Want To Boost Creativity
Video games that promote creativity and freedom can increase creativity under certain conditions according to research from Iowa State University. The experimental study compared the effect of playing Minecraft with or without instruction, to watching a TV show or playing a race car video game. People who were free to play Minecraft without instruction were the most creative.
"It's not only that Minecraft can help induce creativity. Douglas Gentile, a psychologist and professor of psychology said that there seems to be something in selecting the best way to approach it that is also important.
If you're not familiar with the game, Gentile says Minecraft is similar to a virtual Lego world. The game that has sold more than 100 million copies, allows players to explore different worlds and build anything they can imagine. Participants randomly assigned to play Minecraft were divided into two groups. The instructions were given to the participant who was playing Minecraft.
After 40 minutes of play or watching television, the 352 participants took on a variety of creative tasks. To assess their creative output, they were challenged to draw a creature from a different world from Earth. More human-like creatures scored low in terms of creativity while creatures that were less human-like got high scores. Surprisingly, the ones who were told to be creative in Minecraft were the least creative.
Gentile says there is no explanation for this finding. In the article published by Creativity Research Journal, he Jorge Blanco Herrera, co-author and former master's student in psychology; and Jeffrey Rokkum, former Ph.D. student in psychology, identified possible reasons why the taught Minecraft group scored lower. Blanco-Herrera says the instructions may have altered the motivation of the players to playing.
"Being told to be creative may have limited their options while playing, resulting in having a less enjoyable experience," Blanco-Herrera said. It's possible that they used all of their creative juices during the game and didn't have any left when it came time to take the test.
Games can help develop creativity, similar to aggression
Video games can have negative and positive effects. His prior research has proven that video games can cause both harmful and beneficial effects. Gentile claims that creativity is the same thing as aggression and prosocial behavior. Mega Blog
Many video games encourage creativity. For instance, players can create a story and character for role-playing games or be rewarded for innovative strategies in competitive games. Researchers say that even games that shoot in first person could encourage creativity because players think strategically and look for ways to gain advantage in combat.
"The research is beginning to provide a more nuanced and interesting picture. Mega Blog Our results are in line with other studies on gaming in that you become better at what you practice however, how you practice might matter as well," Gentile said.
