Effects of exposure to sex-stereotyped video game characters on tolerance of sexual harassment

Dill, Karen E.; Brown, Brian P.; Collins, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2008.06.002

Cited by 150 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Accordingly, the alternative models tested and proposed in Ferguson and Donnellan (2017) could be misleading for readers, as they are not theoretically wellanchored and are distant from our original hypotheses. Indeed, our findings are entirely consistent and sustained by previous research in the field of media effects (see Dill et al 2008;Dill and Thill 2007;Fox et al 2013Fox et al , 2014.…”

Section: It Is Easy To Knock Down a Straw Personsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…In fact, a scientific consensus is beginning to emerge around the potentially harmful effects of sexist violent video games on players. For example, one study found that exposure to images of sex-typed video game characters from GTA (vs. images of professional men and women) increased judgments and attitudes supporting aggression against women (Dill et al 2008). Another recent study (Fox et al 2014) found that female participants who played with sexualized characters in a video game reported higher rape myth acceptance scores than participants in other conditions.…”

Section: Is Playing With Sexist Video Games Just Harmless Fun?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Grand Theft Auto is a “Sandbox” Game, but There are Weapons, Criminals, and Prostitutes in the Sandbox: Response to Ferguson and Donnellan (2017)

Gabbiadini

Bushman

Riva

et al. 2017

J Youth Adolescence

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) that found violent sexist video games can reduce empathy for female violence victims in male players who identify with violent male game characters, and do so by increasing masculine beliefs. Their main criticism is a "straw person" argument built on a claim that we never made (i.e., a direct effect of sexist-violent video games on empathy). They also made several other criticisms of our article. We appreciate the opportunity to respond to their criticisms in this article. We also point out some flaws in their reanalysis. Despite their criticisms, the core contributions of our original article remain intact.

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Section: It Is Easy To Knock Down a Straw Personsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Is Playing With Sexist Video Games Just Harmless Fun?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Grand Theft Auto is a “Sandbox” Game, but There are Weapons, Criminals, and Prostitutes in the Sandbox: Response to Ferguson and Donnellan (2017)

Gabbiadini

Bushman

Riva

et al. 2017

J Youth Adolescence

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…First, the comparison between the objectification versus control conditions included methodological confounds. For instance, Galdi et al (2013) utilized televised segments of successful women versus scantily dressed women (vs. neutral televised segments) and Dill et al (2008) used real-life professional women as control images versus sexualized avatars in videogames. Hence, sexual objectification was confounded with the women's perceived competence.…”

Section: Sexualized Media and Attitudes Toward Sexual Harassmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

From bodies to blame: Exposure to sexually objectifying media increases tolerance toward sexual harassment.

Bernard

Legrand

Klein

2018

Psychology of Popular Media Culture

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This paper investigates whether exposure to sexually objectifying media leads to more tolerance toward sexual harassment of women in the context of a real-life scenario. Moreover, given that self-objectification reflects the internalization of gender-based inequalities, we also tested whether self-objectification was associated with greater tolerance toward sexual harassment of women. Two hundred and ten undergraduate students (112 men) were asked to watch sexually objectifying (vs. neutral) video clips before completing a questionnaire assessing tolerance toward sexual harassment. As expected, we found that watching sexually objectifying video clips led to more victim blame when evaluating a real-life scenario of sexual harassment, but it did not affect general attitudes toward sexual harassment. Moreover, trait self-objectification was associated with general attitudes toward sexual harassment of women, with more tolerance toward sexual harassment among people with high trait self-objectification. In contrast, neither exposure to sexually objectifying video clips nor trait selfobjectification affected perpetrator blame. These findings suggest that even short exposure to sexually objectifying media contributes to shifting attitudes toward sexual harassment of nonsexualized women in the real world, and they also illuminate the role of self-objectification in maintaining gender-based inequalities.

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“…Several recent reviews have demonstrated that both women and non-White ethnic groups are under-represented in video games, and when they are featured, they tend to be depicted in highly stereotypical and negative ways (Burgess, Dill, Stermer, Burgess, & Brown, 2011;Deskins, 2013;Dickerman, Christensen, & KerlMcClain, 2008). Furthermore, there is evidence that mere exposure to, as opposed to identification with, depictions of women and non-White ethnicities in video games can lead to negative attitudes towards those groups (Dill, Brown, & Collins, 2008;Dill & Burgess, 2012). Given the evidence that embodiment can lead to a stronger activation of stereotypes than other forms of media (Ash, 2016;Groom et al, 2009), it is important that the portrayal of women, Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people and members of other disadvantaged social groups is treated as an important issue by game designers.…”

Section: Future Directions: Changing Attitudes Via Embodiment Outsidementioning

confidence: 99%

Putting Ourselves in Another’s Skin: Using the Plasticity of Self-Perception to Enhance Empathy and Decrease Prejudice

Farmer

Maister

2017

Soc Just Res

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The self is one the most important concepts in social cognition and plays a crucial role in determining questions such as which social groups we view ourselves as belonging to and how we relate to others. In the past decade, the self has also become an important topic within cognitive neuroscience with an explosion in the number of studies seeking to understand how different aspects of the self are represented within the brain. In this paper, we first outline the recent research on the neurocognitive basis of the self and highlight a key distinction between two forms of self-representation. The first is the ''bodily'' self, which is thought to be the basis of subjective experience and is grounded in the processing of sensorimotor signals. The second is the ''conceptual'' self, which develops through our interactions of other and is formed of a rich network of associative and semantic information. We then investigate how both the bodily and conceptual self are related to social cognition with an emphasis on how self-representations are involved in the processing and creation of prejudice. We then highlight new research demonstrating that the bodily and conceptual self are both malleable and that this malleability can be harnessed in order to achieve a reduction in social prejudice. In particular, we will outline strong evidence that modulating people's perceptions of the bodily self can lead to changes in attitudes at the conceptual level. We will highlight a series of studies demonstrating that social attitudes towards various social out-groups (e.g. racial groups) can lead to a reduction in prejudice towards that group. Finally, we seek to place these findings in a broader social context by considering how innovations in virtual reality technology can allow experiences of taking on another's identity are likely to become both more commonplace and more convincing in the future and the various opportunities and risks associated with using such technology to reduce prejudice.

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Effects of exposure to sex-stereotyped video game characters on tolerance of sexual harassment

Cited by 150 publications

References 26 publications

Grand Theft Auto is a “Sandbox” Game, but There are Weapons, Criminals, and Prostitutes in the Sandbox: Response to Ferguson and Donnellan (2017)

Grand Theft Auto is a “Sandbox” Game, but There are Weapons, Criminals, and Prostitutes in the Sandbox: Response to Ferguson and Donnellan (2017)

From bodies to blame: Exposure to sexually objectifying media increases tolerance toward sexual harassment.

Putting Ourselves in Another’s Skin: Using the Plasticity of Self-Perception to Enhance Empathy and Decrease Prejudice

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