The Game of Happiness

Transcription

1 Presented to the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience Maastricht University The Game of Happiness Gamification of Positive Activity Interventions In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science Health and Social Psychology by Sophie Charlotte Albrecht ID: I st Supervisor: Dilana Schaafsma (MSc) 2 nd Supervisor: Gjalt-Jorn Peters (PhD) Word Count: 15,384 August 31 st, 2012

2 Content 1 Abstract Theoretical Background Introduction The Perspective of Positive Psychology The Pursuit of Happiness Defining Happiness How to Be Happy How to Increase Happiness Happiness-Enhancing Activities Moderators and Mediators of Happiness-Enhancing Activities Self-Determination Theory Introductions to Self-Determination Theory and Its Predictions The Three Needs Competence Autonomy Relatedness Need Satisfaction in Behavior Change Interventions Video Games Satisfying Needs in Perfection Need Satisfaction in Games What Are They Doing Right? Gamification The Present Study Hypotheses Methods Participants and Recruitment Design Questionnaires Demographics Satisfaction With Life Scale Subjective Happiness Scale Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale

3 3.3.5 Intrinsic Motivation Inventory Relatedness Maintenance Conditions No Game/PAI Condition No Game/No PAI Condition Game/PAI Condition Game/No PAI Condition Procedure Statistical Analyses and Data Reduction Results Preliminary Analyses Post-Intervention and Follow-Up Analyses Behavior Frequency and Maintenance Need Satisfaction and the IMI-Subscales Short-Term and Long-Term Happiness Discussion Overview over the Results Limitations Future Outlook References Appendix Relatedness Questionnaire Intervention Website Background Pictures Main Profile Screen Avatar Selection Reward Screen

4 1 Abstract Positive activity interventions (PAIs) have been developed to enhance subjective well-being. Several variables can influence the effectiveness of PAIs. Especially the satisfaction of three basic needs (competence, autonomy, and relatedness), as suggested in Self-Determination Theory, may have the potential to substantially increase gains in happiness. The present study added game elements a method called Gamification that should bolster need satisfaction to positive activities and investigated the effectiveness on satisfaction of the basic needs, behavior frequency, maintenance, and happiness outcomes in a 24-hours web-intervention (N = 38). Although all conditions showed an increase in happiness up to one week after the intervention, the gamified PAI did not yield greater gains in happiness compared to the other conditions. Also, conditions did not differ in their rated need satisfaction. Behavior frequency did not vary between conditions, but non-significant effects with medium effect sizes of Gamification on increased behavior maintenance were found. The mixed results are discussed with due regard to the limited sample size

5 2 Theoretical Background 2.1 Introduction Happiness has always been one of the most important goals for human life. People who are happy are more likely to be mentally healthy and show better adaptation to life circumstances. Positive Psychology offers various techniques that are supposed to increase happiness, for example, practicing gratitude or using one s signature strengths. Unfortunately, there are some factors that can substantially impair the effectiveness of these exercises, for instance, a lack of motivation to perform them. Increasing need satisfaction a concept introduced by Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is hoped to be a viable pathway for eliminating those negative influences and increasing overall effectiveness of happiness exercises. If activities offer experiences that more strongly satisfy basic needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness, people should have higher motivation to initiate and maintain engagement. To achieve this goal, the present study proposes the use of video game elements in happiness-enhancing activities. Video games are mainly associated with entertainment, but Rigby and Ryan (2011) state that this is because they offer a high density of needsatisfying experiences that keep the motivation to play high. With the goal of leveraging the positive effects of video games in mind, researchers and businesses have recently turned to an emerging trend called Gamification the use of game elements in non-game contexts (Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, & Nacke, 2011). In the present study, happiness-enhancing activities with implemented Gamification were designed and compared to traditional happiness exercises without Gamification and control exercises. The exercises were introduced in a 24-hours, web-based intervention. Three main questions were investigated: Whether the happiness exercises with game elements would yield greater gains in short-term and long-term happiness, whether this Gamification would result in higher satisfaction for competence, autonomy, and relatedness needs, and whether people in the Gamification groups would engage in more exercises and continue their performance for a longer time. 2.2 The Perspective of Positive Psychology After Worldwar II the focus of psychology shifted almost exclusively towards healing mental disorders and exploring human dysfunction and pathology (Maddux, 2002; Keyes & Lopez, 2002; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Until today many psychologists treat patients with mental - 5 -

6 disorders with a problem-focused frame of reference, labeling them as mentally ill and correct weaknesses and malfunctioning thought patterns (e.g. Hofmann & Asmundson, 2008; Hubble & Miller, 2004). Yet, this approach cannot explain why the majority of humans are well-adjusted and normal functioning independently of their living conditions most of them even state that they are happy and satisfied with their life (Meyers, 2000). Also, this negative frame of reference offers no explanation of how to prevent mental illnesses in the first place (Seligman, 2002). Positive psychology poses the question: Why are most humans able to lead a life with purpose and worth living (Sheldon & King, 2001)? Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) state that positive psychology s mission is to understand what makes people flourish in their life. Furthermore, positive psychology is the research about the factors that may be able to foster and strengthen a fulfilled life that is worth living or how it is often called, a good life (King, Eells, & Burton, 2004). 2.3 The Pursuit of Happiness Defining Happiness What makes a good life? Diener (2002) states that a good life is subjective well-being which in turn are the cognitive and affective evaluations of an individual s life. Overall, most of the constructs associated with a good life for instance optimism, autonomy or meaning are also related to subjective well-being (Keyes, Shmotkin, & Ryff, 2002). Another term that is often used interchangeably for well-being is happiness (for example, Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005; Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2004; Sagiv, Roccas, & Hazan, 2004; Diener, 2000). Diener (1984, 1994) defines happiness as the existence of frequent positive affect and high life satisfaction while infrequently experiencing negative affect. Furthermore, happiness is an essential factor for good mental health and adaptation (Diener, 1984). King et al. (2004) emphasize the important difference between happiness and hedonistic pleasure in the psychological context. While hedonistic pleasure is about feeling good about oneself without putting effort into it, happiness in psychological terms goes beyond that. It is a more complex form of enjoyment, often accompanied by large amounts of effort. Happiness is often used as a proxy measure for the optimal experience. Constructs that are central to this concept are flow experiences and intrinsic motivation. The flow state of mind is characterized by the full engagement and optimal challenge in an activity - 6 -

7 (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Being intrinsically motivated means the kind of motivation one experiences when an activity is rewarding and motivating in itself (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Many positive consequences come with being happy. For instance, Lyubomirsky, King, and Diener (2005) showed evidence that happiness and specifically frequently experienced positive affect promote beneficial characteristics (like sociability, altruism, liking of oneself and others, and strong immune systems) as well as successful outcomes (like work, health, and love). Happy individuals are also more likely to have greater self-regulatory and coping skills (Fredrickson & Joiner, 2002). Finally, Danner, Snowdon, and Friesen (2001) could show that happy people are more likely to live a longer life than less happy individuals. In the face of these findings, it seems a reasonable conclusion that happiness is a beneficial goal to strive for How to Be Happy To answer the question of how to be happy one could first investigate the differences between happy and unhappy individuals. Do happy and unhappy individuals differ in their perception of and reactions to their environment and themselves? Indeed, Lyubomirsky (2001) described that happy people seem to be less sensitive to social comparison than less happy individuals. Specifically, a study (Lyubomirsky & Ross, 1997) showed that self-rated happy participants were less affected by a better performance evaluation in different tasks than unhappy ones. Happy individuals were rather invulnerable to an unfavorable social comparison. Furthermore, Lyubomirksy and Ross (1997) showed in another experiment that happy participants were more likely to evaluate themselves and others more positively than were unhappy participants. Not only in their reactions to social comparison do happy and unhappy individuals differ. In three experiments Lyubomirsky and Tucker (1998) showed that happy individuals construe events in their life differently than unhappy people do in a more favorable and psychologically adapted way. These results suggest that happy individuals tend to view the world in a more positive and happinesspromoting way. A conclusion that may be drawn from the differences between happy and unhappy individuals seems to be that happy individuals perceive and react to their world in a way that further promotes their happiness. But it is still unclear why people are happy or unhappy in the first place. Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) proposed a sustainable happiness model. It assumes that three factors are causally accountable for an individual s chronic happiness level. First of all, the genetic set point determines the happiness range or the expected happiness level of an individual. This set point is - 7 -

8 assumed to be fixed and stable over time. Lykken and Tellegen (1996) found in a twin study that genetic factors can account for 44% to 52% of the variance in the happiness level. Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) assume that the genetic set point can account for approximately 50% of the variation in wellbeing of the population. The second factor influencing an individual s happiness level is life circumstances. This includes the living conditions of a person (e.g., place of residence, gender, and ethnicity), life events that have an impact on an individual s happiness level (witnessing an accident or experiencing a childhood trauma), and life status variables (e.g., salary or marital status). While all of these variables have been found to affect happiness, Diener, Suh, Lucas, and Smith (1999) describe in a review that circumstantial factors can only account for a minor part of variance in subjective well-being. For instance, in a meta-analytic study, marriage has been found to explain 14% of the variance in happiness (Haring-Hidore, Stock, Okun, & Witter, 1985). Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) assume in their model that one s circumstances can account for 10% of the variance in happiness. Lastly, Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) include the factor of intentional activities in their model and state that these committed and effortful actions can account for the remaining 40% of variance in well-being. The difference between circumstantial factors and intentional activities is that individuals choose to engage in an activity whereas circumstances are experienced in a more passive way. There are different kinds of intentional activities. Behavioral activities are certain actions, for instance, being kind to others or using one s signature strengths (Dunn, Aknin, & Norton, 2008; Mitchell, Stanimirovic, Klein, & Vella-Brodrick, 2009). Intentional activities can also be cognitive, for example, expressing optimism or being grateful for things in one s life (Lyubomirsky, Dickerhoof, Boehm, & Sheldon, 2011; Emmons & McCullough, 2003). Finally, there are volitional or motivational activities like attaining self-set goals (Sheldon, Kasser, Smith, & Share, 2002). Happy and unhappy individuals differ in the way they experience their surrounding world and themselves. The causal factors of why one person is chronically happy while another one is not have been defined by Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) using substantial evidence (e.g. Mitchell et al., 2009; Emmons & McCullough, 2003; Sheldon et al., 2002) to combine a model of sustainable happiness. But can these factors also help to improve an individual s subjective well-being and guide psychologists in essentially making people happier? - 8 -

9 2.3.3 How to Increase Happiness Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) pose the question of how to use the causal factors of happiness in their model to enhance a person s subjective well-being. Since the first factor, the set point, is genetically determined it is not a promising factor to improve happiness. With regard to the second factor described in Lyubomirsky et al. (2005), relations of life circumstances to subjective well-being are typically rather small (Diener et al., 1999; Diener, Lucas, & Oishi, 2002). An explanation for these small effects of circumstantial factors on happiness provides the concept of hedonic adaptation or the hedonic treadmill that is, the human tendency to adapt over time to positive and negative experiences (Frederick & Loewenstein, 1999). A classic study in that matter is from Brickman, Coates, and Janoff-Bulman (1978). Major lottery winners were compared to individuals without such a winning and showed no increase in happiness after up to 18 months. This result can mainly be accounted for by hedonic adaptation participants rapidly adapted to this windfall and showed no greater level of well-being already after one month after the news. If people quickly adapt to everything positive that happens to them, is it even possible to become happier? The third causal factor of Lyubomirsky et al. s (2005) model gives hope that indeed an individual s happiness level can be enhanced in the long term. Several studies could show the beneficial effect of different intentional activities (behavioral, cognitive and motivational) on happiness (e.g. Dunn et al., 2008; Mitchell et al., 2009; Emmons & McCullough, 2003). Sheldon and Lyubomirsky (2006) demonstrated that intentional changes in activity could predict maintained happiness gains where circumstantial changes could not. Before taking a deeper look into the various kinds of intentional actions, one question about the results arises: Why do intentional activities not seem to be influenced by hedonic adaptation like circumstantial factors? Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) argue that it is not the case that intentional actions are immune to hedonic adaptation, but that rather the effect of adaptation on positive activity changes is diminished. Support for this theory is found in Sheldon and Lyubomirsky s (2006) study. Participants that had changed their intentional activities in the past reported to have gotten less used to change as well as having derived more varied experiences from the change than did participants who had experienced a circumstantial change. Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) describe several differences between intentional activities and circumstantial factors that are helpful in preventing hedonic adaptation. First, intentional actions are episodic. That means each activity has a beginning and an end. Thus, compared to the constant change that circumstantial factors produce, intentional activities let - 9 -

10 people adapt to their effect less rapidly. Second, activities can be used in different ways, contexts and forms. This possibility to vary helps to reduce adaption since only experiences or situations that are repeated or constant produce the rapid effect of hedonic adaptation (Frederick & Loewenstein, 1999). Naturally, this implies that in case an activity is used in a habitual way, always in the same way or too often, adaptation will reduce the beneficial effects. Third, intentional activities even seem to counteract the effects of hedonic adaptation. For instance, counting one s blessings can directly prevent adaptation to the circumstances one is reminded to be grateful for (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005) Happiness-Enhancing Activities A pioneer of teaching intentional activities, Fordyce (1977, 1983), showed evidence for shortterm boosts of different activities like practicing optimism or socializing on happiness. These results give preliminary evidence that individuals can enhance their happiness by engaging in positive intentional activities. Intentional activities used in the form of programs to enhance happiness have been called positive activity interventions (PAIs; e.g. Layous, Chancellor, Lyubomirksy, Wang, & Doraiswamy, 2011), positive psychology interventions (PPIs; e.g. Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009) or happiness interventions (Seligman et al., 2005). Sin and Lyubomirsky (2009) conducted a meta-analysis about happiness interventions like the ones described below. They found that these exercises were successful in increasing an individual s level of well-being with a medium effect size of r =.29. Also, depressed participants significantly benefitted from engaging in PAIs with a medium-sized effect of r = Expressing Gratitude Gratitude is a concept that has been defined in many different ways. Gratitude as means to enhance happiness focuses on the conceptualization of gratitude as an adaptive psychological strategy, an affective personality trait and a broad attitude of reacting towards life (Bono, Emmons & McCullough, 2004; Emmons & McCullough, 2003). Rosenberg (1998) defined gratitude as tendency to notice circumstances and things that happened in one s life and react with appreciation towards them. Emmons and McCullough (2003) were among the first to use gratitude in the context of a happiness intervention. In their experiment, participants either listed things they were grateful for, hassles that occurred in their life or events that impacted on them. Also, Emmons and McCullough

11 (2003) checked if they were able to induce gratitude using the Gratitude Questionnaire-6 (GQ-6; McCullough, Emmons & Tsang, 2002). The GQ-6 is a 6-item self-report measure assessing an individual s grateful disposition. Indeed, participants proved to be more grateful in the gratitude condition after the intervention. They also showed fewer health complaints and higher positive affect compared to the other groups. Seligman et al. (2005) developed a different way of inducing gratitude. Participants wrote and delivered a letter to someone who had done something for them that they were grateful for. The instructions encouraged participants to first remember a time when they appreciated something another person had done for them and then be specific and detailed in writing the letter. This intervention as well as other happiness-enhancing activities was compared to a control condition in which participants wrote about their earliest memories. The gratitude letter proved to be one of the most effective ways to increase happiness and decrease depressive symptoms for up to one month. Lyubomirsky, Dickerhoof, Boehm, and Sheldon (2011) adapted this procedure of writing a gratitude letter. Participants were given the same instructions as in Seligman et al. s (2005) study except that the letter was not to be delivered and participants should spend 15 minutes per week with this task. In addition, Lyubomirsky et al. (2011) included two coders that judged the effort put into the task. The gratitude letter condition was compared to an optimism expression condition and a control group listing what they had done the past week. Also, participants could either assign themselves to one condition (labeled as happiness intervention or cognitive exercises ) or were being assigned to one. The effectiveness of both treatment conditions, writing a gratitude letter and expressing optimism, was related to the effort participants put into the essays. However, a positive effect of the gratitude letter and expressing optimism up to 6 months after the intervention was found only if participants assigned themselves to the happiness interventions. Lyubomirsky et al. (2011) propose as a reason that participants chose the activity that fitted them best and they were motivated the most to perform Using Signature Strengths in a New Way Another happiness intervention that has been found successful is derived from the focus of positive psychology on building up the strengths a person already has. Peterson and Seligman (2004) developed the Values in Action (VIA) classification of strengths to be able to globally define and assess individual strengths. The VIA classification includes 24 strengths (e.g., creativity, love, citizenship, and humor) that are based on six virtues assumed to be universal. The virtues are

12 wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. Using individual character strengths is considered a way to achieve one of these virtues (Peterson & Park, 2004). Seligman et al. (2005) instructed participants in an internet-based study to use their signature strengths for one week in a new way. Participants showed greater happiness scores and reported less depressive symptoms after one week up to six months after the intervention compared to a control group. In contrast, participants who identified their top character strengths and were instructed just to use them more often for one week showed higher happiness scores and less depressive symptoms only directly after the intervention, but not in the follow-up measurements. Mitchell et al. (2009) adapted Seligman et al. s (2005) procedure and compared the strength intervention to a problem solving and placebo control intervention. Rather than assessing their signature strengths using a 240-item questionnaire as in Seligman et al. (2005), participants set their own ten prioritized strengths using a list with a description of each strength. Participants then chose three of their top ten strengths to use in a new way for one week. Mitchell et al. (2009) were able to show that in the post-intervention as well as in the 3-month follow-up measurement the strength group significantly increased in their domain specific subjective well-being scores compared to the problem solving and control condition. To find out more about how the use of strengths works, Linley, Nielsen, Gillett & Biswas-Diener (2010) designed a study examining the connection between goal achievements, well-being and strengths use. They found proof for their proposed model stating that using signature strengths contributes to goal progress which in turn satisfies basic psychological needs (like competence, autonomy, and relatedness; Deci & Ryan, 2000) and leads to greater well-being. This result further supports the theory that choosing self-concordant goals that is, goals that are personally valued and consistent with personal interests is associated with greater need satisfaction and well-being Moderators and Mediators of Happiness-Enhancing Activities Several factors play an important role in how effective happiness interventions are. Which ingredients make engaging in PAIs more beneficial for an individual in terms of well-being? Social Support Boehm and Lyubomirsky (2009) state that happiness interventions may be more effective if participants receive social support. In turn, individuals also directly benefit from the support of

13 others. The sense of relatedness has already been connected to well-being and mental health by Ryan and Deci (2000) Person-Activity Fit As already described above, Lyubomirsky et al. (2011) found that one important moderator is self-selection. Participants could either choose one of the activities expressing optimism, writing a gratitude letter or listing things that happened during the past week (control condition) or were assigned to one condition. Participants that self-selected into one of the two happiness intervention groups showed the greatest increases in their subjective well-being up to 6 months after the experiment. Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) argue that due to the differences in interests, virtues, strengths and dispositions between individuals, not every person will benefit from the same activity. Thus, self-selecting to an activity that fits oneself will result in greater gains in happiness. Opposed to the person-activity fit assumption, Deci and Ryan (2000) propose that there are activities that are beneficial to everyone because they satisfy basic psychological needs inherent in every human. If an experience bolsters an individual s sense of competence, autonomy and relatedness, one can assume that this activity fits anyone. For instance, self-selecting into an activity could enhance an individual s sense of autonomy an alternate explanation for Lyubomirsky et al. s (2005) results Effort: Initiation and Maintenance It is an effortful behavior to first initiate and then maintain engagement in an activity. An individual s level of self-regulatory resources according to Muraven and Baumeister (2000) the resources needed to perform effortful behavior thus may influence the effectiveness of happiness interventions. Evidence for this assumption is provided by the study of Lyubomirsky et al. (2011) described above. Participants that took the exercises seriously and put a lot of effort into them (as rated by naive coders) were more likely to report gains in well-being after the intervention than individuals who did not do so. This effect could only be found for the happiness interventions, effort itself was not able to cause happiness increases in the control group. The maintained engagement in an activity is probably one of the most important moderators of chronic increases in happiness (Sin & Lyubomirksy, 2009). But what keeps people engaged in an activity? Deci and Ryan s (1985) Self-Determination Theory (SDT) states that an activity that is intrinsically motivating will be performed and maintained without external reinforcements. An individual will engage in such an activity because of the behavior itself not because of rewards,

14 external expectations or pressure. Thus, as long as a happiness-enhancing activity is of intrinsic interest to an individual, it will be easy to maintain the engagement over time. Another way to better maintain engagement in an activity is to make initiation of the behavior habitual. Habitual behavior has shown to be performed without effort and automatically (Wood, Quinn, & Kashy, 2002). For happiness interventions, the initiating behavior should be performed in the same way, at the same time or the same place for instance, while the following behavior (e.g. crucial intervention tasks) can vary. Sheldon, Boehm, and Lyubomirsky (2012) could show in a study that the extent of variety in performing positive activities determined if participants did or did not benefit in their happiness. Thus, it is crucial that the activity itself stays variable and is performed in different ways. However, the initiation of engagement in a behavior should become habitual in order to maintain the engagement effortless (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005) Need Satisfaction According to Lyubomirsky et al. (2005), one essential mediator of increasing well-being is the amount of need-satisfaction an activity offers. Deci and Ryan (2000) postulate in their Self- Determination Theory (SDT) that there are three basic psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness. The satisfaction of these needs contributes to an individual s level of well-being (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Whether an activity is experienced as need-satisfying mediates the gains in happiness of an individual. Thus, the more need satisfaction a positive activity offers, the greater are the gains in subjective well-being expected to be (Sheldon & Lyubomirsky 2006). With this knowledge of the most important moderators and mediators of the effectiveness of happiness-enhancing activities, what is essential for an effective happiness intervention? The activity should be able to be performed with as little effort as possible. In the best case, it is intrinsically motivating. It should either fit the person or satisfy basic psychological needs. It should further offer the possibility of social support. All of these moderators can be related back to the three needs proposed by SDT. So, if someone feels competent, autonomous and related to others in an activity, this should result in high effectiveness of the intervention and improved gains in well-being. When designing a happiness intervention it thus seems a desirable goal to strive for high need satisfaction

15 2.4 Self-Determination Theory Introductions to Self-Determination Theory and Its Predictions To design an effective, need-satisfying happiness intervention it is crucial to first understand the SDT and its predictions in order to apply the concept to positive activities. SDT is an approach to human motivation and the necessary regulatory processes. Moreover, it is about the extent to which self-regulation is self-determined (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Motivation can be classified on a continuum from intrinsic and autonomous to extrinsic and controlled (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Autonomous regulation means having a sense of choice and volition, valuing a behavior, and thus, acting selfdetermined. One s values and interests are congruent with the behavior. One is intrinsically motivated to perform the behavior that is, engaging out of interest in the activity itself without receiving an external reward or being pressured. By contrast, behavior control is regulated if there is a demand, threat, or reward to perform it. External agents or inner beliefs that the activity should be performed motivate controlled behavior (Ryan & Deci, 2000). The concept of need satisfaction included in SDT allows making predictions of environmental conditions and specific contents that foster or diminish intrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Specifically, need satisfaction means the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs competence, autonomy, and relatedness that are crucial for personal well-being, optimal functioning and personal development (Ryan & Deci, 2000). SDT predicts that under conditions that facilitate need satisfaction, individuals will display optimal development and mental health. By contrast, if conditions diminish the satisfaction of their needs, people will more likely show mental illness and degradation (Deci & Ryan, 2000). It is crucial to note that Deci and Ryan (2000) assume the needs to be innate in every human independent of culture, gender or age. That is, people tend to strive for achieving effectiveness, connectedness, and coherence to experience competence, relatedness, and autonomy for their whole life The Three Needs Deci and Ryan (2000) state that only with the satisfaction of all three needs competence, autonomy, and relatedness optimal mental health can be achieved. Also, behavior that is intrinsically motivated requires need satisfaction in order to be maintained. The needs concept yields a framework to classify environmental and social conditions as either supportive or thwarting. Thus, if an activity fosters satisfaction of all three needs it is hypothesized to

16 be maintained more strongly than if it does not. While for optimal personal development and wellbeing all three needs should be satisfied in one s life, for a particular behavior it is sufficient that for instance one of the needs is exceedingly satisfied in order to maintain the activity (Rigby & Ryan, 2011) Competence The need for competence is the need to feel effective. As early as 1971, Deci showed in an experiment that while positive feedback and verbal reinforcements following a behavior could increase the intrinsic motivation compared to no feedback, receiving an external reward like money contingent to the performance made participants less intrinsically motivated for the behavior. Deci (1972) reported in more detail that money as an external reward did not affect intrinsic motivation if it was presented in a non-contingent way that is, independently of the participant s performance. Verbal reinforcement another external reward made participants even more intrinsically motivated for an activity. According to Ryan and Deci (2002) humans thrive to experience mastery and to get a sense of confidence. Supposedly, it is the search for optimal challenge that drives people to maintain and further improve their skills. The need for competence is satisfied if one feels efficient, masterful, and confident. Actions that offer positive feedback on the performance and verbal reinforcement foster the sense of competence. By contrast, if people receive no feedback for an activity, never know how they actually performed and whether they improved, the satisfaction of the need for competence is diminished. Ryan and Deci (2002) suggest that the competence feeling is essential for general motivation. Whether motivation is rather intrinsic or extrinsic depends on the satisfaction of the second basic psychological need: Autonomy Autonomy Feeling autonomous is another crucial element in optimal mental health and personal development. Having a sense of autonomy means to have a feeling of control over which behaviors one performs and how they are performed. Humans need to feel assent with the actions they choose to engage in to feel autonomous (Ryan & Deci, 2002). Notably, the sense of autonomy is not just a result of the number of choices one has. It is about having opportunities to act and to feel volitional about one s actions (Rigby & Ryan, 2011)

17 In Deci s (1971) study, participants were less intrinsically motivated if they received a monetary reward for performing a behavior. Deci and Ryan (2000) assume that such extrinsic rewards undermine the sense of autonomy by giving an external reason money, for instance for the behavior. Hence, people do not feel that they act out of their interests and values but because they want to earn some reward. As a result, they are more extrinsically motivated (Ryan & Deci, 2002). While a sense of competence seems to be essential for having some motivation at all, feeling autonomous is necessary to be intrinsically motivated (Deci & Ryan, 2000) Relatedness The need for relatedness is the need to feel meaningfully connected to important others (Ryan & Deci, 2002). It is about having a sense of belongingness, receiving support and being acknowledged. Also, feeling related means having an impact on others. Feeling related to other people without being concerned about positive or negative outcomes of this connection fosters the sense of meaningful relations. By contrast, feeling isolated, perceiving hostility or indifference diminishes the sense for relatedness (Rigby & Ryan, 2011). Although significant influences of relatedness on intrinsic motivation have been found consistently (e.g. Ryan, Stiller, & Lynch, 1994), Deci and Ryan (2000) assume that feeling related to others is a less essential need in some situations. La Guardia, Ryan, Couchman, and Deci (2000) however found evidence that feeling related to others will make it generally more likely to flourish in one s life and increase well-being. Fostering need satisfaction has been shown to be an effective means in promoting various desired outcomes. Of particular interest for the present study is the application of increasing needsatisfying experiences in the health-relevant field of behavior change Need Satisfaction in Behavior Change Interventions SDT has successfully been applied to different fields of the behavior change area. Using need satisfaction is supposed to promote motivation to initiate behavior change as well as maintain the new behavior. It is expected that promoting need satisfaction will result in better mental health (e.g. less depression, higher quality of life) as well as physical health (e.g. smoking abstinence, weight loss, or healthier diet). Mainly the goal of SDT-based, health-related behavior change programs is to facilitate more autonomous, self-determined regulations (Ryan, Patrick, Deci & Williams, 2008)

18 Williams et al. (2002) applied SDT to an intervention for smoking cessation and diet improvement. An SDT-based counseling intervention was compared to conventional health care in the field. The focus was put on increasing patients sense of autonomy and competence to achieve more autonomously self-regulated behavior. Williams and colleagues (2002) expected the inclusion of need-satisfying experiences to facilitate prolonged smoking cessation and diet compliance. In a 6- month intervention with four contacts a counselor s task was to create an autonomy-supportive climate by providing choices, giving information and lessen the pressure to change the unhealthy behavior of the patient. Competence satisfaction was expected to be increased through positive feedback and training the patient in his/her skills and problem solving abilities. Initiatives by the patient towards change were supported and encouraged. If a patient did not show the willingness to change the behavior, this perspective was accepted. Although Williams et al. (2002) explicitly did not include the need for relatedness in their health care model, components of relatedness were clearly addressed in the intervention. For instance, patients were to receive warm support, be treated with empathy and interest about their thoughts, and the patient s perspective on the issue was to be acknowledged all factors that are supposed to foster a sense of relatedness. In the smoking cessation intervention, Williams et al. (2006a) indeed found that patients reported greater need satisfaction compared to the usual health care. Furthermore, patients showed greater compliance to their recommended medication usage. Most importantly, the SDT-based intervention resulted in a significantly greater smoking abstinence. Williams et al. (2006a) concluded that increasing the sense of autonomy indeed causally influenced smoking cessation. In another study, Williams et al. (2006b) found that over the course of 12 months an SDT-based intervention could not only significantly increase smoking abstinence, but also lower patients cholesterol level compared to normal health care. Edmunds, Ntoumanis and Duda (2006) found support that SDT can also be applied in exercising. In their correlational study, satisfaction of all three needs was positively associated with more autonomous self-regulation. Also, whether the exercise class leader was perceived as supporting participant s sense of autonomy predicted need satisfaction as well as self-determined regulation. One issue with the application of SDT in health-related behavior or education is that it always includes direct contact of the recipient with a counselor, doctor or teacher. Yet, need satisfaction and intrinsic motivation have been shown to be increased in other ways very successfully. Considering need satisfaction, autonomous regulation and behavioral outcomes, substantial effect can be found within the virtual realm of video games

19 2.5 Video Games Satisfying Needs in Perfection Looking at video games in general, one of their most remarkable effect is to draw people in and motivate them to spend hours and hours killing monsters, leveling up and running around in a virtual world all activities that are completely irrelevant for real life. Trying to explain the high motivation games can elicit in humans, Rigby and Ryan (2011) state that video games satisfy our basic psychological needs in a way reality often fails to Need Satisfaction in Games What Are They Doing Right? In one of their first studies, Ryan, Rigby, and Przybylski (2006) investigated the extent of need satisfaction in video games and its influence on different measures like game enjoyment and future game play. The researchers hypothesized that depending on the reported need-satisfaction, players would show different amounts of motivation for the particular game. They found that indeed ingame competence as well as autonomy were related to game preferences, enjoyment, and positive short-term shifts in subjective well-being for a variety of different games. They were able to show that the extent of need satisfaction in a video game predicted enjoyment of the game as well as future game play. Based on this and more empirical evidence, Przybylski, Rigby, and Ryan (2010) developed a motivational model of video game engagement. The model assumes first of all that video games have the ability to offer need-satisfying experiences to players. In turn, need satisfaction in a video game can enhance intrinsic motivation for playing the game, immersion in the game world, and produce short-term increases in happiness. Przybylski et al. (2010) do not propose that all video games in general are intrinsically motivating and offer need satisfaction but rather that if they provide players with need-satisfying experiences, this will result in higher appeal of the game, more autonomous regulation, and higher well-being. The need-satisfaction seems to be a more important factor than simply the content of a game or differences in preferences between players (Rigby & Ryan, 2011). Not only future game-play and game preferences can be influenced by the extent of need satisfaction a video game offers. Chiang and Lin (2010) investigated how playfulness is influenced by need-satisfying experiences. They differentiated between playfulness as a trait meaning the general evaluation of video games and playfulness as a state that is, a short-term cognitive experience while playing a game. Using an online game for the experiment, a regression analysis showed that participants in-game playfulness (state) proved to be predicted by the reported need

20 satisfaction. Chiang and Lin (2010) also conducted a factor analysis of need satisfaction and found three factors competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Together, the three factors could explain almost 50% of the variance. Although there has never been actual empirical proof whether certain video games satisfy needs better than most real life situations, Rigby and Ryan (2011) give an extensive analysis of why some games seem to have better preconditions to offer need-satisfying experiences than most activities in life provide. According to this, three factors make games so deeply engaging and motivating to play them: Immediacy, consistency, and density of need satisfaction in-game. First, video games offer immediate, need-satisfying experiences, readily available in everyone s living or work room (Rigby & Ryan, 2011). In real life, the rewarding effects of actions often take time and require the overcoming of obstacles. For example, jogging takes saving time, putting on sport clothes, going outside, and running. Positive feedback in form of experiencing euphoria due to endorphins will be available only after months of regular running. Second, actions in video games are consistently connected to an ingame result. One can reliably expect some outcome out of one s in-game behavior. Third, video games provide us with a high density of optimal challenges that is, tasks that challenge our abilities, but at the same time are neither too difficult nor too easy. Players are constantly offered different possibilities to act and different ways to go which results in a high sense of volition while mastering a variety of challenges (Rigby & Ryan, 2011). Over all, video games seem to frequently offer highly need-satisfying experiences resulting in deep engagement and motivation. It would possibly be very beneficial if this kind of engagement could be leveraged for other purposes. An interesting question in this respect is: How can we increase people s sense of competence, autonomy, and relatedness for activities in real life? There are several areas in which the benefits of games have been applied to non-game related contexts for instance to achieve better education, maintained health-behavior or greater consumer loyalty. However, these applications approach the usage of video games in a different way: Serious Games put non-game related contexts into a fully functional video game. Kato et al. (2008) could show in a 3-month randomized trial that cancer patients playing the serious game Re-Mission for at least once a week improved in their treatment adherence and displayed increases in self-efficacy as well as cancer-related knowledge. By contrast, Gamification takes video game elements and includes them into non-game related contexts (Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, & Nacke, 2011)

21 2.5.2 Gamification Gamification had already been applied for some time in the business and mass-marketing world when scientific researchers recently started to investigate the construct and isolate the term from other concepts. There has yet to be determined a commonly accepted definition of Gamification. However, Deterding et al. (2011) propose a first but solid definition of Gamification as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts (p. 2). Still, this definition leads to new difficulties: What exactly are game design elements? This question cannot be answered with an exhaustive list. Deterding et al. (2011) try to approach this issue by limiting game elements to elements that are characteristic to games (p. 4). They also give an idea of what those features could be. For instance, leaderboards, levels, limited resources, clear goals, and challenges can be game elements on different levels of game design. Also, Deterding and colleagues (2011) state that gamified applications should use several game modules. A critical part of defining Gamification is how to draw a line to fully-fledged games. Since the definition of Gamification is a process definition and the definition of games is a state definition, they are not mutually exclusive. This is displayed in a study by Flatla, Gutwin, Nacke, Bateman, and Mandryk from 2004 which is referenced as the only available experimental study on Gamification so far. The researchers identified core tasks in calibration processes and linked them to game elements like shooting, following a moving target, etc. They then created mini-games around these elements, e.g. instead of indicating whether an item was visible (threshold calibration) users had to shoot missiles at a target if they could see it. Users enjoyed the game versions significantly more while the quality of the calibration data was not compromised. A question regarding this study is whether the modification of the calibration task qualifies as Gamification or as a game. The researchers approach was congruent with the definition of Gamification as they added elements like progress bars or levels to a calibration task unrelated to a game context. However, the final result seems also to fit most definitions for games as well. Until this confusion is cleared up by further discussion, another definition of Gamification might be more helpful in designing psychological experiments on the topic. Schell (2011), a famous game designer, defined Gamification as making non-gaming activities feel like play. While not a very precise definition per se, it vocalizes the very important aspect of user perception. Since Schell also uses a process definition, a good working definition for designing an experiment might regard Gamification as a process that uses elements that are characteristic for games to drive reaction to a

22 specific experience (e.g. a website, a product or an interaction) towards patterns that are found in reactions to games like in-game need satisfaction. Although there has been no further empirical evidence for the effectiveness of Gamification, there already exist several examples of gamified applications that try to enhance intrinsic motivation. The running system Nike+ is one of those. It is the connection of a sensory device placed in the running shoes and an ipod helping the user to monitor personal statistics like speed and distance while running. All data are summarized in a running profile and with each mile users earn points and level up (McGonigal, 2011). Thus, Nike+ seems to have added game elements that are especially important to foster a sense of competence by giving real-time feedback as well as accumulated feedback over all running accomplishments and improvements (Rigby & Ryan, 2011). Although the effectiveness of Nike+ (Do people run more regularly? Do people run more per day, per week and per month? Do people maintain running for a longer time?) has never been empirically proven, it seems to be highly probable that Nike+ makes running a more need-satisfying experience compared to running without the device. Nike+ is just one example of gamified applications. Yet, it is a practical approach to Gamification that uses clearly distinguishable elements and fits the preliminary definitions by Deterding et al. (2011) and Schell (2011). A connection that has lacked attention by the designers of gamified applications is between game elements and need satisfaction. Especially leaderboards that is, a list displaying high scores of players/users have been increasingly used to gamify applications with the intention to increase motivation (Zichermann & Cunningham, 2011). However, one crucial consequence of putting game elements in non-game-related contexts has been ignored to which Deterding (2011) draws attention: the motivational effect of game elements is at least partially determined by their situational usage and meaning (p. 3). While playing a game is a volitional act, the motivational affordance of leaderboards can utterly change when playing the game is not without consequences any longer. For instance, companies that try to increase employees performance and effort by using leaderboards can even undermine intrinsic motivation. Employees may feel controlled because of the public display of their accomplishments and experience an autonomy-diminishing work situation. As a result, self-regulation will be less autonomous and employees will feel less intrinsically motivated (Deterding, 2011). It seems to be an essential premise of an effective Gamification that game features still support the three basic psychological needs in the non-game context. Thus, it is not just the simple translation of game elements to non-game-related applications, but rather the analysis of how certain game features could enhance need satisfaction in a non-game related application. The

23 present study s aim was to provide new insights on whether adding game elements can improve a health intervention by bolstering satisfaction of basic psychological needs. 2.6 The Present Study Happiness interventions have shown to be an effective method to increase one s happiness (Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009; Seligman et al., 2005). However, several moderator and mediator variables can limit the effectiveness and have yet to be further explored so that one can either prevent them or make use of them (Lyubomirksy et al., 2005). The present study used the method of Gamification to make PAIs a more need satisfying experience which in turn was expected to result in greater gains in happiness and well-being. Also, the self-regulated motivation to perform happiness exercises was predicted to be higher when using Gamification resulting in a greater behavior frequency and maintenance Hypotheses The goal of the present study was to investigate the influence of adding game elements (Gamification) to happiness interventions on effectiveness (happiness outcomes), need satisfaction, behavior frequency and maintenance, and intrinsic motivation. It was hypothesized that the gamified happiness intervention (Game/PAI) would show greater increases in happiness and life satisfaction and greater decreases in depressive symptoms than the No Game/PAI condition. The No Game/PAI group in turn would report greater gains in happiness and life satisfaction and greater decreases in depressive symptoms compared to the No Game/No PAI and the Game/No PAI condition. Higher amounts of effort were predicted to result in greater gains in happiness compared to lower amounts. These results were expected for the post-measurement directly after the intervention (after 24 hours) and the follow-up measurement (after one week). The need satisfaction and intrinsic motivation was predicted to be higher in the Game conditions compared to the No Game conditions. Also, it was expected that the participants in the Game conditions would continue to perform the given exercises more than the No Game groups during and after the intervention

24 3 Methods 3.1 Participants and Recruitment Participants were recruited via online advertisements, for example using social network services like Facebook or Twitter and mental health forums. A short information text about the experimental study was given to potential participants together with the corresponding link to the web intervention. The study was described as an investigation of the development of personality skills that potentially could be beneficial for personal development and mental health. For the participation in the study no compensation was offered. Of the 71 registrations on the website, the first survey was filled in by 69 people with 33 females and 36 males ranging from age 18 to 57 (M = 28.99, SD = 8.74). Sixty-one percent were married. The highest level of education was Master s degree (41%), Bachelor s degree (32%), High school or equivalent (15%), College (7%), Vocational/technical school (3%), and Other levels of education (3%). Sixty percent were employed or self-employed, 35% were students, 4% were out of work, and 1% were home keepers. As native language, 36% of the participants indicated German, 26% English, 4% Dutch, 4% Spanish, and 29% named other languages (Serbian, Greek, Finnish, Indonesian, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Turkish). Twenty-nine percent stated to live in Germany, 15% in the United States, 13% in the Netherlands, 4% in Great Britain, 1% in Belgium, and 38% in other countries (Serbia, Spain, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Finland, France, Greece, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey). Participant had used the internet on average for years (SD = 3.64). Of the 69 people who had completed the first questionnaire, 38 cases were included in the analyses who had performed at least one of the given exercises. The post-intervention questionnaire was filled in by 19 participants, the follow-up questionnaire by 13 people. 3.2 Design A 2 (PAI) X 2 (Game) factorial design was used with participants being randomly assigned to one of the four conditions No Game/PAI, Game/PAI, No Game/PAI and No Game/No PAI. Participants completed online assessments before, directly after (24 hours) and one week after the intervention. The design included within-subject (happiness, life satisfaction, and depressive symptoms) as well as

25 between-subject (need satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, maintenance, happiness, life satisfaction and depressive symptoms) comparisons. 3.3 Questionnaires Demographics Demographic data was collected and included 9 items about gender, age, marital status (with the categories Married and Unmarried ), native language ( English, Spanish, German, Dutch, and Other ), highest level of education ( High school or equivalent, Vocational/technical school, College, Bachelor s degree, Master s degree or higher, and Other ), employment status ( Employed/Self-employed, Out of work, Home keeper, Student, Out of work, and Other ), residence ( United States, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Other ), and internet use in years. If the category Other was included, participants had the opportunity to write down a different answer in a textbox Satisfaction With Life Scale The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larson & Griffin, 1985) is focused on measuring the global evaluation of one s life satisfaction. Pavot and Diener (1993) explain that the SWLS assesses the cognitive and conscious judgment of an individual s satisfaction which depends on the result of the comparison of one s own standards with the actual conditions, i.e. if one lives in the conditions that matches one s expectations. The criteria and their given weight for the result of this process are chosen by the individual itself (Pavot & Diener, 1993). The SWLS is a five-item measure scoring on a Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Thus, a potential range from 5 to 35 is given. Items include for example In most ways my life is close to my ideal and I am satisfied with my life. The scale has proven to have high internal consistency (.87) as well as temporal stability (.82). Still, the SWLS is sensitive enough to detect changes in life satisfaction for instance due to health interventions or major changes in life circumstances (Diener et al., 1985). In the field of Positive Psychology and specifically PAIs the SWLS is a common and widely used measure for the cognitive component of life satisfaction and quality of life (e.g. Lyubomirsky et al.,

26 2011). Hence, the present study used the SWLS to assess participant s global life satisfaction at three different points in time and to describe variances in that matter over time Subjective Happiness Scale The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS; Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) allows the subjective assessment of current and global happiness. The 4-item measure is rated on a 7-point Likert scale concerning the general happiness (1 = not a very happy person, 7 = a very happy person), the happiness compared to others (1 = less happy, 7 = more happy) and the extent to which a description of a happy and an unhappy person resembles oneself (1 = not at all, 7 = a great deal). Lyubomirsky and Lepper (1999) and Lyubomirsky et al. (2011) report high internal consistencies with Cronbach s alpha ranging from.79 to.94 across different samples. Also, the single factor structure, good retest-reliability at an appropriate level as well as convergent and discriminant validity could be confirmed (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999). In the present study, participants rated their subjective and global happiness on the SHS as the scale has proven to be very useful in terms of comparing happiness evaluations before and after introducing participants to PAIs (e.g. Otake, Shimai, Tanaka-Matsumi, Otsui & Fredrickson, 2006; Lyubomirsky et al., 2011) Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977) is a self-report measure of the presence and severity of depressive symptoms occurring over the past week. The 20 items are rated on a 4-point scale (0 = rarely or none of the time; 3 = most or all of the time) resulting in a summary score ranging from 0 to 60. For example, items include the statements I felt that I was just as good as other people, I felt depressed and My sleep was restless. Radloff (1977) reported moderate retest reliability as well as concurrent and construct validity for the instrument. Perreira, Deeb-Sossa, Harris, and Bollen (2005) found Cronbach s alphas ranging from.85 to.89. Beekman, Deeg, van Limbeek, Braam, de Vries and van Tilburg (1997) confirmed the criterion validity using a sample of elderly. In a sample of subjects with rheumatoid arthritis, Sheehan, Fifield, Reisine and Tennen (1995) found a four-factor and a second-order-factor model as best fitting. With the demonstration of a stable measurement structure of the CES-D over time

27 Sheehan et al. (1995) concluded that the instrument is especially useful in designing valid studies concerning changes in depressive symptoms Intrinsic Motivation Inventory The Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI; Ryan, 1982) is used to assess subjective experience towards the specific target activities. This instrument consists of seven subscales assessing interest/enjoyment, perceived competence, effort, value/usefulness, felt pressure and tension, perceived choice and relatedness. The interest/enjoyment scale reflects the measurement of intrinsic motivation with perceived choice, competence and pressure/tension being predictors of intrinsic motivation. Each subscale loads on one factor with all factor loadings being at least.60 (Deci, Eghrari, Patrick & Leone 1994). The 45 items are rated on 7-point Likert scales (1 = not at all true, 4 = somewhat true, 7 = very true). McAuley, Duncan and Tammen (1989) found the IMI to have good internal consistency with Cronbach s alpha ranging for the subscales interest/enjoyment, perceived competence, effort and pressure/tension between.68 and.84 and the overall alpha coefficient being.85. Still, literature suggests some issues inherent in the IMI. For instance, Markland and Hardy (1997) expressed concern about conceptual and operational problems and suggested a different causal model. The issue of redundancy has also been discussed and shorter versions of the IMI were shown to have higher internal consistencies (McAuley, Duncan & Tammen, 1989). Finally, Ryan, Koestner and Deci (1991) found only modest correlations between effort or interest/enjoyment and behavioral measures suggesting that perceived choice of behavior and interest/enjoyment need to be correlated in order to confide in the assessment of intrinsic motivation. However, the IMI has been used in several previous studies, for example, Deci et al. (1994) found the subscales perceived choice, usefulness and interest/enjoyment to be significantly correlated to behavioral self-regulation indicating good internal coherence. The subscale of relatedness posed a problem for the present study. Items were initially phrased in a way so that participants could only relate them to persons in real life e.g. the experimenter. However, the present study tried to increase the satisfaction of relatedness by including virtual characters (for details see section 3.4.3) since relatedness is not limited to contact with people in real life (Rigby & Ryan, 2011). Assessing the effectiveness of the need satisfaction in relatedness with the original scale might have been prone to confusion. Conform with Ryan s (1982) suggestion to adapt

28 the use of subscales to the specific experimental setting, the scale of relatedness was excluded. To address and measure relatedness a new scale was constructed Relatedness A scale to measure the need for relatedness was developed, phrased in a way it could be related to real and fictional/virtual persons. A total of eight items are rated in the same way as the subscales of the IMI. Questions are phrased so that they can either refer to virtual/fictional or real individuals. As guideline for the construction of the items the three factors of relatedness in general as well as specifically in video games stated by Deci and Ryan (2000) were used. Items concerned acknowledgement and support by someone and the possibility of having an impact on someone. For example, respondents should rate their agreement with the statements I felt distant to the person giving the instructions and I found that the relationships I formed while engaging in the exercises were fulfilling Maintenance The continued engagement in the exercises was measured using the behavioral data of the experiment s website. Also, in the post-intervention and the follow-up questionnaire, items concerning maintenance were included. These two items were During the past 24 hours/the past week did you continue with your personality skill exercises (with the categories Yes and No ), and During the past 24 hours/the past week how many times did you perform your personality skill exercises. 3.4 Conditions The present study used four different forms of a website by varying two elements: gamification/no gamification and PAI/no PAI. The combination of these elements results in four different conditions: No Game/PAI, Game/PAI, No Game/PAI and No Game/No PAI. Conditions without using game elements were matched to the gamified interventions in terms of interactivity. Also, participants received the same response format in all conditions. To make sure that No Game conditions would address the same change objectives as the Game conditions, the intervention mapping approach by Bartholomew, Parcel, and Kok (1998) was used. First, all change

29 objectives covered by the added game elements were identified. Then, behavior change techniques that did not involve game elements were matched onto those objectives to assure that the Game and No Game conditions did not differ in the amount of techniques used or in what change objectives were addressed but in that the Game conditions used only techniques found in video games. As a result, non-gamified interventions included feedback after the completion of tasks, examples of persons successfully performing the regarding behavior and being rewarded for doing so (modeling), the possibility to write in a diary about problems with tasks and solutions (selfmonitoring), and the freedom to choose which skills participants wanted to develop and how No Game/PAI Condition Two different PAIs were used in combination in this condition. Participants could choose their own order of the two positive activities. One of the PAIs was writing a gratitude letter labeled as developing one s appreciation. This task was divided in several sub-tasks. Participants had to write down three examples of, first, coincidences they were grateful for, second, things other people did for them, and third, things that were happening right now they appreciated. Then, participants engaged in the actual happiness exercise of writing a letter of gratitude. Similar as in Lyubomirsky et al. (2011) this letter should be concrete, specific and directed to a person that had done something for them they were grateful for. The instructions for writing the letter were adapted from Seligman et al. (2005). The other positive activity used in the present study was using one s signature strengths in a new way (Seligman et al., 2005). Participants received a list of 24 strengths defined by Peterson and Park (2004) Values in Action (VIA) Classification of Strengths. Resulting from six virtues (wisdom and knowledge, courage, love, justice, temperance, transcendence) these strengths are creativity, curiosity, judgment/critical thinking, love of learning, perspective, bravery, industry/perseverance, authenticity, zest, intimacy, kindness, social intelligence, citizenship/teamwork, fairness, leadership, forgiveness/mercy, modesty/humility, prudence, self-control/self-regulation, awe/appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, playfulness and spirituality. Along with the list participants received short descriptions of each strength adopted from Peterson and Park (2004) and Seligman et al. (2005). The top five most important and characteristic own strengths had to be selected out of the 24 strengths. Next, participants could choose one of their signature strengths to develop. The first task was to give two examples of how participants used this strength in their life. After that, participants should

30 describe two examples of how they could use the strength in a new way a way they hadn t used it before (e.g. a new setting or with a new person). Finally, participants had to really use their strength in a new way in their life. This procedure was adapted from Mitchell et al. (2009). Together with other happiness interventions the gratitude letter and using signature strengths in a new way exercises have been validated in a study of Seligman et al. (2005). The results showed that participants in the gratitude group were happier and showed less depressive symptoms directly after as well as one month after the intervention compared to a control group. Participants that had used their strengths in a new way reported less depressive symptoms for six months after the intervention and showed higher happiness scores after one week until six months after the intervention compared to a control group No Game/No PAI Condition Different exercises were developed as control tasks for the positive activities. Participants listed things that had affected them during the past week in a negative, neutral and positive way. The exercises were labeled as developing emotional stability. A similar control task was used in Emmons and McCullough s study (2003). Also, to improve one s long-term memory tasks to write about memories from youth, childhood and early childhood were given. Seligman et al. (2005) used the exercises to write about early childhood memories as control for happiness interventions as well Game/PAI Condition The following game elements were used to create a gamified version of the happiness interventions that should increase competence, autonomy, and relatedness satisfaction: 1. Avatar Participants could select one out of eight avatars (wizard, fairy, cultist, voodoo priestess, elf, djinn, witch, and magician). Also, a name could be freely chosen for the selected avatar. Autonomy satisfaction was expected to be increased by giving the player these choices. Also, since the avatar was addressing the player and asking for assistance throughout the story (see element 2), relatedness satisfaction was expected to be increased. 2. Story A storyline was built around the selected avatar introducing him/her as a wizard s apprentice. The participant acted as professor of a magician s college with the task to tutor

31 the apprentice in different skills. However, the participants ended up performing these tasks by themselves to guarantee the development of their student. Most instructions for the exercises were presented through the avatar. The story was expected to foster feelings of volition by giving the player reasons to care for the apprentice and thus increase autonomy satisfaction. Relatedness satisfaction was expected to be increased by story elements that emphasized the impact the player had on the apprentice. 3. Quests The above mentioned tasks were presented in form of two different quest-lines with several sub-quests. Each quest consisted of the instruction, the introduction of a restriction (see below) and a reward with each completion of a task. The quest mission was dependent on the condition. Either participants performed the PAIs in that way or were provided with control tasks (see below). For each quest a random restriction was given by throwing a virtual dice. However, each restriction was fixed and the same for all participants. Also, restrictions added up with every following sub-quest with the intention to subsequently increase the difficulty of tasks and deliver an optimal challenge. For the last quest of each quest-line the boss-level participants were able to delete two of the added up restrictions. Quests were expected to increase autonomy by freely choosing a quest, being given a rationale in line with the story and being able to choose restrictions to delete before the final level. Also, competence satisfaction was expected to be increased by framing the tasks as important, making success salient with feedback and creating a gradient of difficulty by adding more restrictions. 4. Leveling Each avatar was connected with six skills (depending on the chosen strengths and the condition) that were to be developed. For each completion of a sub-quest the avatar or rather the participant increased his level in this specific skill. Skill levels could be monitored on the main profile together with the picture of the avatar, the name and the quest-lines. Also, a tutor rank was developed increasing with each completion of both questlines. Leveling was expected to increase competence satisfaction by giving feedback on the player s progress. The elements of the gamification and the PAIs were combined in the Game/PAI condition. For the using signature strengths in a new way exercise participants chose five of the 24 strengths that were transferred to their selected avatar as skills that were to improve. Each participant s apprentice

32 wizard also had the default skill of appreciation to develop with the exercises of the gratitude letter. Both PAI exercises were presented in the form of quest-lines to complete. As described above, these quest-lines consisted of several sub-quests with the PAI exercises. Participants could choose which skill they wanted to develop first, either one of the strengths or appreciation. Either way, the other quest-line had to be completed as well before participants were able to redo exercises. Although the background story was about improving the skills in the wizard s apprentice the quest introductions always led to the participant himself performing the tasks Game/No PAI Condition This group received control exercises together with the game elements described earlier. Participants received the task to develop their long-term memory as in the No Game/No PAI group, but labeled as rune recalling. The second quest-line was designed to match the using signature strengths in a new way task in the conditions with happiness exercises. Thus, participants received five skills that were to improve in the wizard s apprentice: elemental link, mana regeneration, arcane vision, nether navigation, and aura detection. The quests were designed so that the participant had to advise his student on how to best train these skills. In that way, the structure of the quests matched with the strengths quest-line in the Game/PAI condition, however the link to real life in form of really using one s strength in a new way was omitted. 3.5 Procedure All participants registered on the website and confirmed that they were at least 17 years old. The informed consent was presented and the agreement was confirmed. The same description of the study was given to all individuals. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions and filled out the pre-intervention questionnaire consisting of demographics, SWLS, SHS and CES-D. After that, subjects had the opportunity to engage in the tasks given in the specific way depending on the condition. The exercises could be performed as often as participants wished to. After participants completed both skill exercises they were informed that they were free to repeat them. After 24 hours, participants were informed about the end of the experimental study and given a second, postintervention questionnaire. In addition to all happiness and depressive symptoms measures this questionnaire included the IMI subscales, the items concerning relatedness, maintenance, truthful answers and recommendation to others. Participants were informed that they were free to continue

33 using the program to develop their skills. One week later, participants were given a follow-up questionnaire with the same items as the post-intervention questionnaire. After that, participants were thanked for the participation and debriefed. 3.6 Statistical Analyses and Data Reduction Statistical analyses were conducted using the SPSS 20 version. For all tests the type I error was set at.05. The effect size used for F-tests (one- and two-way ANOVAs) was Cohen s f (Cohen, 1988) an estimate of the proportion of explained variance for the sample. For T-tests Cohen s d (Cohen, 1988) was used indicating the standardized mean difference. For interpreting effect sizes, Cohen s (1988) conventions were referred to. An f of 0.1 (explaining 1% of the variance), 0.25 (6%), and 0.4 (14%), and a d of.2 (1%),.5 (6%), and.8 (16%) qualifies as small, medium, and large effect, respectively. For mixed design analyses generalized eta squared was calculated using the corresponding formula proposed by Olejnik and Algina (2003). According to Cohen (1988) an η² of.01 (explaining 1% of the total variance),.06 (6%), and.14 (14%) qualifies as small, medium, and large effect. To verify the randomization one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to assess initial differences in satisfaction with life, subjective happiness and depressive symptoms by condition, cultural background and education level. Differences in these categories were expected to be non-significant between the conditions. An outlier analysis with box plots was conducted. Shapiro-Wilk tests were conducted to test if the dependent variables were normally distributed. If data were not well-modeled by a normal distribution, either Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney-U tests were conducted for between-subject comparisons or ranks were assessed following a repeated measures ANOVA. If the assumption of sphericity was violated in an F-Test, the adjustment of Greenhouse-Geisser or Wilks-Lambda multivariate tests were used. Repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted to test for group differences on participants wellbeing over time. Two-way ANOVAs were conducted to assess group differences in behavior frequency, maintenance, effort, need satisfaction and intrinsic motivation. To determine Cronbach s Alpha for the IMI subscales of need satisfaction and intrinsic motivation and the designed relatedness scale a reliability analysis was conducted

34 Since the conditions had varying numbers of tasks, a relative score of the exercises participants had performed was calculated by dividing the sum by the number of exercises offered in the corresponding condition. Mean scores were calculated for the SWLS and SHS. CES-D scale scores were summarized

35 4 Results 4.1 Preliminary Analyses An outlier analysis with box plots was conducted for behavior frequency/maintenance and wellbeing. Two cases were excluded from the analysis. One case was more than 1.5 box lengths above/below in the pre-intervention measurement of happiness, satisfaction with life, and depressive symptoms. The second excluded case was more than 1.5 box lengths above in the performed tasks during the intervention. Upon reviewing, the participant s answers proved to be missing for half of the completed tasks. Thus, the case was excluded. Shapiro-Wilk tests of normality revealed a significant result for autonomy (p <.01) and the difference score for the CES-D scale (p.01). This means that both variables were not well-modeled by a normal distribution and thus, did not fulfill the requirements for conducting F- or T-tests. All other dependent variables showed non-significant results and hence, data were assumed to be normally distributed. As expected, one-way ANOVAs did not reveal significant differences in general happiness (SHS scores, SWLS scores, CES-D scores) prior to the intervention between conditions, education levels, place of residence, and employment status. T-tests for independent samples showed a significant effect of gender on the pre-scores of the SWLS, t (66) = -2.51, p <.05, d = 0.61, and non-significant differences for the SHS and CES-D scale. Cronbach s Alpha was assessed for the IMI subscales of need satisfaction and intrinsic motivation and the relatedness scale. High internal consistencies was found for interest/enjoyment (α =.84), competence (α =.84), and autonomy (α =.83). The relatedness scale showed good reliability with an alpha of.72, which is remarkably high given that it was specifically designed for this study. For the following analysis, only participants were included that had performed at least one of the exercises. Only then it was expected that participants could benefit in their happiness from the PAI as well as rate the need satisfaction they experienced during performing the tasks. This resulted in a sample size of 38 cases. Of those, 15 participants finished the post-intervention questionnaire and 13 the follow-up questionnaire. Because of the limited case size for the follow-up measurement, only descriptive statistics are reported

36 4.2 Post-Intervention and Follow-Up Analyses Behavior Frequency and Maintenance During the 24-hour intervention, participants in the Game/ PAI condition performed relatively the least number of exercises (M = 0.71, SD = 0.38), after the No Game/ No PAI (M = 0.94, SD = 0.10), Game/ No PAI (M = 1.00, SD = 0.00), and No Game/ PAI condition (M = 1.02, SD = 0.06). A one-way ANOVA revealed no significant differences between the conditions in the amount of exercises participants had performed, F (3, 34) = 0.72, p =.55, ƒ = Also, independent samples t- tests could not show significant differences between the two conditions including game elements (Game/PAI and Game/No PAI) and without game elements (No Game/PAI and No Game/No PAI), t (36) = -0.10, p =.46, d = 0.03 (one-tailed test). Thus, there was no significant effect of adding game elements on the behavior frequency. However, the effect size for the difference between conditions qualifies as a medium effect. Only two participants continued during seven days after the intervention to perform the exercises both of those in the Game/No PAI condition. A one-way ANOVA comparing the behavior maintenance between conditions revealed non-significant results, F (3, 34) = 0.65, p =.59, f = To test the assumption that conditions with game elements would result in higher maintenance, an independent samples t-test between both Game and No Game conditions was conducted. A tendency for significance was found, t (19) = 1.45, p =.08, d = 0.46 (one-tailed) Need Satisfaction and the IMI-Subscales The descriptive results of the IMI subscales and the relatedness scale between the conditions are displayed in Table 1. Conditions did not differ in their rated value and usefulness of the exercises, F (3, 12) = 0.15, p =.93, f = A non-significant difference with a large effect size could be found for the experienced pressure between the conditions, F (3, 12) = 2.06, p =.16, f = To assess the association between behavior frequency and maintenance, need satisfaction, intrinsic motivation and effort, a MANOVA between conditions was conducted. The overall MANOVA was non-significant, F (18, 27) = 1.12, p =.38, ƒ = The result can be interpreted as large-sized effect. Between subjects results revealed a significant effect for the seven day, post-intervention behavior maintenance (F (3, 12) = 3.50, p.05, ƒ = 0.08), and non-significant effects for the 24-hours behavior frequency (F (3, 12) = 1.91, p =.18, ƒ = 0.06), the IMI subscales interest/enjoyment (F (3, 12) = 0.65, p =.60, ƒ = 0.21), competence (F (3, 12) = 0.97, p =.44, ƒ = 0.19), and effort (F (3, 12) = 0.24, p

37 =.87, ƒ = 0.12), and relatedness (F (3, 12) = 0.96, p =.44, ƒ = 0.21). A separate Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted showing that autonomy did not differ significantly between conditions, H (3) = 1.74, p =.63, f = Thus, the conditions seemed to differ only in the amount of exercises participants performed after the intervention. However, effect sizes for behavior frequency, intrinsic motivation, competence, and relatedness can be interpreted as large effects. Table 1: Means (standard deviations) for the IMI-Subscales and the relatedness scale between 1 (low satisfaction) and 7 (high satisfaction). Game/ Game/ No Game/ No Game/ PAI No PAI PAI No PAI Interest/ Enjoyment 3.69 (0.40) 4.50 (2.93) 4.43 (1.41) 4.95 (0.81) Competence 3.70 (0.99) 5.00 (0.94) 4.14 (0.99) 3.83 (0.73) Autonomy 5.06 (1.60) 6.29 (0.40) 5.45 (1.52) 5.86 (0.52) Relatedness 3.63 (0.42) 4.75 (1.06) 3.50 (0.92) 4.25 (1.84) Effort/Importance 3.30 (1.10) 4.13 (0.53) 3.75 (1.36) 3.50 (1.64) Pressure/Tension 3.60 (1.59) 1.90 (0.14) 2.00 (0.54) 2.67 (1.45) Value/Usefulness 4.32 (0.52) 4.00 (1.98) 4.67 (1.66) 4.33 (1.17) One-tailed, independent samples t-tests were conducted to investigate the difference in rated need satisfaction between the conditions with game elements (Game/PAI and Game/No PAI) and without (No Game/PAI and No Game/No PAI). No significant difference could be found for competence (t (14) = 0.07, p =.47, d =.03), and relatedness (t (14) = 0.37, p =.36, d =.19). The Game conditions reported a mean of 4.07 (SD = 1.10) in their perceived competence and a mean of 3.95 (SD = 0.78) in their relatedness. The No Game conditions showed on average a score of 4.04 (SD = 0.89) for competence and of 3.75 (SD = 1.23) for relatedness. A Mann-Whitney-U test did not reveal significant differences between conditions for autonomy, U (15) = 29.50, z = -0.21, p =.43 (one-tailed exact test). The Game groups showed a mean rank of 8.21, the No Game groups of 8.72 in their perceived autonomy

38 4.2.3 Short-Term and Long-Term Happiness Prior to the intervention, a mean score for the SWLS of 4.68 (SD = 1.34), and for the SHS of 5.08 (SD = 1.08) was assessed. The CES-D scale showed a mean score of (SD = 8.71) and a median of Pre-, post-, and follow-up means and standard deviations between conditions for the SHS and SWLS are displayed in Table 2. Since data of the CES-D scale violated the assumption of normal distribution, mean ranks are displayed in addition to the means in Table 3. A repeated measures ANOVA could not reveal significant main effects on happiness (SHS, SWLS, CES-D scale) between conditions, F (9, 36) = 0.44, p =.90, η² G =.15. Significant differences between measurement time (pre- and post-intervention) could be found, F (3, 10) = 19.87, p <.001, η² G =.32. The interaction between measurement time and condition was non-significant, F (9, 36) = 0.81, p =.61, η² G =.06. For the significant main effect of measurement time, inner-subject contrasts showed significant results for the CES-D scale (F (1, 12) = 19.48, p <.01, η² G =.32) and the SHS (F (1, 12) = 8.47, p <.05, η² G =.10). The results for the SHS, SWLS, CES-D scale are displayed in Graph 1, 2, and 3. Table 2: Means (standard deviations) for the SHS (subjective happiness; 1 = unhappy, 7 = happy) and SWLS (life satisfaction; 1 = low satisfaction, 7 = high satisfaction) in pre-, post-, and follow-up measurement. Subjective Happiness Satisfaction with Life pre post follow-up pre post follow-up Game/PAI (0.75) (0.66) (1.41) (1.29) (1.64) (2.69) Game/NoPAI (1.24) (1.41) (1.59) (0.85) (1.56) (1.27) NoGame/PAI (0.98) (0.96) (0.98) (0.51) (0.46) (0.39) NoGame/NoPAI (0.75) (0.52) (0.63) (0.83) (1.10) (0.90)

39 Table 3: Mean sums and ranks (standard deviations) for the non-normally distributed data of the CESD scale (depressive symptoms) in pre-, post-, and follow-up measurement. Depressive Symptoms Mean Score Mean Rank pre post follow-up pre post follow-up Game/PAI (12.77) (12.61) (16.97) (28.09) (6.55) (13.08) Game/NoPAI 8.50 (9.19) 7.00 (5.66) 8.00 (8.49) 21.5 (26.87) 7.00 (4.95) (9.19) NoGame/PAI 8.00 (4.90) 6.00 (3.74) 5.83 (4.54) (14.25) 6.57 (3.88) 8,91667 (5.30) NoGame/NoPAI (4.04) (3.46) 5.67 (1.16) (12.70) 9.67 (2.89) 8.33 (3.18) To check if the PAI without game elements was effective, a repeated measures ANOVA was conducted, comparing the No Game/PAI and No Game/No PAI (control) condition. No significant main effects could be found for condition, F (3, 6) = 0.56, p =.66, η² G =.03. Significant differences could be revealed between measurement times, F (3, 6) = 16.03, p <.01, η² G =.38. The interaction between condition and time was non-significant, F (3, 6) = 0.04, p =.99, η² G =.00. A repeated measures ANOVA for comparisons of the happiness scores between the Game/PAI and No Game/PAI condition did not reveal significant main effects for condition, F (3, 7) = 0.76, p =.55, η² G =.18. Between measurement times, significant differences were assessed, F (3, 7) = 14.42, p <.01, η² G =.40. The interaction between time and condition was non-significant, F (3, 7) = 1.91, p =.22, η² G =.07. Inner-subject contrasts for the significant main effect of measurement time showed significant differences on the CES-D scale, F (1, 9) = 21.06, p <.01, η² G =.40, and non-significant differences on the SWLS and SHS

40 Life Satisfaction Mean Score Subjective Happiness Mean Score Gamification of Positive Activity Interventions 6,4 6,2 6 Game/PAI NoGame/PAI Game/NoPAI NoGame/NoPAI 5,8 5,6 5,4 5,2 5 4,8 pre post follow-up Graph 1: Mean happiness scores of the SHS between conditions for pre-, post-, and follow-up measurement. 6,8 6,4 6 Game/PAI NoGame/PAI Game/NoPAI NoGame/NoPAI 5,6 5,2 4,8 4,4 4 pre post follow-up Graph 2: Mean life satisfaction scores of the SWLS between conditions for pre-, post-, and follow-up measurement

41 Depressive Symptoms Mean Rank Gamification of Positive Activity Interventions Game/PAI Game/NoPAI NoGame/PAI NoGame/NoPAI pre post follow-up Graph 3: Mean ranks of depressive symptoms (CES-D scale) between conditions for pre-, post-, and follow-up measurement

42 5 Discussion 5.1 Overview over the Results The present study was designed to investigate the positive effects of adding game elements to a happiness intervention on need satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, behavior frequency and maintenance, and well-being. The hypothesis that a gamified positive activity would result in greater gains in happiness compared to the other conditions could not be supported the expected interaction of measurement time and condition was non-significant. When directly comparing the Game/PAI and No Game/PAI conditions, no significant interaction could be revealed. Thus, the Game/PAI condition did not yield greater gains in happiness than the No Game/PAI condition. The study also did not find the expected difference in need satisfaction between conditions with and without game elements. Surprisingly, while the Game/No PAI group rated their experienced satisfaction of needs the highest, the Game/PAI group showed the lowest scores. This result is startling since both conditions included the same game elements. Comparing the behavior frequency and maintenance between conditions also did not reveal significant differences. However, comparing behavior maintenance for both Game and No Game groups showed a tendency for significance with a medium-sized effect. The Game groups were more likely to continue after the experiment to engage in the exercises than were the No Game conditions. This result is encouraging to further investigate the beneficial effects of adding game elements in happiness interventions to increase the continued performance of exercises. The most obvious reason for not finding the expected differences to be significant could be the limited sample size. The interaction in happiness between condition and pre- to post-measurement time was found to be statistically non-significant but showed an effect size that can be interpreted as medium according to Cohen (1988). This suggests that a significant effect as well as different patterns might have been found with a greater sample size. Although no effect could be found for happiness increases across the different conditions, a consistent significant difference between measurement times was revealed. The program enhanced participant s well-being after the intervention. However, this effect occurred in all conditions, so the control groups were as likely as the experimental conditions to increase in their happiness level. Further, some unexpected trends were found. It was hypothesized that conditions with game elements would show higher behavior frequencies than No Game conditions. While the Game/No PAI group performed the second most exercises during the intervention, the Game/PAI condition

43 showed the lowest behavioral frequency of all conditions. Although no statistically significant difference between the conditions was found, this result is of practical significance since the Game/PAI condition performed only 70% of the given tasks while the other conditions performed approximately 100% or even started repeating exercises. This possibly explains why the Game/PAI condition rated the need satisfaction lower than the other groups and did not report greater gains in well-being compared to the No Game/PAI. Compared to the Game/No PAI condition a lower amount of performed tasks could have resulted in less need satisfying experiences. Correspondingly, compared to the No Game/PAI group, less need satisfaction might have resulted in smaller increases in happiness. Simply put, maybe the participants in the Game/PAI condition did not perform enough exercises to fully experience need satisfaction and as a result, could not profit as much from the positive activities. Still, this does not explain why the Game/PAI group did perform fewer tasks in the first place contrary to the expected effects, but also contrary to the result in the Game/No PAI condition. Participants in the Game/No PAI condition showed the second highest number of performed tasks during the intervention and were the only group that continued with the exercises after the experiment. This can be interpreted as a chance finding or participants experienced something about the combination of positive activities and game features in the Game/PAI condition as less motivating. Another interesting possibility to explain this finding comes up when examining the question why the Game/PAI condition did not show higher effectiveness than the No Game/PAI condition. Although not statistically significant, the descriptive results for the comparison of depressive symptoms showed the Game/PAI group to have the highest mean rank and mean score in depressive symptoms prior to the intervention. The mean score of this group also qualifies as probably clinically relevant for a depressive disorder (Beekman et al., 1997). A higher amount of depressive symptoms could thus have negatively affected the behavior frequency and distorted the results in subjective happiness. In the post- and follow-up measurement, participants reported the same, reduced levels (in mean ranks) of depression as the other conditions. This means, that the Game/PAI group showed a greater reduction in depressive symptoms after the intervention than the other groups. Possibly, if participants are mildly depressed, positive activities first result in a decrease in depressive symptoms without increasing happiness. Future studies could control for this possible distortion by excluding cases that show CES-D scale scores higher than a specific cut-off value. Another reason for the Game/PAI group not being more effective than the No Game/PAI could be that the positive activities were not effective. The comparison of the No Game/PAI and the No

44 Game/No PAI showed a significant effect of measurement time. However, no significant difference between conditions was revealed. Also, only small effect sizes could be assessed for the nonsignificant interaction. Thus, either a greater sample size might have revealed significant results or the positive activities indeed were not effective in increasing people s well-being in the present study. At any rate, the results in the present study do not hold up with the effects shown in Seligman and colleagues (2005) study. In their empirical validation of happiness interventions, Seligman et al. (2005) found a significant increase in happiness and a reduction in depressive symptoms up to one month after the gratitude letter intervention, up to six months for using strengths in a new way, both compared to a placebo control condition. A methodological problem with that study however is that although Seligman et al. (2005) labeled the control group as placebo control, the control exercises were not introduced as beneficial for well-being to the participants. All other experimental conditions received the specific descriptions of the activities making happier and more satisfied in life. Thus, the results shown in the study from Seligman et al. (2005) could reflect placebo or demand effects in the experimental conditions. The present study s results, compared to existing empirical evidence, emphasize the importance to investigate the conditions under which positive activities are most effective in greater depth. One moderator found by Lyubomirsky et al. (2011) was self-selection. Only participants who self-selected into a positive activity intervention also benefitted from performing the tasks. It seems that the motivation prior to the intervention plays an important role with regard to effectiveness. Participants in the present study possibly showed different amounts of motivation to engage in the given exercises. Effort has also been shown to also influence the gains in happiness (Lyubomirsky et al., 2011). If participants took positive activities more seriously, they were more likely to report greater increases in well-being. While effort in that case was assessed by independent raters of the written texts from participants, the present study used the IMI-subscale for effort/importance to take participant s selfrated effort into account. Conditions did not show a significant difference in the amount of effort participants put into the exercises with a medium effect size. However, the IMI-subscale of effort is not as well-approved as the other scales (Ryan et al., 1991). Thus, a new approach could be the use of judges rating the texts. Yet, this procedure also yields some problems revealed by Watkins et al. (2003). In their study, gratitude was manipulated in different ways thinking about to whom one is grateful, writing an essay about it, or writing a letter to that person. While all experimental groups showed increases in their well-being compared to a control group, participants that only thought about their gratefulness to a person reported the strongest effect. Watkins et al. (2003) assume that

45 writing about one s gratefulness puts more pressure on participants because participants expect their texts to be judged. As a result, participants concentrate less on the important part of the exercise and more on creating a good and not too intimate text. Putting more effort into an action and taking the task at hand more seriously can also directly counter the effects that Gamification focuses on. Flatla and colleagues (2011) Gamification of calibration tasks resulted in a more enjoyable action. The focus was shifted away from the importance of calibrating interactive systems to a less tedious and more entertaining and engaging activity. Flatla et al. (2011) concluded that with more enjoyable tasks, users were more motivated to perform calibration tasks in a thorough way. The present study used Gamification mainly as means to increase need satisfaction and not to shift participants perspective away from the importance of the exercises. Yet, this could have been a byproduct of gamifying positive activities regardless of whether need satisfaction was enhanced. 5.2 Limitations The greatest limitation of the present study is clearly the small sample size. The follow-up questionnaire included 13 cases and both Game conditions were analyzed with only two cases each. This made it difficult to detect significant differences. Although effect sizes can help interpreting the effects, the small sample size greatly limits the conclusions that can be drawn from the present results. A bigger sample size is necessary to investigate the discovered trends. Although the present study assessed long-term changes in well-being with a one-week follow-up measurement, this still only includes a rather short amount of time. Also, the intervention itself lasted only for 24-hours a procedure that is shorter than most research in this field and might have resulted in participants feeling time pressure and performing fewer tasks than they would have with more time. Changes in happiness should be assessed with an intervention lasting up to four weeks and follow-up measurements up to 12 months afterwards in subsequent research. Additionally, other factors that might influence the results should be controlled for more carefully, e.g. initial motivation, effort and depressive symptoms

46 5.3 Future Outlook The present study has several implications for future research on the topics of PAIs and Gamification. First, although studies have shown that PAIs can alleviate depressive symptoms as well as increase happiness (e.g. Seligman et al., 2005), details on the underlying processes remain unclear. Descriptive results of this study hint at a gradual process in which depressive symptoms decrease before happiness ratings increase. Further exploration of this might even contribute to the understanding of the interaction of happiness and depressive symptoms. Since expectations with regard to need satisfaction could not be confirmed, yet behavior maintenance was higher for game conditions, other constructs could be explored as alternate explanations besides need satisfaction and SDT. Factors that play key roles in behavior change, e.g. self-efficacy, should be considered as well as constructs that relate more closely to the immediacy of video games, e.g. attention or vigilance. With regard to the study of Flatla and colleagues (2011) it also appears that some activities can be enriched with game elements more easily than others. For instance, the researchers translated signal detection into a game feature by presenting it as detecting enemies or targets. By contrast, the act of writing a text concerning one s own life, as was one target behavior of the present study, requires complex activities and highly individual cognitions that are more difficult to map onto a fixed set of game elements that is the same for all participants. Further, the processes by which behaviors are gamified might subtly change the target behavior and thus corrupt the resulting effects. While in the study of Flatla et al. (2011) a shift of attention patterns in participants was a desired effect to make calibration tasks more enjoyable, the same was undesired in the present study since attention on certain contents (e.g. gratitude) was crucial part of the activities. Thus, the match of activity and game elements seems to be an area of great importance and research opportunities in the future of Gamification

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54 Zichermann, G., & Cunningham, C. (2011). Gamification by Design. Sebastopol: O Reilly

55 7 Appendix 7.1 Relatedness Questionnaire A number of situations are described below that can make it hard to stick to a routine. Please rate how certain you are that you can get yourself to perform your personality skill exercises. Rate your degree of confidence on a scale from 1 to 10. "I can manage to keep practicing my personality skill exercises..."... for the next week at least three or more times... for the next month at least three or more times a week... even when I am tired... even when I am feeling depressed... even when I am busy... even when I feel tense... after a vacation... during a vacation... after experiencing family problems... when I have too much work to do at home... when I have other time commitments... even under stressful times Cannot do at all Moder ately can do Highly certain can do

56 7.2 Intervention Website Background Pictures Figure 1: Background in Game conditions. Figure 2: Background in No Game conditions Main Profile Screen Figure 3: Example of main profile screen in Game conditions

57 Figure 4: Example of main profile screen in No Game conditions Avatar Selection Figure 5: Avatar selection in Game conditions Reward Screen Figure 6: Example reward screen after task completion in game conditions