On April 21st, Laura Stockdale presented her work titled “Emotionally anesthetized: media violence induces neural changes during emotional face processing”. Researchers in this study focused on evaluating the emotional response following subjection to violent media. Participants were exposed to ten minutes of violent or nonviolent film and then completed the necessary assessments. Subjects were asked to complete a facial recognition task that required them to determine the gender of presented faces that held either a neutral or angry expression. However, the participants that were subjected to the violent media demonstrated slower reaction times when asked to determine the gender of the faces. Researchers were able to conclude there was “a reduction in cognitive resources allocated to processing emotional face expressions” (Stockdale, 2015). In an additional study, participants were selected based upon the frequency of videogame playing. After completing a similar stop signal task, researchers were able to conclude that frequent videogame players demonstrated a general decrease in empathy. These specific findings supported previous research which demonstrated that exposure to violent media leads to desensitization and hostile behavior.
After reading this journal, I became interested to see how these affects influenced responses to gender violence. I was curious to see if this modified behavior was consistent when judging victims of both genders or if results would be skewed in one direction or another. I came across an article titled, “Sexist video games decrease empathy for female violence victims” by Ohio State University. This study wanted to assess the relationship between violent video games and the objectification of women.
154 high school volunteers were selected and were placed in three different experimental groups. One group was exposed to a violent and sexist game, one played a violent but not sexist game, and the final group played a game that did not possess either of these qualities. After playing, subjects were presented with a picture of a girl that endured violence. They were asked to rate their feelings of “how sympathetic, compassionate, and tender they felt toward the girl in the photo” (Ohio State University, 2016).
Results from this experiment focused on the responses from the male participants. Females did not demonstrate any influential differences between the three types of video games. Males who played the sexist and violent games showed a reduction in empathetic responses towards the picture of the abused girl. Researchers correlated this finding with general responses received from the participants that played these games that stated they identified as their characters on a deeper level when they were playing. Interestingly, the male participants that played the violent video game that did not include sexist content did not show any signs of reduced empathetic responses towards the girl.
I found this study to be quite important. Our class study signified the potential general dangers that were present after violent media exposure. Both articles presented concluded the decrease level of empathy. However, this study highlighted the potential sexists’ effects that could result from such exposure. A crucial contribution made by this study directs its attention to self-identifying behavior of the participants to the violent media characters. Findings like this suggest that individuals that play these games experience long lasting effects that are beginning to influence their daily perspectives. Discovering this demonstrates how exposure to such content can produce emotional alterations that could potentially damage relationships or cause individuals to neglect any victims they come into contact with. Parents should be more aware of studies like these so that they can make educated decisions about the types of games that their children want to play.
Sexist Video Games
Ohio State University (2016, April 13). Sexist video games decrease empathy for female violence
Victims. Science Daily.
Violent Media and Emotional Face Processing:
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