Some effects of sexist video games on self-masculinity associations

ABSTRACT

Across two experimental studies, we investigated the short-term effect of video games with sexist content (i.e,. representing women as sexual objects and men as hyper-masculine) on women’s objectification . We examine whether identifying with a masculine character who objectified women can increase implicit association of self with masculinity, which in turn would increase objectification of women. Participants (n _{study 1} = 69 (32 men, mean age = 20.83), n _{study 2} = 119 (61 men, mean age = 20.09)) played either a sexist or non-sexist video game. We measured subsequently implicit association of self with masculinity, women’s objectification (measured with two different measurements in Study1 and 2) and identification with video game character. Results showed that greater identification with video game character predicted stronger association between self-concept and masculinity but not with women’s objectification. Thus, it seems that identification with video game character may play an important role in video games’ influence.

KEYWORDS:

• Video games
• sexist content
• masculinity
• identification
• women’s objectification

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 As intended, sexist (M = 3.08, SD = 2.50) and neutral sequence (M = 3.48, SD = 3.00) did not differ in terms of difficulty t(67) = .75, p = .45, d = 0.18. Moreover, liking of sexist (M = 3.83, SD = 1.41) and neutral sequence (M = 3.58, SD = 1.48) was relatively similar, t(67) = .73, p = .46, d = 0.17.”

2 We also conducted the analyses separately on each dimension of objectification (warmth, competence and morality). These analyses are not significant, so our conclusions are the same when we consider the global score of objectification or each dimension).

3 As expected, we found that either a sexist (M = 2.13, SD = 2.00) and neutral sequence (M = 1.90, SD = 1.00) did not differ in terms of perceived difficulty, t(117) = .95, p = .34, d = 0.12. Moreover, liking of sexist (M = 2.96, SD = 3.00) and neutral (M = 3.45, SD = 3.00) was relatively similar, t(117) = 1.36, p = .17, d = 0.30.

4 Only 6 participants reported GTA as the most played game. The inclusion or exclusion of these 6 participants in the analysis did not change the results.

5 Two other studies with a very similar design (same game sequences, same gift choice task as dependent variable, but different IAT as mediating variable) were conducted. Unfortunately, gift choice task has not obtained significant results in any other studies (neither in individual study, nor by grouping results into a meta-analysis). Since these two studies are not focused on implicit association of self with masculinity, but on another mediating variable, they have not been included in this article.

6 As recommended by Perugini and collaborators we made a sensitivity analysis to determine the minimum size of the effect that we can detect with our analysis (Perugini et al., 2018). Based on a sensitivity analysis in G-Power (Faul et al., 2007) (in the Linear multiple regression component, setting an error alpha rate of .05, a power of .80, 188 participants), we can detect an effect size of at least f² = 0.03 (d = 0.36). Moreover, we also made a post-hoc power analysis in the Linear multiple regression component (setting a f² =.04, an error alpha rate of .05, total sample size 188). This analysis shows us a power of .86.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Mission Interministérielle de Lutte Contre les Drogues et les Conduites Addictives Interministérielle de Lutte Contre les Drogues et les Conduites Addictives.

Notes on contributors

Elisa Sarda

Elisa Sarda is an associate professor in experimental and social psychology at the Université de Nantes. Her research concerns the effects of media on attitudes and behavior, with a particular interest in sexism.

Oulmann Zerhouni

Oulmann Zerhouni is an associate professor in experimental and social psychology at the University Paris Nanterre. He is interested in self-regulatory processes, such as self-control or emotion regulation, and how they moderate evaluative learning. His work focuses on using social cognition theory to create cognitive remediation procedures and prevention programs targeting addictive behaviors. He is also interested in the psychology of politically motivated behavior and the development of integrative theoretical models of processes studied in social cognition through the neurophysiology of stress.

Douglas A. Gentile

Douglas A. Gentile is professor of developmental psychology at Iowa State University. He is interested in both the positive and negative effects of media on children and adults, including media violence, video games, advertising, educational media, news/propaganda, virtual reality, and music.

Clémentine Bry

Clémentine Bry is an associate professor in prevention and social psychology at the Université Savoie Mont Blanc. Her research concerns the effects of stereotypes on behavior and performance, with a particular interest in sexism. She also works on gender prescriptions impact on mental health and well-being.

Laurent Bègue

Laurent Bègue is professor of social psychology at Grenoble Alpes University and member of the University Institute of France. He is mainly interested in the derminants of aggressive behavior, involving the role of psychoactive substance as well as media influences. He published many research articles and the book Psychology of good and evil (2016, Oxford University Press).