Behavioral Gears with Pokémon Go

Pokémon Go is a video game that has become all the rage in recent months. However, it is not a regular video game that forces players to be cooped up at home in front of a screen, but instead requires players to go out and roam the streets of their city. Psikids, an assistance center focused on individualized attention to the emotional, behavioral and developmental needs of children, adolescents and young adults, explains the impact this game has on children.

The game involves capturing little critters called Pokémon that are based on a cartoon series from the 1990s; battles are fought between them and eggs are hatched from which more Pokémons will hatch. However, the Pokémon do not hatch unless the player has traveled certain kilometers beforehand.

Thus, the sedentary lifestyle and isolation that has hitherto been attributed to video games is called into question with Pokémon Go.

Operant conditioning in Pokémon Go

There are certain behavioral gears that are set in motion while a user plays Pokémon Go. This is operant behavior, which is a form of learning in which the subject repeats forms of behavior that carry positive consequences and is therefore less likely to repeat those that carry negative consequences.

This translates into the fact that the subject, after an appropriate behavior, receives a reinforcer, i.e., a stimulus that increases the probability that this behavior will be repeated.

There are two types of reinforcement or stimulus:

  • Continuous reinforcement: each behavior gives rise to a reinforcer. Although it appears to be the most effective method for conditioning a behavior at the onset, when the reinforcement or stimulus ceases, extinction of the behavior is also rapid.
  • Intermittent reinforcement: Behaviors are only reinforced on some occasions. An example is when a person plays machines and receives a reinforcer or stimulus after several games. This causes a more persistent pattern of behaviors than the continuous one. In turn, this type of reinforcement gives rise to two types of reinforcement processes:

Ratio, as a function of the number of behaviors.

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Interval, as a function of time.

These, in turn, admit two types of administration, which can be fixed or variable:

  • Fixed ratio: After a specific number of behaviors, reinforcement is offered. Example: incentive given by companies to workers when they have sold a certain number of products.
  • Variable ratio: Variation in the number of behaviors required to achieve the reinforcer or stimulus, although usually within an average. The Pokémon Go video game would fall into this subgroup, as the user goes out into the street and may or may not find Pokémon. However, being out on the street increases the odds of finding them.

Increasing the odds in turn causes many players to be always online and trying to be out on the streets continuously to catch as many Pokémon as possible. This variable ratio program behind Pokémon Go generates a very high and sustained rate of behavior (playing) over time, after which they get a reinforcement or stimulus (catching a Pokémon), but after which they do not stop. The fact of not knowing the time of arrival of the next reinforcer makes individuals keep playing constantly.

Behaviors resulting from playing Pokémon Go: positive or negative?

Although there are many psychological or behavioral consequences that have generated addictions and recklessness around Pokémon Go, there have also been health and therapeutic uses, related to the abandonment of sedentary lifestyles, above all. Thus, at the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan (USA), they are using the game as a way to motivate patients to get out of bed, move, explore and interact with other children in the hospital.

Knowing this information, it is important to know how to weigh the pros and cons and make sensible decisions about it, especially when our children play, teaching them to prioritize and value some behaviors over others.