Applying Evolutionary Psychology to a Serious Game about Children's Interpersonal Conflict

Abstract

This article describes the use of evolutionary psychology to inform the design of a serious computer game aimed at improving 9-12-year-old children's conflict resolution skills. The design of the game will include dynamic narrative generation and emotional tagging, and there is a strong evolutionary rationale for the effect of both of these on conflict resolution. Gender differences will also be taken into consideration in designing the game. In interview research in schools in three countries (Greece, Portugal, and the UK) aimed at formalizing the game requirements, we found that gender differences varied in the extent to which they applied cross-culturally. Across the three countries, girls were less likely to talk about responding to conflict with physical aggression, talked more about feeling sad about conflict and about conflicts over friendship alliances, and talked less about conflicts in the context of sports or games. Predicted gender differences in anger and reconciliation were not found. Results are interpreted in terms of differing underlying models of friendship that are motivated by parental investment theory. This research will inform the design of the themes that we use in game scenarios for both girls and boys.

Anger Experience and Expression among Adolescents: A Test of the STAXI-2 C/A

“…Conversely, Kollar et al (1991) indicated that males were more likely to suppress their feelings whereas females experienced more anger than males (Ghanizadeh, 2008;Alaka Mani et al, 2016) and tended to express their anger outwardly by pouting, sulking, and/or sharing about their feelings. Similar to the past research which stated that boys were less likely to describe their feelings (Ingram, Hondrou, Vasalou, Martinho, & Joinson, 2012), the male participants in this study displayed less anger than they experienced. Perhaps they were being socialized or conditioned to expect negative consequences (e.g., being rejected from peer group) for expressing anger outwardly which violated the normalized display rules (Kerr & Schneider, 2008).…”

Looking for Conflict: Gaze Dynamics in a Dyadic Mixed-Motive Game

“…For example, similar negotiation occurs every time we bargain for a price with a seller or when we ask someone to make concessions uncertain of what the other is willing to give [25]. In previous research [22], we verified that children deal with similar issues on the playground. The paradigm is be same, although the the object of dispute changes.…”

Gender Differences in Human Interpersonal Conflicts: A Reply to

“…The paper of Ingram et al (2012) is very fascinating and thought-provoking. The above-mentioned comments are intended to provide an additional source of inspiration for future research.…”

“…Females are supposed to be less directly aggressive than males, because direct aggression is considered inappropriate behavior for the feminine gender role. This may also explain another result of the Ingram et al study (2012). Girls were less likely to talk about responding to conflict with physical aggression, and talked more about feeling sad about the conflict and about conflicts in friendships.…”

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Abstract:In the article, I comment on the study results of Ingram et al (2012). Feelings of anger were hypothesized to be reported more often in the descriptions of past conflicts of boys than in the descriptions of past conflicts of girls.

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