Student Research Spotlight - Differential Effects of Video Games and Film on Stress and Mood

Alexis Cruz

Differential Effects of Video Games and Film on Stress and Mood

What effect do playing video games and watching movies have on mood and stress? This is a question former student of Brigham Young University–Hawaii, Alexis Cruz, sought to answer in her senior research project. Interestingly, Cruz’ study exists within a minority of research categories that do not revolve around the pursuit of a link between playing video games and aggression. Rather, her study sought quite the opposite. Cruz specifically hypothesized that playing a video game would do better at affecting both an improvement in mood and a decrease in stress than would watching a movie.

When asked how she chose her research project, Cruz remembered that she was instructed to choose something that she was passionate about, saying “Choosing what to do my project on wasn't difficult for me because I absolutely love playing video games and watching movies!” Cruz also stated this aspect of choosing which topics to research can be very important. One might grow tired of research quickly “if it’s something you aren't excited about,” she advised.

Cruz also mentioned how “bothered” she was by how media outlets seem to generally give video games a negative connotation as they appear to be “commonly paired with violence, aggression, and mass shootings due to selective attention to extreme examples.” And she added, “They are often demonized despite the many people who also play and do not commit violent acts.” So, in order to study the subject further, Cruz focused in on discovering connections between video game playing and mood and stress. Eventually, Cruz decided to compare both video game playing and movie watching with the same attributes.

Though the research process was challenging for Cruz, she says she ultimately “felt really proud” when she persevered. Looking back, Cruz said that she feels that her research has helped her “to better understand and think analytically” about other studies, and that it will help her “to conduct improved studies in the future.”

Additionally, Cruz stated the importance of studying in psychology for her and others, saying “Through research we can really gain insight on how to better help people and improve their quality of life.”

In Cruz’ study, she found that playing a video game or watching a movie produced an “overall decrease in anxiety, increase in positive affect, and decrease in negative affect” indicating that both “can reduce stress and help manage mood.”

And finally, Cruz noticed a trend in her data that, while not statistically significant, may have been shown to be so had more students participated. She said, "The trends suggested that with a larger sample size, there could be evidence to support my hypothesis that students who play video games experience a greater reduction in stress and a greater increase in positive affect more than students who watch a movie."

You can see Alexis' study in more detail by viewing her project poster here.

Article by Kyle Evan Madsen