Okul öncesi çocuklarda işbirlikçi oyunların ve oyun partneriyle özdeşleşmenin prososyal davranış üzerindeki etkisi

Digital games have become one of the most frequently used digital media tools among young children today. The increasing frequency and duration of digital game use have made it an important area of research to examine the potential effects of these games in early childhood. Previous literature suggests that digital games with positive themes, educational content, and realistic features can support children's social behavior, cognitive development, and learning. The present study explored whether prosocial behavior can be promoted by having children play a cooperative game, and whether identifying with characters in the game affects children's prosocial behavior. To test this, a new digital game incorporating cooperative behavior was designed, and game type (cooperative vs. non-cooperative) and identification levels through character type (human vs. anthropomorphic animal) were varied among versions of this game. A total of 171 Turkish-speaking preschool children were randomly assigned to one of four digital game versions. Prosocial behavior was measured through a pizza-sharing task within the game and a sticker-sharing task afterward. Playing the cooperative version did not increase prosocial behavior compared to the non-cooperative version. However, children in the human character condition shared fewer pizza slices but more stickers than those in the anthropomorphic character condition, suggesting that the effect of identification varies across contexts and reward types. These findings highlight the complexity of children's responses to digital game components and underscore the importance of considering character-related perceptions when examining prosocial behavior.