Cultural comparison models on the assessment of basic psychological needs using a virtual serious game

Virtual serious games (VSG) are games developed for specific purposes, providing more naturalistic environments and objective data than traditional approaches. VSG have been mainly tested in education and training, and less in psychological field. Basic psychological needs are a relevant topic for the individual well-being and depend on the satisfaction of attachment, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and stress avoidance. Furthermore, cultural factors can have an influence on the needs’ satisfaction. In this framework, the aim of this study was to compare cultural differences on the 4 needs. 122 subjects (61 Mexican and 61 Spanish) participated to 5 sessions of a VSG. The results showed that marital status, education and age are the main attachment factors for both countries. In Spain, the education level influences the self-esteem perception and in Mexico, income level is the main factor. Regarding self-efficacy perception, in Spain, gender and age represent the main influential factors and work situation and education are relevant in both countries. Regarding stress avoidance, educational level and gender are especially important in Spain, and age, income level and work status are the main factors in Mexico.