Video game play as nightmare protection

A replication and extension

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3900685
AutoresJayne Gackenbach, Mycah Darlington, Mary-Lynn Ferguson (0000-0002-2050-4199), Arielle Boyes
Año2013
Volumen23
Número2
Páginas97-111
Fecha de publicación2013-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaDreaming (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1053-0797 • E-ISSN: 1573-3351
EditorialAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/a0032455
OpenAlexW2109015294
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas10

This inquiry is a replication and extension of a recent study with military gamers examining the thesis that playing video games might act as a type of nightmare protection. This hypothesis is based on the idea of a well-rehearsed defense due to game play, a numbing against violence, and the idea that memories in the 6 hours posttrauma are best interrupted with a visual cognitive task, like video game play. This replication was done using university students who had experienced a trauma in the past and had reported a dream associated with that trauma along with a recent dream. Controls were emotional reactivity and trauma history. We conclude that male high-end gamers seemed to be less troubled by nightmares while female high-end gamers were the most troubled by nightmares. So what differs between these two types of gamers? Three suggestions are considered: game genre, game sociability, and sex-role conflict. It seems that the nightmare protection hypothesis of video game play should be qualified to apply to male high-end gamers who play few casual games, play socially, and do not seem to experience sex-role conflict due to type of game play

Casual · Dream · Multimedia · Nightmare · Psychotherapist · Replication (statistics · Task (project management · Video game · Digital Games and Media · Identity, Memory, and Therapy · Psychological and Temporal Perspectives Research · Psychology · Social Psychology