Open Conference Systems, ITC 2016 Conference

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POSTER: Serious Games for Psychological Testing: Development and Validation of Measures of Impulsivity and Self-Control
Pei-Chun Shih, Daniel Peña

Building: Pinnacle
Room: 2F-Harbourside Ballroom
Date: 2016-07-02 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Last modified: 2016-05-21

Abstract


Gomins is a space adventure game for entertainment and also for psychological testing purposes. Several games are included in order to assess children's social-emotional skills. In addition, parents will be able to find out their kids' state and progress in these skills. The aim of this study is to validate the behavioral measures of impulsivity and self-control obtained from the games. 268 children participated in this study (178 boys, 86 girls; range of age: 4 to 12, Mean = 8.35, SD = 2.06). Besides playing the game, they were assessed by an expert clinical psychologist (indexes: inhibitory control, planning, perseverance, delay of gratification). Behavioral measures were obtained from "Gomins Mushroom Forest" (impulsivity index: number of poison mushroom picked) and "Gomins Fruits Festival" (self-control index: proportion of obtained energy and number of fruits collected). A low correlation was observed between behavioral measures of impulsivity and self-control (r = -.180, p = .004). Middle correlations were found for impulsivity index and inhibitory control  (r = -.269, p = .000), planning (r = -.254, p = .000), perseverance (r = -.244, p = .000), delay of gratification (r = -.222, p = .001). Only one middle correlation was observed between self-control index and delay of gratification (r = .214, p = .001). Patterns of correlations were different across age ranges (4-6, 7-8, 9-12). The best results were obtained for 7-8 yr of age with only two significant correlations: impulsivity x inhibitory control (r = -.225, p < .05) and self-control x delay of gratification (r = .310, p < .01). The findings of this study provide some evidence of concurrent validity of these behavioral measures of impulsivity and self-control. Different results across age ranges must be considered for the correct interpretation of these indexes.


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