strive to consolidate the pro-social behavior of boys.Fourth,game developers should increase the design and development of pro-social-themed electronic products through multiple channels,give consideration to both educational and entertaining aspects in the process of game development,and focus on the design and shaping of the positive image of game characters.In the activities,it is to be entertaining and entertaining,and to cultivate pro-social behavior throughout the whole process of children’s pro-social video game activities. |
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