October 23, 2007
Playing Social-intelligence Games Can Reduce Cortisol Levels
In the October Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, scientists examined personality processes relating to social perception and its role in stress. In several studies, the authors demonstrate that early stage attentional processes influence the perception of social threat and modify the human stress response as measured by cortisol release.
Using a video game designed by McGill University, researchers help train people to change their perception of social threats and boost their self-confidence. This new study has now demonstrated that it can reduce the production of the stress-related hormone cortisol. The McGill team have been developing a suite of video games that train players in social situations to focus more on positive feedback rather than being distracted and deterred by perceived social slights or criticisms. The games are based on the emerging science of social intelligence, which has found that a significant part of daily stress comes from our social perceptions of the world.
In a 2004 study of 56 students, a standard reaction-time test showed that the game, called the Matrix, helped people shift the way they processed social information. The researchers next conducted several studies to see whether the effects of the game would translate into lower stress levels in a high-pressure context.
In one of their recent studies, they recruited 23 employees of a Montreal-based call center to play one of their games, which involves clicking on the one smiling face among many frowning faces on a screen as quickly as possible. According to the researchers, through repetitive playing, the game trains the mind to orient more toward positive aspects of social life. The call-center employees did this each workday morning for a week. They filled out daily stress and self-esteem questionnaires and had their cortisol levels tested through saliva analysis on the final day of the experiment. These tests showed an average 17-percent reduction in cortisol production compared to a control group that played a similar game but without the smiling faces.
The team’s ongoing research led to the creation of a spin-off company, MindHabits, whose MindHabits Trainer game recently won Telefilm Canada’s Great Canadian Video Game Competition. The distinction has earned the company $800,000 from Telefilm to be matched with private funding for a total of $1.3 million to support the commercialization of the game. The resulting product is scheduled for release this month and is available through the company’s website, www.mindhabits.com.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Mindhabits.com