New Study Finds No Link Between Gaming And Sexist Attitudes
āA few days ago a German longitudinal study was published that explored the connection between gaming and sexist attitudes. The results broadly show that playing videogames doesnāt make people sexist.ā
Ā āIn order to ensure a degree of reliability in these findings, there are also two elements that should be highlighted. The first is the fact this was a longitudinal study and the second is who funded the research.
Longitudinal studies are undertaken over a period of time, with snapshots of data taken within that. In this instance large samples of participants from the age of 14 and up were included in three waves of testing over a few years, starting back in 2011. Thatās a lot of data and, more importantly, it also predates any current controversy regarding the belief that playing games somehow makes people sexist.
As for who funded the research if it were a games publisher then that would call the study into question, as they would clearly have a vested interest in the results. In fact it was independently funded by the European Research Council.ā
The study:
āSexist Games = Sexist Gamers? A Longitudinal Study on the Relationship Between Video Game Use and Sexist Attitudes
From the oversexualized characters in fighting games, such as Dead or Alive or Ninja Gaiden, to the overuse of the damsel in distress trope in popular titles, such as the Super Mario series, the under- and misrepresentation of females in video games has been well documented in several content analyses. Cultivation theory suggests that long-term exposure to media content can affect perceptions of social realities in a way that they become more similar to the representations in the media and, in turn, impact oneās beliefs and attitudes.Ā
Previous studies on video games and cultivation have often been cross-sectional or experimental, and the limited longitudinal work in this area has only considered time intervals of up to 1 month. Additionally, previous work in this area has focused on the effects of violent content and relied on self-selected or convenience samples composed mostly of adolescents or college students.Ā
Enlisting a 3 year longitudinal design, the present study assessed the relationship between video game use and sexist attitudes, using data from a representative sample of German players aged 14 and older (N=824). Controlling for age and education, it was found that sexist attitudesāmeasured with a brief scale assessing beliefs about gender roles in societyāwere not related to the amount of daily video game use or preference for specific genres for both female and male players. Implications for research on sexism in video games and cultivation effects of video games in general are discussed.ā
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