Media Effects Research Lab - Research Archive
Priming effect of gender stereotypical game portrayal and perspectives towards different gender
Student Researcher(s)
Chunyu Tsai (B.A. Candidate);
Anning Shen (B.A. Candidate);
Muyi Zhang (B.A. Candidate);
Ruiyue Xu (B.A. Candidate);
Faculty Supervisor
This paper was based on a project as part of the "COMM 418: Media Effects: Theory and Research" course.
INTRODUCTION
Gender stereotype is an issue that remained and is still not solved until today, more and more females start working and asking for gender equality in the workplace. A piece of common news and stories people can find online, a female work harder and better than a male does, however, they still do not have a position that as high as male does. Therefore, this research is finding if an individual’s perception will get impacted by the characters in the game.
RESEARCH QUESTION / HYPOTHESES
RQ: For video gamer, controlling for gender preference in video games playing what is the relationship between picture types in video games and perspective towards different gender?
H1: Individuals who are primed with a gender stereotypical game portrayal (male hero saved female) are more likely to agree with gender stereotypes in games than individuals who are primed with non-stereotypical game portrayal (female hero saved male)
H2: The priming effect hypothesized in H1 will be more pronounced among heavy gamers compared to light gamers
H3: Heavy gaming will be associated with more stereotypical gender-role perceptions in games
METHOD
There were a total of 44 participants in the study, however only 40 data were qualified to use in the analysis due to technical problems. Of the participants, 50% were female and 50% were male are separate evenly into two different video game experiment conditions (male hero condition as Super Mario and female hero condition as Princess Peach). The age range of the participants were between 19-27 years old. The mean of ages is about 22.925 and the median is 23. Participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire. The questionnaire included eight dependent variables (helpless, hero prediction, innocent, aggressive, attractiveness, video game influences, female/male hero, sexualize).
RESULTS
H1 predicted that individuals who are primed with a gender stereotypical games portrayal (male hero saved female) are more likely to agree with gender stereotypes in games than individuals who are primed with non-stereotypical game portrayal (female hero saved male). H2 predicted that the priming effect hypothesized in H1 will be more pronounced among heavy gamers compare to light gamers.the simple linear regression showed the video game consuming was statistically significant predictor of female perspectives towards hero predictions in two priming conditions.(R^2=0.166, SE=0.137, p>0.0369). Thus H1 and H2 was supported.
The third hypothesis (H3) predicted that Heavy gaming will be associated with more stereotypical gender-role perceptions in games. The results of a regression (figure 2) show a significant relationship that the more time video game consuming, the more stereotypical gender-role perceptions they perceived.(R^2=0.392, SE=0.186, p>0.005). Thus, (H3) was supported.
We also found the interesting findings that the heavy gamers are having non-stereotypical perspectives towards male attractive in two different conditions(R^2=0.310, SE=0.118, p>0.0445).
The results gives us a great answer to our research question, which asked about the relationship between two IVs (video game consuming and video game condition viewing) and DV (perspectives towards different gender). The supports of our related hypotheses indicates that there is positive relationship between video games consuming and stereotypical perspectives towards different gender.
CONCLUSIONS/DISCUSSION
Our findings show that people who consume more time on video games as heavy gamers who are primed in male hero condition are more likely to disagree with female as hero prediction and heavy gamers who are primed in female hero condition are more likely to agree with female as hero prediction in responses. This may be because of the priming theory that stimulate participants cognitive perspective towards female hero predictions and creates the differences between two portrayal of the main character. Heavy gamers are having more stereotypical gender-role perceptions in games in both conditions. This may be because the heavy gamers are having more experiences with video games and having greater knowledge towards female avatars in video games compared to light gamers who have less experiences in video games.
The findings indicates that heavy gamers are associated with more stereotypical gender-role perceptions in games and stereotypical games portrayal also have impact on individuals’ perception towards different gender. For instance, individual who exposed to male hero conditions are more likely to believe female avatar is helpless and increase the negative attitudes towards women. Also people who spend lots of time on playing video game as heavy gamers will increase the possibility of having negative attitudes in regards of stereotypical games portrayal(Miller, 2007).
For more details regarding the study contact
Dr. S. Shyam Sundar by e-mail at sss12@psu.edu or by telephone at (814) 865-2173