This study tested the hypothesis that violent video games are especially likely to increase aggression when players identify with violent game characters. Dutch adolescent boys with low education ability (N=112) were randomly assigned to play a realistic or fantasy violent or nonviolent video game. Next, they competed with an ostensible partner on a reaction time task in which the winner could blast the loser with loud noise through headphones (the aggression measure). Participants were told that high noise levels could cause permanent hearing damage. Habitual video game exposure, trait aggressiveness, and sensation seeking were controlled for. As expected, the most aggressive participants were those who played a violent game and wished they were like a violent character in the game. These participants used noise levels loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage to their partners, even though their partners had not provoked them. These results show that identifying with violent video game characters makes players more aggressive. Players were especially likely to identify with violent characters in realistic games and with games they felt immersed in.

In this paper, we reflect on the implementation of a gamified application for helping students learn important facts about their study program. We focus on two design features, of which different configurations were tested in a field experiment among Dutch university students (N = 101). The first feature is feedback, which is expected to increase engagement, with personalized (“tailored”) feedback being more effective than generic feedback. The second feature is a session limit that was designed to prevent users from “binging” the game, because this could prevent deep learning. Results showed that generic feedback was more effective than tailored feedback, contrasting our expectations. The session limit, however, did prevent binging without reducing the overall number of sessions played. Our findings suggest that careful consideration of game properties may impact sustaining and encouraging play via a gamified application.

Especially these days, innovation and support from technology to relieve pressure in education is highly urgent. This study tested the potential advantage of a social robot over a tablet in (second) language learning on performance, engagement, and enjoyment. Shortages in primary education call for new technology solutions. Previous studies combined robots with tablets, to compensate for robot’s limitations, however, this study applied direct human–robot interaction. Primary school children (N = 63, aged 4–6) participated in a 3-wave field experiment with story-telling exercises, either with a semi-autonomous robot (without tablet, using WOz) or a tablet. Results showed increased learning gains over time when training with a social robot, compared to the tablet. Children who trained with a robot were more engaged in the story-telling task and enjoyed it more. Robot’s behavioral style (social or neutral) hardly differed overall, however, seems to vary for high versus low educational abilities. While social robots need sophistication before being implemented in schools, our study shows the potential of social robots as tutors in (second) language learning.