19 research outputs found
Program Notes Recital: Choral (MUAP 622 RC)
No full textGeorge Frideric Handel
Georg Fredrich Handel was born in 1685 in Halle Germany. From an early age, he received an education in music theory, harpsichord, organ, violin, and oboe. When he was seventeen, he enrolled at Halle University and took on a position as the organist for the local Calvinist cathedral, Domkirche. Handel’s growing interest in opera led him to study abroad in Italy between 1706 and 1710, during which time he composed several operas which varied in their reception and popularity.[1]
[1] Dennis Shrock, Choral Repertoire, Second edition, New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2023, 36
Mothers: A memoir
No full text"Mothers" is a memoir told in pieces—its fragmentary, lyrical vignettes not only echoing memory, but also the lens through which we often watch our present lives unfold. Each story is a string that can be traced backwards, forwards, and even sideways. Each story is a doll, nested inside the others. With this structure, the author sets forth to discover her identity as both daughter and mother.
Alongside the steady pull of her journey through her first pregnancy, the author’s seemingly side-lying memories and family history slowly begin to weave themselves in. Central to this tapestry is the colliding impact of nature and nurture across six generations of mothers and daughters—a riveting, often sobering web of love, loss, and hope that reveals how inextricable we are from those who came before us.
There is the third great-grandmother, Margaret Angeline, whose birth launches the Texas legacy that will accompany each of the generations to follow.
The second great-grandmother, Minnie Belle, who leaves each of her nine children in the arms of someone else as she battles severe post-partum depression.
The great-grandmother, Abbie Cordelia, who is haunted by the instability of her childhood, her mental illness, and the untimely deaths of loved ones.
The grandmother, Ouida Pearl, who journeys from a glittering youth into the darkness of alcoholism, only to emerge even brighter as a cherished wife, mother, and grandmother.
The mother, Dorette, who grows up worrying and never stops, coping with depression, divorce, and single motherhood by clinging to the words spoken to her by family and scripture.
And finally, there is the author, who grapples with the pain and risks of untreated mental illness, contemplates the fragile line between life and death, excavates meaning from the places and landscapes she inhabits, and fights to stay grounded through her faith in a caring, unshakeable God—all while the next generation grows within her. It is through entangling herself in her roots that the author is able to make peace with the future, finally able to watch with joy instead of fear as the first pages of her son’s story are written by the mistakes, resilience, and love of each of the mothers before him
Modeling the Use of Nonrenewable Resources Using a Genetic Algorithm
No full textThis paper shows, how a genetic algorithm (GA) can be used to model an economic process: the interaction of profit-maximizing oil-exploration firms that compete with each other for a limited amount of oil. After a brief introduction to the concept of multi-agent-modeling in economics, a GA-based resource-economic model is developed. Several model runs based on different economic policy assumptions are presented and discussed in order to show how the GA-model can be used to gain insight into the dynamic properties of economic systems. The remainder outlines deficiencies of GA-based multi-agent approaches and sketches how the present model can be improved.
Between Replication and Docking: "Adaptive Agents, Political Institutions, and Civic Traditions" Revisited
No full textThis article has two primary objectives: (i) to replicate an agent-based model of social interaction by Bhavnani (2003), in which the author explicitly specifies mechanisms underpinning Robert Putnam\'s (1993) work on Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, bridging the gap between the study\'s historical starting point—political regimes that characterized 14th Century Italy—and contemporary levels of social capital—reflected in a \'civic\' North and an \'un-civic\' South; and (ii) to extend the original analysis, using a landscape of Italy that accounts for population density. The replication exercise is performed by different authors using an entirely distinct ABM toolkit (PS-I) with its own rule set governing agent-interaction and cultural change. The extension, which more closely approximates a docking exercise, utilizes equal area cartograms otherwise known as density-equalizing maps (Gastner and Newman 2004) to resize the territory according to 1993 population estimates. Our results indicate that: (i) using the criterion of distributional equivalence, we experience mixed success in replicating the original model given our inability to restrict the selection of partners to \'eligible\' neighbors and limit the number of agent interactions in a timestep; (ii) increasing the number of agents and introducing more realistic population distributions in our extension of the replication model increases distributional equivalence; (iii) using the weaker criteria of relational alignment, both the replication model and its extension capture the basic relationship between institutional effectiveness and civic change, the effect of open boundaries, historical shocks, and path dependence; and (iv) that replication and docking may be usefully combined in model-to-model analysis, with an eye towards verification, reimplementation, and alignment.Replication, Docking, Agent-Based Model, Italy, Social Capital
Comparison of 5th-and 14th-year Douglas-fir and understory vegetation responses to selective vegetation removal
No full textWOS: 000292428600002The effects of early vegetation management on the survival and growth of Douglas-fir [Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco] were examined 5 and 15 years after planting in the Oregon Coast Range. Our first objective was to document the effects of vegetation species competition upon key ecosystem properties. The second objective was to document the effects of vegetation removal during early Douglas-fir stand establishment upon long-term tree growth and on biomass production by vegetation components. Seven levels of manual vegetation removal were maintained for the first 5 years after planting: 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% shrub removal; and 100% shrub removal combined with 50% or 100% herbaceous vegetation removal. Shrub and herb removal did not affect Douglas-fir survival at year five, but treatments providing less than 75% shrub removal significantly reduced Douglas-fir survival by year 15. Removing shrubs and herbs completely (100S + 100H) during the 5 years following tree planting allowed successful tree establishment, with a 366% increase in biomass accumulation per hectare for Douglas-fir in that treatment at the end of 14 years of growth. At 15 years stand age, even with shrub removal alone, a 304% gain in tree biomass per hectare was obtained compared to no vegetation removal (NVR). By stand age 15 years, any increase in the degree of understory removal beyond 75% did not contribute significantly to additional tree survival and growth. The understory vegetation on NVR treatment plots and the herbaceous vegetation on 100% shrub removal (100S) treatment plots, contained >90% and >80% of aboveground biomass N at 5 years, respectively, indicating possible competition for soil N. Soil moisture was not different among treatments at 5 years. Complete vegetation removal (100S + 100H) for 5 years resulted in a significant increase in soil bulk density (P < 0.05), a significant decrease in total soil C (P < 0.05) and no change in total soil N in the upper 15 cm of the mineral soil. By 14 years, however, only the soil bulk density remained greater (P < 0.05) on the 100S + 100H treatment. We conclude that greater tree survival and growth occurred with at least 75% shrub removal. Our results suggest that managers may have substantial flexibility in maintaining a partial understory component suitable for ecosystem productivity, canopy cover and wildlife habitat, while maintaining forests productive for timber resources. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Duzce University, TurkeyDuzce University; Oregon State University Forest Science Department; US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research StationUnited States Department of Agriculture (USDA)United States Forest Service; US Environmental Protection AgencyUnited States Environmental Protection AgencySupport for the senior author was received from Duzce University, Turkey. Research support came from the Oregon State University Forest Science Department, the US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, and the US Environmental Protection Agency. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Robert G. Wagner, who began the original study and shared key data for tree survival and growth from year 5. The following individuals gave helpful advice on research methods and data analysis: Carol Glassman, Jillian Gregg, Erik Hobbie, Marc Kramer, Dave Myrold, Nan Posavatz, and Chris Swanston. Dan Binkley, Elizabeth C. Cole, Douglas A. Maguire, Vicente J. Monleon, John C. Tappeiner, II, and Richard H. Waring provided helpful manuscript suggestions. Angeline S. Cromack and Kevin T. Cromack edited and formatted the final draft of the paper
Corporate political activity and firm performance - a systematic review
No full textCorporate political activity (CPA) has been recognized as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Its proponents, mostly nonmarket strategy researchers, argue that political capital enables firms to influence their regulatory and policy environments, shape their competitive space, and improve their performance. Consequently, there is a widely held view that the performance of firms depends not only on the ability of managers to exploit economic markets but also on their ability to succeed in political markets. To test the value of political activism, recent scholarship has probed the relationship between CPA and firm performance. However, random mixed findings and the fragmented nature of the field raise more questions than provide answers to the nature of this relationship. This systematic review examines scholarly articles for evidence of the impact of CPA on firm value.
Drawing on 56 articles contributing to the topic and applying the CIMO-logic method of synthesis, this study discusses the findings within a framework of four elements. First, it examines the contexts within which CPA has been investigated. Second, it presents findings on the strategies that are studied. Third, it investigates the performance outcomes of CPA. Fourth, it explores the mechanisms that underpin the performance outcomes of CPA. The findings suggest that CPA is positively related to firm performance, an indication that there is value in political activism. However, counter evidence is reported by a few studies. The evidence also reveals that institutional contexts impact the political strategies used by firms or studied by researchers. Even though most of the studies lack theoretical grounding, social capital, cronyism and agency relationships are the popularly cited or implied mechanisms underlying the CPA-firm performance relationship. Following from the discussion, two propositions linking contexts, interventions, and outcomes are developed. The study suggests future research directions based on the gaps/limitations identified in the literature
Adaptive particle swarm optimization
No full textAn adaptive particle swarm optimization (APSO) that features better search efficiency than classical particle swarm optimization (PSO) is presented. More importantly, it can perform a global search over the entire search space with faster convergence speed. The APSO consists of two main steps. First, by evaluating the population distribution and particle fitness, a real-time evolutionary state estimation procedure is performed to identify one of the following four defined evolutionary states, including exploration, exploitation, convergence, and jumping out in each generation. It enables the automatic control of inertia weight, acceleration coefficients, and other algorithmic parameters at run time to improve the search efficiency and convergence speed. Then, an elitist learning strategy is performed when the evolutionary state is classified as convergence state. The strategy will act on the globally best particle to jump out of the likely local optima. The APSO has comprehensively been evaluated on 12 unimodal and multimodal benchmark functions. The effects of parameter adaptation and elitist learning will be studied. Results show that APSO substantially enhances the performance of the PSO paradigm in terms of convergence speed, global optimality, solution accuracy, and algorithm reliability. As APSO introduces two new parameters to the PSO paradigm only, it does not introduce an additional design or implementation complexity
As alterações gastrointestinais e olfatórias precedem os sinais motores no modelo experimental da doença de Parkinson induzido pela rotenona
No full textDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências Biológicas. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Farmacologia, Florianópolis, 2013Existem hipóteses que o processo patológico da Doença de Parkinson inicia-se no Sistema Nervoso Entérico e no bulbo olfatório. Sendo assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar se a administração oral de um pesticida, rotenona, seria capaz de mimetizar a progressão temporal do parkinsonismo em camundongos, considerando os efeitos locais no trato gastrointestinal, efeitos comportamentais e neuroquímicos. Neste estudo, camundongos machos receberam administrações orais diárias de rotenona ou o veículo (carboximetilcelulose à 0,5%) por até 28 dias. Nossos resultados demonstram que o tratamento com a rotenona diminui a motilidade gastrointestinal associada à inflitração de leucócitos no cólon. Além disso, a rotenona prejudicou a discriminação e o reconhecimento olfativo, ao mesmo tempo em que induziu aumento taxa de renovação da serotonina no bulbo olfatório, sugerindo que as alterações neuroquímicas encontradas possam estar relacionadas ao prejuízo do processamento olfatório. No presente estudo, o comprometimento intestinal e olfatório precedem os danos motores, de maneira semelhante ao observado na Doença de Parkinson. Apesar disso, não houve diferença na concentração de monoaminas estriatais. O presente estudo demonstrou a importância do modelo experimental induzido pela administração oral de rotenona rotenona para compreensão dos mecanismos envolvidos nas alterações pré-motoras da Doença de Parkinson. Além disso, nossos resultados reforçam a importância da exposição a toxinas ambientais como fator de predisposição para a Doença de Parkinson. Ainda, esses resultados ressaltam a importância da via oral como porta de entrada para toxinas ambientais e o epitélio gastrointestinal como a primeira barreira de contato entre pesticidas e o organismo Abstract: Accumulating evidence suggested that the pathological process of Parkinson´s disease starts in the enteric nervous system and in the olfactory bulb. However this hypothesis has not yet been fully investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the role of enteric nervous system and olfactory bulb in the onset of Parkinson?s disease induced by rotenone administration in mice. Male Swiss mice received daily oral administrations of rotenone 30 mg/kg or vehicle (0.5% carboxymetylcellulose) up to 28 days. Our results showed that rotenone was able to reduce the gastrointestinal motility, which was associated to leukocyte infiltration in the colon. Regarding the olfactory function, rotenone disrupted the discrimation and recognition abilities. At the same time, this treatment increased the serotonin turnover in the olfactory bulb, which suggests that these neurochemical alterations may be linked with the abnormal processing of odor stimulus. These alterations preceded the appearance of motor disability in our model, such as in Parkinson´s Disease clinical condition. Despite of it, no difference was found in monoaminergic concentrations in striatum. The current result indicated that rotenone model can be an important tool for studying premotor phase of parkinsonism in rodents. Moreover, our results reinforce the importance of environmental exposure to toxins and the key role of intestinal epithelium as the first point of contact with pesticides and chemical agents
Genetic interaction analysis among oncogenesis-related genes revealed novel genes and networks in lung cancer development
No full textThe development of cancer is driven by the accumulation of many oncogenesis-related genetic alterations and tumorigenesis is triggered by complex networks of involved genes rather than independent actions. To explore the epistasis existing among oncogenesis-related genes in lung cancer development, we conducted pairwise genetic interaction analyses among 35,031 SNPs from 2027 oncogenesis-related genes. The genotypes from three independent genome-wide association studies including a total of 24,037 lung cancer patients and 20,401 healthy controls with Caucasian ancestry were analyzed in the study. Using a two-stage study design including discovery and replication studies, and stringent Bonferroni correction for multiple statistical analysis, we identified significant genetic interactions between SNPs in RGL1:RAD51B (OR=0.44, p value=3.27x10 -11 in overall lung cancer and OR=0.41, p value=9.71x10 -11 in non-small cell lung cancer), SYNE1:RNF43 (OR=0.73, p value=1.01x10 -12 in adenocarcinoma) and FHIT:TSPAN8 (OR=1.82, p value=7.62x10 -11 in squamous cell carcinoma) in our analysis. None of these genes have been identified from previous main effect association studies in lung cancer. Further eQTL gene expression analysis in lung tissues provided information supporting the functional role of the identified epistasis in lung tumorigenesis. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed potential pathways and gene networks underlying molecular mechanisms in overall lung cancer as well as histology subtypes development. Our results provide evidence that genetic interactions between oncogenesis-related genes play an important role in lung tumorigenesis and epistasis analysis, combined with functional annotation, provides a valuable tool for uncovering functional novel susceptibility genes that contribute to lung cancer development by interacting with other modifier genes. Copyright: Li et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
The effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behaviours: evidence from correlational, longitudinal, and experimental studies
No full textAbstract Although dozens of studies have documented a relation between violent video games and aggressive behaviors, very little attention has been paid to potential effects of prosocial games. Theoretically, games in which game characters help and support each other in nonviolent ways should increase both short-term and long-term prosocial behaviors. We report three studies conducted in three countries with three age groups to test this hypothesis. In the correlational study, Singaporean middle-school students who played more prosocial games behaved more prosocially. In the two longitudinal samples of Japanese children and adolescents, prosocial game play predicted later increases in prosocial behavior. In the experimental study, U.S. undergraduates randomly assigned to play prosocial games behaved more prosocially toward another student. These similar results across different methodologies, ages, and cultures provide robust evidence a prosocial game content effect, and provide support for the General Learning Model. Keywords NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript industry's several years ago, and surpassed the music industry 's in 2008's in (Reuters, 2007. In a nationally representative sample of U.S. teens, 99% of boys and 94% of girls played video games Many researchers have addressed potential positive and negative effects of playing various types of video games. Most research has focused on deleterious effects of violent games (e.g., Gentile and his colleagues To date, a majority of the research has focused on game content, especially violent content. Much of this research has been guided by the General Aggression Model, from which violent game play is predicted to increase aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in the short term, and to reinforce aggressive scripts, perceptual schemata, aggressive attitudes, and aggression desensitization in the long term Prosocial behaviors can be defined at several levels If these short-term effects are practiced repeatedly, then several long-term effects could result, including changes to (1) pre-cognitive and cognitive constructs, such as perception and expectation schemata, beliefs, scripts, (2) cognitive-emotional constructs, such as attitudes and stereotypes, and (3) affective traits, such as conditioned emotional responses (e.g., equating playing violent games with "fun") and affective traits like empathy or trait hostility. These potential long-term effects are shown in STUDY 1 Study 1 was a cross-sectional correlational study of video game habits and prosocial behaviors with Singaporean secondary school children. We hypothesized a positive association between amount of time spent playing prosocial video games and the amount of prosocial behavior, even when controlling for other factors related to prosocial behavior. Methods Participants-We surveyed 727 Singaporean secondary school children (N = 446 S1--7 th grade equivalent; N = 281 S2--8 th grade equivalent; mean age 13.0 years, SD = 0.79). Because two of the six participating schools were boys' schools, the sample is 73% male. Seventy-five percent classified themselves as ethnic Chinese, 15% as ethnic Malay, 7% as ethnic Indian, and 3% as other ethnicities, representative of Singapore. All participants were treated in accordance with the ethical guidelines appropriate to the culture and the participating schools. Procedures-Data were collected at the schools from March -May, 2007. Average participation rate was 94% (range 91% -99%). We measured both video game habits and prosocial behaviors. The various surveys were administered in counterbalanced orders. To measure prosocial and violent game exposure, participants listed their three favorite games, estimated the number of hours per week spent playing each game, and rated how often players help others in the game, and how often players hurt or kill others in the game. Prosocial and violent content of each game were multiplied by the amount of time playing that game, and averaged across the three named games Although this is a standard approach to measuring violent video game exposure (e.g., We included several measures of prosocial behavior. Helping Behavior was assessed using a 11-item subscale from the Prosocial Orientation Questionnaire (POQ) (e.g., "I would spend time and money to help those in need;" Cheung, Ma & Shek, 1998, α = .72). Cooperation and Sharing was measured using a 7-item subscale from the same scale (e.g., "I feel happy In general, it is OK to hit other people;" Huesmann, Guerra, 1997; α = .94). Hostile Attribution Bias was measured using 6 stories describing ambiguous provocative situations (e.g., someone breaks your watch). Respondents select an explanation for the event (e.g., he did it to be mean; Results and Discussion Prosocial and Aggressive Behaviors and Traits-Each prosocial behavior or trait was regressed onto prosocial game exposure after controlling for sex, age, violent game exposure, and weekly amount of time spent playing video games. As predicted, prosocial game exposure was positively related to prosocial behaviors and traits (see Aggressive Cognition-Our learning theory of game content effects suggests that prosocial game exposure might be a negative predictor of aggression-related variables as well as a positive predictor of prosocial behaviors and traits. As a test of discriminant validity, the identical hierarchical regression analyses were conducted predicting children's approval of aggression and their hostile attribution biases The results from Study 1 are consistent with the hypothesis that exposure to prosocial video games increases prosocial behavior. However, a causal interpretation based solely on these results would be inappropriate, because either variable might precede the other (or some uncontrolled third variable might be related to both). Nonetheless, the fact that the general learning model passed this opportunity for falsification is important, as is the fact that alternative (i.e., non-causal) explanations involving time and exposure to violent content were contradicted. STUDY 2 In Study 2 we more directly tested the hypothesis that habitual playing of prosocial video games would increase prosocial behavior assessed months later. In each of two separate samples, Japanese children's video game habits and prosocial behaviors were assessed twice with a three to four month time span between the two assessments. Structural equation analyses were conducted simultaneously on the two correlation matrices from these samples. We hypothesized that exposure to prosocial video games would predict subsequent prosocial behavior. Procedures-Participants completed surveys in their school classrooms. Prosocial video game exposure was assessed by asking participants to rate how frequently in the previous month they had played video games with two types of prosocial scenes [scenes in which characters help troubled persons, and scenes where friendships or affections between parent(s) and child(ren) are shown] on scales ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very often). Prosocial behavior was assessed by asking participants to rate how often in the previous month they had done each of four helpful or prosocial behaviors (e.g., "I helped a person who was in trouble"; α = .75) using the same 5-point rating scales. Results and Discussion LISREL 8.5 was used to test competing models using maximum likelihood procedures. We began with a structural equation model in which prosocial gaming and prosocial behavior at Time 1 were correlated with each other and predicted prosocial gaming and prosocial behavior at Time 2, which also were allowed to correlate with each other. In addition, sex was included as a predictor of prosocial gaming and prosocial behavior at both time periods. When we allowed the predictive links between sex and the other four factors to differ between the two samples, the model fit very well, χ 2 (11) = 6.68, p > .80, RMSEA = .00, NFI = .995 (see STUDY 3 Study 3 used an experiment designed to test the short-term causal hypothesis that playing prosocial video games would increase prosocial behavior in the immediate situation, whereas playing matched violent games would increase aggressive behavior. Neutral video games were also included in the design as a control. To increase generalizability, two games of each type were used; all were rated E (appropriate for everyone) by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. After playing one type of video game for 20 minutes, participants completed a task where they could either help or harm another participant. Prosocial games were expected to increase helpful, prosocial behavior, whereas violent games were expected to increase unhelpful, aggressive behavior. Methods Participants-Participants were 161 college students (64 men, 95 women, 1 unidentified; mean age = 19.2 years, SD = 1.8) who received course credit in exchange for their voluntary participation. All participants were treated in accordance with the American Psychological Association's guidelines on the ethical treatment of participants. Next, participants assigned their partner 11 tangram puzzles to complete. Tangram puzzles are based on seven differently shaped pieces (e.g., small square, large triangle) used to form a specified outlined shape. Outlines that require more shapes (6 or 7 pieces) are harder and more time consuming than those requiring fewer shapes. Participants could choose from 30 puzzles: 10 easy, 10 medium, and 10 hard. Participants were told that if their partner completed at least 10 of the 11 puzzles within 10 minutes, the partner would win a $10 gift certificate. Participants could help their partner by assigning easy puzzles, or hurt their partner by assigning difficult puzzles. Participants were encouraged to select from multiple difficulty levels. Because they had to choose 11 puzzles, and there were only 10 of each difficulty level, participants necessarily had to use at least 2 of the difficulty levels. Participants then completed a video game evaluation questionnaire Participants also completed the 29-item Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 1992) as a measure of trait aggressiveness. Participants indicated agreement with statements (e.g., "If somebody hits me, I hit back") using a five-point scale (1= "Extremely uncharacteristic of me", 5= "Extremely characteristic of me"), alpha = 0.92. Finally, participants were probed for suspicion (with multiple open-ended questions to see if participants realized that the video game and the tangram task were related), thanked, and dismissed. Nine participants expressed some suspicion about the study, but the results were NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript the same regardless of whether we kept or deleted these nine participants, so we kept their data. Results and Discussion Helping and Hurting Scores-Participants chose the tangrams mostly from the medium category (M medium = 4.30), followed by the easy category (M easy = 3.85), followed by the hard category (M hard = 2.85). "Helping" was defined as the number of "easy" puzzles chosen by participants for their partners. "Hurting" was defined as the number of "hard" puzzles chosen. Of course, once one knows the helping and hurting scores of any participant, one also knows the number of medium difficulty choices. Thus, the number of medium difficulty choices is wholly redundant, and therefore was not analyzed. 1 Preliminary Analyses-Preliminary analyses revealed no significant effects of participant sex or of the "fun" covariate on helping and hurting behavior, so they were dropped from final analyses. The game "difficulty" covariate yielded one marginally significant effect, so it was kept in the main analyses of puzzle choice behavior. 2 Main Analyses-A 3 (game type: prosocial, neutral, or violent) x 2 (behavior type: helping or hurting) analysis of covariance was conducted with game difficulty and trait aggression as covariates. 3 There was a main effect of behavior type, F(1, 155) = 9.47, p < . 005, d = .49. As we've already seen, participants chose more easy than difficult puzzles (Ms = 3.92 & 2.79). More importantly, the game type by behavior type interaction was significant, F(2, 155) = 5.26, p < .01 (see 3 Preliminary analyses demonstrated that trait aggression was marginally significant when predicting helping behavior, whereas trait prosocial behavior was not significantly related to helping or hurting behavior (lowest p = .48). The results did not change regardless of whether both or neither were included in the analyses. 4 The trait aggression x behavior type interaction approached statistical significance, F(1, 155) = 3.23, p < .10. Trait aggression was negatively related to helping, b = -0.46, p < .08, r = .14, and slightly positively related to hurting, b = 0.38, p < .25, r = .13. predicting helping and hurting behavior towards their partner. It is interesting to note that across the six games, these two types of content were essentially uncorrelated with each other (r = -.07). In other words, across these six games the amount of prosocial and violent content were largely orthogonal. A 2 (game content: prosocial or violent) x 2 (behavior type: helping or hurting) analysis of covariance was conducted with game difficulty and trait aggression as covariates. By including both types of game content simultaneously in the regression model, we tested for the unique effect of each content dimension while controlling for the other. Preliminary analyses yielded no hint of a 2-way game content interaction, so that term was dropped. There was a significant behavior type by violent content interaction, and a marginally significant behavior type by prosocial content interaction, Fs GENERAL DISCUSSION As we have discussed elsewhere The present studies satisfy all of these criteria. The experimental study using U.S. university undergraduates demonstrated a short-term causal impact of playing prosocial games on helpful behavior (and of playing violent games on hurtful behavior). Short-term experiments like this are especially important for at least two reasons: (a) they provide a strong case for causality; (b) they reveal underlying processes likely to influence long-term effects. The correlational study using Singaporean junior high schoolers demonstrated the predicted associations among video game habits and "real world" prosocial and antisocial behaviors and traits. Such correlational studies are important because: (a) they provide an opportunity for a theoretical model to fail; (b) they allow tests of the predicted association with longterm consequential behavioral patterns and traits; and (c) they allow tests of some plausible alternative explanations. The longitudinal study using Japanese children and adolescents demonstrated effects of earlier prosocial game play habits on later prosocial behavior. Such studies allow strong causal inferences, primarily by ruling out many alternative explanations that rely on individual differences in trait aggressiveness and in interests that exist at the first assessment time period; they also allow testing of the theoretical model with consequential real-world outcome measures. The bi-directionality of the present longitudinal results also demonstrates that the often-asked chicken and egg question is overly simplistic. These data suggest that playing prosocial games tends to increase prosocial behavior tendencies, and that prosocial tendencies tend to lead to selection of prosocial games. This clearly has implications for the parallel argument about violent media and aggression Overall, these results provide support for both the short-term and long-term predictions of the General Learning Model. Specifically, in the short-term players' behaviors were predicted by the prosocial and violent content of the games they played. In the long-term, players with high prosocial game exposure had higher prosocial traits and behaviors. Study 1 also provides additional information about the relations between prosocial and aggressive effects of prosocial and violent games. As noted earlier, prosocial and aggressive behavior are not simply opposite behaviors. The cross-sectional correlations between violent game play and prosocial behaviors and traits were not always significant. Prosocial game play was significantly positively related to all four measured prosocial behaviors and traits (and negatively related to aggressive cognition), whereas violent game play was significantly negatively related to helping behavior and empathy (and was positively related to aggressive cognition). We do not know from the results of this one study why violent game play was not significantly related to sharing and cooperation or emotional awareness, but it does suggest that game content is most likely to have specific rather than broad effects. One possible reason is that some violent games require cooperation and others do not. We further speculate that violent game play can be related to empathy but not to emotional awareness because many violent games require the player to see others' emotions (e.g., begging for mercy), but to then ignore them. Thus, players can be aware of others' (and their own) emotions without showing empathy. Future research is needed to test these speculations
