In my dissertation studies (total N = 1970), I examined whether playing a single-player
video game alone replenishes belonging after social rejection, a
potential disengaged–prosocial response to social rejection in the
bi-dimensional rejection taxonomy (Sunami et al., 2020). In Study 1, I
validated a single-item measure of belonging, the Heart Manikin, used as
the primary outcome for the subsequent studies. In Study 2, I examined
whether recalling one’s time playing a social surrogate video game vs. a
non-social surrogate video game can replenish belonging after social
rejection. Lastly in Study 3, I examined whether rejected people who
play a video game with varying degrees of parasocial relationship and
social world contents can replenish their belonging. The results of the
studies did not support the social surrogacy hypothesis. I discuss the
implications of the current nulls results below.
Impact on the Social Rejection and Video Games Literature
Heart Manikin as a Quick Measure of Belonging
In Study 1, I attempted to validate the Heart Manikin. Results indicated
a strong evidence for the convergent validity of the heart manikin with
belonging-related measures, including a sense of belonging, self-esteem,
control, and meaningful existence. The Heart Manikin scores also
converged consistently with measures of positive affect. On the other
hand, I found moderate evidence for the discriminant validity of the
Heart Manikin. The Heart Manikin scores did not correlate with unrelated
constructs, such as interpersonal reactivity, paradoxical mindset, sleep
quality, abuse perpetration, food craving, body image, and subjective
socioeconomic status. However, the measure did not show discriminant
validity against measures of arousal and dominance. Overall, I suggest
that the Heart Manikin has a strong convergent validity with measures of
belonging and positive valence. Future studies in social rejection
research could use this measure to efficiently measure state belonging.
Given the moderate discriminant validity of this measure, I recommend
researchers to use other concurrent measure if they wish to measure
belonging that is independent from arousal, dominance, and possibly
subjective socioeconomic status.
I also tested whether the Heart Manikin scores were sensitive to the
laboratory manipulation of social rejection. Across Studies 1c, 1d, and
1e, I observed that participants in the rejected condition reported
lower Heart Manikin scores than those in the non-rejected condition,
supporting the sensitivity of this measure. I suggest that the Heart
Manikin can be a useful, quick tool to check an effectiveness of a
social rejection manipulation.
Possible Explanations for the Null Results and Implications to Social Surrogacy Hypothesis
The current results are not consistent with the social surrogacy
hypothesis on surface (Gabriel & Valenti, 2017). In two studies, I observed that
rejected participants did not replenish their belonging after writing
about a video game with social surrogates (compared with writing about a
video game without them), and after playing a novel video game with
higher parasocial relationships and social world content (vs. low
parasocial relationships and social world content). Below I speculate
why I observed null results.
Ineffective Manipulations on Social Surrogacy. The manipulations for
the social surrogates used in Studies 2 and 3 were new, and thus they
have never been validated to manipulate social surrogacy. That being
said, I expected that these manipulations were reasonable to induce
social surrogacy for the following reasons.
In Study 2, I used a role-playing game for social surrogacy essay since
role-playing games often present strong relatable characters and
immersive stories and social world. I contrasted these games with non
role-playing games that usually do not have these components. In Study
3, I developed a novel role-playing game to independently manipulate
parasocial relationships and social worlds, Since the game was new, I
was able to avoid any influence from participants’ previous exposure to
the game’s characters or stories.
Yet, I did not observe results consistent with the social surrogacy
hypothesis. To explore the effectiveness of the manipulations, I used
exploratory manipulation checks. Results for the manipulation checks
were inconsistent across Studies 2 and 3. In Study 2, participants
reported higher parasocial relationships and social worlds in the social
surrogacy condition, compared with the non-social surrogacy condition.
In Study 3, participants reported similar levels of parasocial
interactions and social worlds, regardless of the type of the video game
they played. Overall, I do not conclude about the effectiveness of the
manipulations given that the manipulation check items were never used to
validate manipulations. Future studies should investigate how we
effectively induce social surrogacy (parasocial relationships and social
worlds) and how we can measure these constructs in a validated manner.
Type II Error. An absence of an effect does not mean that the true
effect is absent—it can mean Type II error, missing a true effect.
But, I suggest that Type II error is unlikely since (a) I ensured that
all studies were powered to detect an effect of (d =
0.35), and (b) the null findings are consistent across
studies. That said, the current studies could only capture an effect
size that is larger than (d = 0.35). If the true effect
of social surrogacy on belonging was smaller than this hypothesized
effect size, the current studies could not detect the effect.
Towards Refining the Theory. Another possibility is that the social
surrogacy hypothesis may not be robust in its current form, and the
theory needs to identify boundary conditions and expected effect sizes
of social surrogates on belonging. Empirical evidence supporting the
social surrogacy hypothesis has mainly come from studies on books and TV
programs, but not video games. One possibility is that the social
surrgacy hypothesis operates better in reading books and watching TV
programs, but apply less to playing video games. Future studies should
examine these possibilities.
Implications to Video Game Studies
In the video games literature, accumulating theoretical work and
qualitative evidence suggest that video game players can feel being
connected with characters in the game, and thus satisfying relatedness
needs (Bopp et al., 2019; Burgess & Jones, 2020; Poretski et al., 2019; Tyack & Wyeth, 2017). However, no
experimental studies have tested this possibility, and the current
studies offered initial experimental tests of this possibility.
The current null results did not find that participants satisfied
belonging (relatedness needs) by writing about video games (Study 2) or
by playing one (Study 3). However, I did find that participants reported
forming more parasocial relationships with non-player characters, more
immersion, more engagement with the narrative, more social world, and
more enjoyment for a social surrogacy game (e.g., a role-playing game),
compared with a non-social surrogacy game in Study 2. Moreover, people
who enjoyed their video game more reported feeling more belonged and
happier, forming more parasocial relationships with characters, engaged
more with the narrative, and immersed more into the story (see the
bivariate correlation analysis in Study 3). These results at minimum
suggest that belonging, paraoscial relationships, social worlds, and
enjoyment are interrelated in video games.
Possible Impact on Society
All humans have a fundamental need to belong, and when this need is
threatened, people experience adverse mental and physical health
outcomes (Cacioppo et al., 2006; Hawkley et al., 2010; Jaremka, Fagundes, Peng, et al., 2013). People experience
threats to belonging in everyday life (Nezlek et al., 2012). Identifying an
effective strategy to replenish belonging after social rejection will
help efforts to develop interventions to protect belonging, and
ultimately improve mental and physical well-being. One step for
identifying such intervention is to measure belonging in a quick and
effective way. The Heart Manikin validated in my dissertation can be an
ideal tool for a large-scale research that requires less cost per
participant.
The current null results for the social surrogacy hypothesis do not
offer clear strategies to reduce threats to belonging. However, I did
find that participants who enjoyed a video game reported higher
belonging compared with those who did not enjoy across studies. Future
studies could explore whether playing an enjoyable video game has a
positive impact on belonging vs playing an unenjoyable video game. Such
evidence could add to the broader conversation about the benefits of
playing a video game (Granic et al., 2014).
Constraints on Generality and Future Directions
I discuss the constraints on generality of the present findings
(Simons et al., 2017) to highlight any design or sample characteristics that can
impose constraints on interpretation of the results and future
directions in this section.
Social Surrogates in Non-Rejected People
Across the current studies (Studies 2 and 3), all participants
experienced acute social rejection before seeing social surrogates.
Thus, the current studies did not test whether non-rejected people can
increase belonging, or whether people with chronic feelings of social
rejection (e.g., loneliness) could replenish belonging via social
surrogacy in video games, both important directions for future
investigations.
Negative Parasocial Relationships and Social Worlds
The current studies only examined positive parasocial relationships and
social worlds. In Study 2, participants recalled their parasocial
relationships and social worlds in their favorite game. In Study 3,
participants experienced a friendly parasocial target and a positive
social world. The results of the current study may not generalize to
other video games where people have a negative parasocial relationship
with characters, or negative experience being immersed in a social
world. People can hate characters in TV programs (Chory, 2013; Jennings & Alper, 2016)—likewise, people can hate non-player characters and
form a negative parasocial relationship. People can also immerse
themselves in negative social worlds—social worlds that are immoral or
ethically unjust, such as ones described in many horror films (e.g., the
Saw Franchise, the Texas Chain Saw Massacre, etc.). Future research
should carefully consider the nature of the parasocial relationships and
the social worlds in video games, and whether they can replenish or even
hurt belonging.
Another Type of Social Surrogacy: Reminders of Others
The social surrogacy hypothesis identifies three types of social
surrogates: parasocial relationships, social worlds, and reminders of
others (Gabriel & Valenti, 2017). In my dissertation, I focused on parasocial
relationships and social worlds but not reminders of others—remnants
of real social relationships, such as photographs of close others,
comfort foods prepared by loved ones. I did not focus on the remainder
of others because the current definition of reminders of others requires
a real preexisting social relationship that is absent in single-player
video games.
A new avenue for research may be to examine if the definition of
reminders of others includes the parasocial relationship and social
worlds. People can play video games to remind themselves of past
parasocial relationships and social worlds experienced previously in
video games—especially those multiple releases over time. For example,
long-time players of the Animal Crossing series can play a newly
released Animal Crossing: New Horizons in 2020 (E. P. D. Nintendo, 2020), and
remember about the parasocial relationships they formed with the older
game such as Animal Crossing: New Leaf in 2012 (E. A. D. Nintendo, 2012).
Similarly, playing Witcher 3 in 2015 (CD Projekt Red, 2015) can remind the
player of their time immersed in the social world in the first Witcher
in 2007 (CD Projekt Red, 2007). Future studies can examine whether people
can replenish belonging via remainders of the parasocial relationships
or social worlds.
As mentioned in Study 2, I speculate that people may have replenished
belonging by remembering their memories of playing a single-player video
game in the presence of a close other. For example, people can feel
loved by simply remembering their time playing Tetris in front of their
friends. This way, people replenish belonging, not because of the
content of the game, but because of the time shared with their friends.
Future studies that focus on single-player video game can ask
participants to report how much they spend playing a video game in front
of others (e.g., passing controllers to each other, or simply letting
someone watch the game). A novel hypothesis is that participants can
replenish their belonging by remembering a video game that they shared
playing with close others, similar to replenishing belonging via comfort
food (Troisi et al., 2015; Troisi & Gabriel, 2011).
Character Identification
In the present dissertation, I focused on parasocial relationships with
the non-player characters in video games. However, existing studies
suggest that players can be emotionally attached to the player
characters they control—such as Commander Sheperd in Mass Effect and
Geralt of Rivia in Witcher (Bopp et al., 2019). According to the current
definition of a parasocial relationship, the relationship between the
player and the player character may not be considered as parasocial
since the relationship can be two-sided: the player can control and
influence the player character’s behavior, which in turn influences the
player’s behavior (Banks, 2015; Banks & Bowman, 2016; J. Cohen, 2014). Thus, the
relationship players form with the player character may not fall under
the concept of social surrogates. However, players can be emotionally
attached to the player character and thus may replenish their sense of
belonging. Indeed, theoretical discussions suggest that players can form
parasocial relationships with player characters with established
backgrounds (e.g., Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series), but not with
the avatars that they create themselves [e.g., the player character in
Skyrim; Kavli (2012); Lewis et al. (2008)].
I explored the role of player character identification in Study 3. In
general, identification with the player character was unrelated to
belonging. However, among participants who played a game without a
parasocial relationship target, those identifying more with the player
character reported higher belonging than those identifying less with the
player character. This association was absent among participants who
played a game with a parasocial relationship target. One possible
explanation for these results is that participants identifying with the
player character (Higra) were more likely to experience higher belonging
in an absence of the parasocial target (Sashu) since the player can
focus more on the player character. On the other hand, in the higher
parasocial relationship condition, players’ attention was divided
between the player character and the parasocial relationship target.
Future studies can investigate whether players benefit form from certain
player characters to form parasocial relationships and immerse
themselves in the social worlds.
Multiplayer Gameplay
The current dissertation focused on solo gameplay because of its focus
on social surrogates—non-human entities that can satisfy the belonging
need (Gabriel & Valenti, 2017). Accordingly, the current results do not generalize
to multiplayer gameplay. One unexamined avenue for future research is to
understand the impact of a common social surrogate shared by two real
players. For example, two players can form a parasocial relationship
with the same non-player character or immerse in the same social worlds
(Gabriel et al., 2016). For example, two players of the Massively-Online
Multiplayer Game, Final Fantasy XIV (Enix, 2010) can simultaneously form
a parasocial relationship with Gigi or become members of the same guild.
Similarly, these players also share knowledge about the stories of Final
Fantasy. Having shared parasocial relationships or social worlds may
benefit real social relationships. Indeed, couples who consume media
together tend to have better relationship quality, and thus higher
belonging (Gomillion et al., 2017). Taken together, I expect that people who
experience social surrogates together with close others will report
higher belonging than those who experience them alone.
Mechanisms
In the proposal, I planned to speculate on possible mechanisms if I find
that rejected people replenished their belonging via social surrogates
in video games. I speculated that a video game player can experience
positive emotions, which can facilitate replenishing belonging
(Williams, 2009). Or, they can experience a
sense of confidence and self-esteem in playing a video game, and this
increase in self-esteem could increase belonging consistent with the
sociometer hypothesis (Leary et al., 1995).
Rejected people can also play a single-player video game to simply
distract themselves, and distraction can replenish belonging
(Hales et al., 2016; Nadzan et al., 2019; Wesselmann et al., 2013). However, I did not find that
rejected people replenished belonging by social surrogates in the
current studies in the first place. Future research should investigate
whether social surrogates in video games can replenish belonging first
before investigating mechanisms.
Conclusion
My dissertation examined whether people can replenish their belonging
following social rejection by playing a single-player video game with
social surrogates. The results did not support the social surrogacy
hypothesis. I do not have a strong evidence that can explain the current
null results. Possibilities of the null results include ineffective
manipulations of social surrogacy, Type II error, and unexplained
boundary conditions.
I note that many past studies in social psychology focused on
investigating negative effects of playing video games (for discussion,
see Anderson et al., 2010; Hilgard et al., 2017). I took a different perspective and
focused on possible positive influence of the gameplay (see Adachi & Willoughby, 2013; Granic et al., 2014 for
similar perspectives). I hope my dissertation contributes towards a more
nuanced understanding of video games and how they influence social
well-being.
Despite the technological advances to connect us better, social
rejection continues to be an everyday experience of modern human life. I
hope my dissertation contributes the way for future efforts to better
understand the role of video game in belonging, and eventually
contributes to developing ways to mitigate the detrimental effects of
social rejection.
7.3.1 Social Surrogates in Non-Rejected People
Across the current studies (Studies 2 and 3), all participants experienced acute social rejection before seeing social surrogates. Thus, the current studies did not test whether non-rejected people can increase belonging, or whether people with chronic feelings of social rejection (e.g., loneliness) could replenish belonging via social surrogacy in video games, both important directions for future investigations.