The explicit and implicit outcome expectancies of Internet games and their relationships with Internet gaming behaviors among college students

Although previous research has noted that outcome expectancies have played an important role in young people's risk-taking behaviors, few studies have focused on the characteristics of Internet gaming outcome expectancies and their relationships with college students' Internet gaming behaviors. This study combined self-report questionnaires and the go/no-go association task in examining the characteristics of the explicit and implicit Internet gaming outcome expectancies of 64 college students and their relationships with Internet gaming behaviors. The results indicated that Internet gaming-addicted college students explicitly reported more negative Internet gaming outcome expectancies than positive Internet outcome expectancies, while they unconsciously associated Internet games with positive and negative outcomes simultaneously in daily life. In contrast, the non-addicted group reported a neutral attribute toward Internet gaming outcome expectancies, while they implicitly associated Internet games more with negative outcomes than with positive outcomes in daily life. Moreover, explicit and implicit outcome expectancies did not exhibit significant correlations. Explicit outcome expectancies were correlated with present levels of addiction and indulgence, whereas implicit outcome expectancies were related to the length of time that an individual maintained Internet gaming behavior. Our findings have clinical implications. The findings can be applied to the diagnosing and intervention of Internet gaming addicts.