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Video Games Can Make Us More Creative

Posted by kdawson on from the all-ya-gotta-do-is-dance dept.

FiReaNGeL commends to us a study by Penn State researchers looking at the effect of video game play on creativity. "[Subjects] were asked to play a popular video game, Dance Dance Revolution, at various levels of complexity. The students took a standard creativity test after playing. The researchers also took readings of the players' skin conductance and asked players if they were feeling either positive or negative after the game ... [T]he study appears to indicate that after playing the game, happy or sad people are most creative, while angry or relaxed people are not. The findings suggest that either high or low arousal is key to creativity. In other words, medium amounts of arousal are not conducive to creativity."

14 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Questionable study by ATestR · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Of course I haven't RTFA, but I wonder if the test is measuring what the title of the article says it is measuring. Are the results due to playing the video game, or could they be from the physical exercise involved in DDR (considerable). There is probably room for a number of different control groups.

    --
    âoeAny society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
    1. Re:Questionable study by efence · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I am skeptical about the study as well. Some people are inherently more emotional and tend to be more creative (in the traditional sense). Probably the reason is that it is natural for them to be sad or excited over little things, like winning/losing a game of DDR.

    2. Re:Questionable study by jessica_alba · · Score: 2, Insightful

      a keyboard and mouse can get the adren pumping as well.

  2. Video games or physical activity? by bsDaemon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When I think of video games, I don't think of DDR. DDR is a plot to get nerds to work out by making them think they're scoring points instead of burning calories.

    How about doing a study about how creative people are after going to the gym? It gets the blood flowing, oxygen circulating -- no wonder they think better.

    Likewise, happy and sad emotions making people more creative than neutral or angry? Duh. Anger makes me want to break things -- or play DOOM. Frankly, DOOM doesn't make me solve problems better afterwards.

    I always think better after having worked out, or done something outside. Just an observation.

  3. Highly questionable study by globaljustin · · Score: 4, Insightful
    You raise a good point, one of several problems with this silly study. I read TFA and this portion tells us all we need to know:

    The researchers also took readings of the players' skin conductance and asked players if they were feeling either positive or negative after the game... [T]he study appears to indicate that after playing the game, happy or sad people are most creative, while angry or relaxed people are not. The findings suggest that either high or low arousal is key to creativity. In other words, medium amounts of arousal are not conducive to creativity.

    Skin conductance? "Feeling positive or negative"? Dance Dance Revolution? Not to mention how they measure creativity...it's basically a self assessment.

    There are so many problems...skin conductance is a meaningless measurement. All we know is that is changes...we don't know why with any reliability. The rest is Freudian/behaviorist psychology bullshit. It's not pseudo-science...it's worse...it's a fraud. These experiments do not come close to proving any sort of hypothesis.

    I can say from personal experience that *some* video games substantially increase my brain activity, but having some sort of statistical proof is a long way off. We simply do not understand the human brain and creativity enough to draw these kind of conclusions from this shitty data.

    I'm not anti-video game by any means, I'm anti-behaviorist psychological bullshit peddlers who do this work and call it "science".
    --
    Thank you Dave Raggett
    1. Re:Highly questionable study by dj_tla · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I would say even more questionable is the last part, that findings suggest that high or low arousal is key to creativity. What do they mean by arousal? I'd saying being angry is definitely one form of it. If anything, I'd say the finding suggest the exact opposite, that medium amounts of arousal are optimal: not angry, yet not relaxed.

      Wikipedia agrees with me: "The Yerkes-Dodson Law states that there is a relationship between arousal and task performance, essentially arguing that there is an optimal level of arousal for performance, and too little or too much arousal can adversely affect task performance." (Considering that task performance would clearly encompass creative task performance as well)

    2. Re:Highly questionable study by globaljustin · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm going to link to the wiki articlefor you

      they use either self reported feelings or perceptions or a scored test. both are highly problematic.

      1. self reported feelings and perceptions of creativity: this is kinda ridiculous, like asking someone if they have cancer vs doing a biopsy.

      2. scored test: obviously, this is biased by who is scoring the test. Is some psychologist qualified to determine what is 'creative'? What about a panel of experts? not a chance...how would they choose an example of creativity? what's popular?

      we're nowhere near being able to 'measure' creativity.

      --
      Thank you Dave Raggett
  4. creativity by caramello · · Score: 2, Informative

    it seems everyone who posted so far kind of missed the point... the findings show that you have to either be up or down to be creative, which i've noticed and have to deal with every day as a composer. feeling so so is not the time to work on music. i make my best stuff out of a surge of happiness or the bottom of depression.

  5. Ummm by aitikin · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't, "standard creativity" quite a little bit oxymoronic?

    --
    "Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
  6. Subject line by courseofhumanevents · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Creativity test?" What is it, a blank page?

  7. Really? by rrrlc · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So manic depressives must be veerryyy creative.

    1. Re:Really? by genner · · Score: 2, Informative

      General speaking yes. Take a look at this list http://www.geocities.com/coverbridge2k/artsci/famous_people_depression.html A lot of artists and poets on that list.

  8. Dancing vs. Dancing by Thangalin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Video games, they claim, spark "positive social traits, such as creativity."

    How would this compare to dancing with another person?

    For socially adept, happy, creative people, dance with another human, not a video game. Like these people here, here, here, and here.

    Yes, it would mean you'd have to stop playing with your Wii ... for at least a little while.

  9. Re:I Knew It! by Xeirxes · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, there IS a difference between intelligence and creativity, but if you think about it, there probably isn't a link between any of these things and video games. I haven't met any fuming angry people who I saw at their height of creativity. Nothing new.

    Also, although I run the risk of sounding arrogant, I do consider myself to be fairly intelligent. However, I play video games nearly every day. I know a lot of people who don't really show that they are intelligent (whether or not they really are), and they do the same. I just don't think that there is a "link" or a "relationship" between games and something.

    Video games are like a tool that you can use. Not everyone receives the same effects from it.