The Effect of Intergroup Contact in Gaming on Improving Empathetic Feelings and Reducing Stereotypes Towards Immigrants Vivian Hsueh Hua Chen Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University chenhh@ntu.edu.sg Wei Jie Dominic Koek Graduate College, Nanyang Technological University koek0002@e.ntu.edu.sg Gabrielle C. Ibasco Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University gabrielle.ibasco@ntu.edu.sg Fidelia Beatrice School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University fide0004@e.ntu.edu.sg Arul Chib Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University arulchib@ntu.edu.sg Abstract Video games have been designed and studied in the context of intergroup relations. Past studies have shown that overall gaming experience may induce empathy and reduce prejudice, however, the mechanism that leads to such an effect is not fully understood. The current study utilizes intergroup contact theory as a foundation to design a 2D game that allows mediated contact to occur through hiring and dialogue choices. It examines how perceived positive vs. negative contact valence with outgroup immigrant workers influences empathetic feelings and stereotypes towards immigrants. Results showed that overall gameplay reduced negative stereotypes. Perceived positive contact predicts increased empathetic feelings and reduced negative stereotypes towards immigrants. However, there are no significant findings with regards to the influence of negative contact in the game. Implications and directions for further research are discussed. 1. Introduction Interactive video games allow players to engage with social issues through game narrative and choices. Research has shown that video games have the potential to develop empathy among players [1]. Empathy is defined as “an other-oriented emotional response elicited by and congruent with the perceived welfare of someone else” [2, p. 419]. Players could experience empathy by taking the perspective of the game character. This could be achieved by reinforcing “similarities between themselves and characters in the game,” which could trigger emotional responses to situations faced by another person [3, p. 10]. Experiencing interactions and storyline as a game character therefore can potentially enhance empathetic feelings towards culturally different others. The question is how interactions with characters in a computer-mediated video game environment can foster these prosocial outcomes. Past literature based on the intergroup contact theory [4] has pointed to a viable direction. Intergroup contact has demonstrated effects on improving intergroup attitudes in different contexts such as racial or ethnic groups [5-7], gender [8], age [9], and religion [10]. Research has looked into the effect of mediated intergroup contact in digital environments. Most notably, studies have allowed people to work cooperatively or collaboratively with another outgroup through video games [11-13]. In one longitudinal intervention study, Palestinian and Jewish children experienced significant reductions in both intergroup stereotypes and negative emotions when they played the video game Minecraft cooperatively [11]. Stiff and Bowen [12] similarly had students from different universities engage in either cooperative or solo gameplay, and likewise found that self-reported attitudes toward the outgroup were more positive in the former condition. However, the findings have not always been consistent. Simply sharing a task with an outgroup member, whether cooperative or competitive, may be equally effective in improving attitudes [14]. In one study, White participants were instructed to play an Proceedings of the 55th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences | 2022 Page 3161 URI: https://hdl.handle.net/10125/79722 978-0-9981331-5-7 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)