Clayton Haliburton's List: Week 4 Psychology of Play

• Social scientists have been studying and debating the effects of media violence on behavior since the 1950s, and video games in particular since the 1980s.
• youngsters who develop a gaming habit can become slightly more aggressive
• “I don’t know that a psychological study can ever answer that question definitively,” said Michael R. Ward, an economist at the University of Texas, Arlington. “We are left to glean what we can from the data and research on video game use that we have.”
• The research falls into three categories: short-term laboratory experiments; longer-term studies, often based in schools; and correlation studies
• playing games like “Call of Duty,” “Killzone 3” or “Battlefield 3” stirs the blood.
• Sure enough, compared with a group who had played a nonviolent video game, those who had been engaged in “Mortal Kombat” were more aggressive across the board. They gave their fellow students significantly bigger portions of the hot sauce.

• Many similar studies have found the same thing: A dose of violent gaming makes people act a little more rudely than they would otherwise, at least for a few minutes after playing.
• Some studies in schools have found that over time digital warriors get into increasing numbers of scrapes with peers — fights in the schoolyard, for example.
• psychologists at Brock University in Ontario found that longer periods of violent video game playing among high school students predicted a slightly higher number of such incidents over time.
• “None of these extreme acts, like a school shooting, occurs because of only one risk factor; there are many factors, including feeling socially isolated, being bullied, and so on,” said Craig A. Anderson, a psychologist at Iowa State University. “But if you look at the literature, I think it’s clear that violent media is one factor; it’s not the largest factor, but it’s also not the smallest.”
• Some studies done in schools or elsewhere have found that it is aggressive children who are the most likely to be drawn to violent video games in the first place; they are self-selected to be in more schoolyard conflicts. And some studies are not able to control for outside factors, like family situation or mood problems.

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• This is where the Wheel of Life® (or Life Wheel) can help. Commonly used by professional life coaches, it helps you consider each area of your life in turn and assess what's off balance. As such, it helps you identify areas that need more attention.
• Brainstorm Life Areas
• The roles you play in life
• Areas of life that are important to you
• Your own combination of these (or different) things
• Write These Down on the Wheel

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• Set priorities on Sunday.
• Map out work, play, fit, and push.
• Work: For each day, I outline my "Top 3," meaning the three most important things I will have accomplished by the end of the day.
• Play: I've found that play enables me to self-express, reflect, and give my ideas space, which shows up positively in my work.
• Fit: Movement keeps ideas moving forward so I aim to move my body for at least 30 minutes each day.
• Push: Since learning and growth is important to me, I do something that scares me (almost) every day.
• Batch your days.
• CREATE on Monday/Wednesday/Friday: I create holes in my schedule for thinking and creating. On these days, instead of thinking about how to spend my time in advance, I pay attention to my body and take breaks as needed.

• CALLS and MEETINGS on Tuesday/Thursday: When possible, I avoid phone calls and meetings because I find them typically unproductive and often easy to solve via email. I set aside three hours on Tuesday and Thursday for meetings, and once these spots are filled, I say no. There are, of course, occasional exceptions.

    
• "Hate you but have to do you" is saved for Wednesday morning: Things like paying bills, clearing out my email inbox, and the like, take up just one morning.
• SPONTANEOUS Saturday: With so much structure, I make room for spontaneity. On Saturday, I let go and go where the day takes me. Balancing structure with a day of free-spiritedness makes me feel whole.
• INTENTIONAL Sunday: Plan for the week ahead.

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• Cary Umhau, 51, a longtime District resident and founder and creative director of Spacious, an organizationthat hopes to launch “a playful revolution to help people bust out of cubicles.”
• “Certainly stress levels are very high,” said David Ballard, who directs the American Psychological Association’s Psychologically Healthy Workplace Program. The APA’s 2012 Workplace Survey found that low salaries were the top workplace source of stress along with lack of opportunity for advancement and heavy workloads.