Summary of Jane McGonigal's SuperBetter

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The purpose of Part 1 is to help you tap into your psychological strengths when you play games. When you play games with purpose, you tap into three core psychological strengths: your ability to control your attention and thoughts, your power to turn anyone into a potential ally, and your natural capacity to motivate yourself and supercharge your heroic qualities.

#2 The science of games has focused almost exclusively on digital games, and this book is grounded in the science of games. It focuses on the kinds of games that scientists have dedicated the most time and energy to understanding.

#3 You can prime your brain to be more open to creative solutions and more receptive to surprising ideas by turning your palms up. This mind-body response stems from physical behaviors we exhibited thousands of years ago before we invented language.

#4 The highly immersive quality of good games is a clue to how our attention works. In this chapter, we’ll look at video game research that reveals the power we have to prevent anxiety, depression, trauma, and physical pain by learning to control our attention.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822504936

IRB Media

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Insights on Jane McGonigal's SuperBetter

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The purpose of Part 1 is to help you tap into your psychological strengths when you play games. When you play games with purpose, you tap into three core psychological strengths: your ability to control your attention and thoughts, your power to turn anyone into a potential ally, and your natural capacity to motivate yourself and supercharge your heroic qualities.

#2

The science of games has focused almost exclusively on digital games, and this book is grounded in the science of games. It focuses on the kinds of games that scientists have dedicated the most time and energy to understanding.

#3

You can prime your brain to be more open to creative solutions and more receptive to surprising ideas by turning your palms up. This mind-body response stems from physical behaviors we exhibited thousands of years ago before we invented language.

#4

The highly immersive quality of good games is a clue to how our attention works. In this chapter, we’ll look at video game research that reveals the power we have to prevent anxiety, depression, trauma, and physical pain by learning to control our attention.

#5

The most severe pain a human can experience is that of a burn. But doctors have found a way to treat it more effectively than traditional morphine: a video game. Snow World reduced pain by 30 to 50 percent, and patients were able to almost entirely ignore their pain.

#6

The Snow World technique is a great example of how we can control what we feel. It’s a simple game that requires so much attention that it effectively blocks pain signals. You can use this technique in your own life to stop your brain from spending its limited processing resources on pain signals.

#7

The command Don’t think of an elephant is one of the most widely used exercises in cognitive psychology. It is simple: once you evoke a concept in someone’s mind, they are powerless to block it.

#8

Tetris, the popular falling blocks puzzle game, has been shown to help prevent flashbacks from traumatic events. It works by playing the game as soon as possible after a traumatic event, and it may significantly reduce your likelihood of experiencing severe post-traumatic stress.

#9

The Tetris technique does not erase memories, but it does stop the cognitive process of involuntary memory. It gives you control over the memory, and you won’t think about it when you don’t want to.

#10

The Tetris technique can help you control what you’re remembering in the moment, right now, which allows you to choose to truly leave difficult moments in the past when you need to. It can also help you deal with negative events.

#11

To resist a craving, you simply need to give your brain’s visual-processing centers something else to visualize. This will reduce the intensity of the craving by 25 percent.

#12

The gameful solution to the couple’s cravings was to start a new tradition of puzzle nights. The couple was able to quit smoking two years later, and still are today.

#13

The anesthesiology department at New Jersey Medical School found that kids who were allowed to play handheld video games before surgery experienced virtually no anxiety. And after surgery, they woke up with less than half the anxiety of children given drugs.

#14

When it comes to anxiety, the best practice is to not try to block it all together, but rather to