Computer games and creativity: the positive aspects and negative trends

2885

Abstract

The article is aimed at analysis of current studies of the link between video games experience and creativity. The impact of video game playing on the psychological specificity of gamers has repeatedly become a subject of many studies, though higher-level cognitive abilities, such as creativity, were rarely the subject of interest, remaining unexplored in the context of video games. Contrary to the earlier predictions that the increased amount of «readymade» visual information will reduce the imaginative ability, most of the current works show positive links between some types of creativity (in particular — visual) and playing video games. The latter becomes not only a source of inspiration but also a platform for creative realization. Many authors draw attention to possible negative aspects of creativity, in particular, the possibility of its antisocial applications. In this regard, the importance of studying the aggressiveness and empathy of computer players is increasing but the research data in this area is particularly contradictory.

General Information

Keywords: creativity, creative abilities, video games, gamers, negative creativity.

Journal rubric: Educational Psychology and Pedagogical Psychology

Article type: review article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/jmfp.2017060403

Funding. Russian Foundation for Basic Research. Project № 15-06-06168.

For citation: Bogacheva N.V., Voiskounsky A.E. Computer games and creativity: the positive aspects and negative trends [Elektronnyi resurs]. Sovremennaia zarubezhnaia psikhologiia = Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology, 2017. Vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 29–40. DOI: 10.17759/jmfp.2017060403. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Nataliya V. Bogacheva, PhD in Psychology, Senior Lecturer, Department of Pedagogy and Medical Psychology, Faculty of Higher Nursing Training, Psychology and Social Work, Named After I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow, Russia, e-mail: bogacheva.nataly@gmail.com

Alexander E. Voiskounsky, PhD in Psychology, leading research fellow, faculty of general psychology, Moscow State University named after M.V.Lomonosov, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: vae-msu@mail.ru

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