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While visiting a science museum, mothers (N = 125) and their 4- to 7-year-old children were recruited to read one of four versions of an educational storybook. These storybooks detailed either male...

How do physical digital inequalities persist as technology becomes commonplace? We consider this question using surveys and focus groups with U.S. college students, a group that has better than average connectivity. Findings from a 748-person nonrepresentative survey revealed that ownership and use of cellphones and laptops were nearly universal. However, roughly 20% of respondents had difficulty maintaining access to technology (e.g., broken hardware, data limits, connectivity problems, etc.). Students of lower socioeconomic status and students of color disproportionately experienced hardships, and reliance on poorly functioning laptops was associated with lower grade point averages. Focus group and open-ended data elaborate these findings. Findings quantitatively validate the technology maintenance construct, which proposes that as access to information and communication technology peaks, the digital divide is increasingly characterized by the (in)ability to maintain access. Data highlight overlooked nuances in digital access that may inform social disparities and the policies that may mitigate them.

The present study investigated how task demand (cognitive load and interactivity) and avatar sexualization in a video game influenced rape myth acceptance (RMA), hostile sexism, and self-objectification. In a between-subjects design, 300 U.S. college students either played or watched someone else play a videogame as either a sexualized or non-sexualized female avatar under high (memorize 7 symbols) or low (memorize 2 symbols) cognitive load. Hypotheses were derived from the limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing (LC4MP) and perspectives on stereotype processing. Results contradicted hypotheses that greater task demands and sexualization would produce greater RMA, hostile sexism, and self-objectification. Instead, we found that sexualization did not affect these variables. Greater cognitive load reduced rape myth acceptance and hostile sexism for those in the sexualized avatar condition, but it did not affect self-objectification. We discuss these results with respect to the LC4MP and suggest that the processing of stereotype-inconsistent information might be the underlying cause of these unexpected findings. These results provide tentative evidence that cognitively demanding video game environments may prompt players to focus on stereotype-inconsistent, rather than stereotype-consistent, social information.

Game developers potentially convey socio-cultural values about gender through design choices. This study interpreted the designs of 11 purposively selected female game characters, developed by studios located in the United States and Japan, through the lens of ambivalent sexism. This social psychological theory posits that sexism consists of hostile and benevolent attitudes about women. Two themes emerged across characterizations: bodies as objects, bodies as weapons and (in)dependence. Both consisted of empowering qualities paired with problematic beliefs about women. This analysis contributes to interdisciplinary literature by using an empirical perspective to interpret gender representations in video games.

We analyzed in-game content from titles released between 1983 and 2014 (n = 571) featuring playable female characters. Results indicate that sexualization has diminished since an observed height in the 1990s. Traditionally male-oriented genres (e.g. fighting) have more sexualized characters than role-playing games. Games rated Teen or Mature did not differ in sexualization and featured more sexualization than Everyone games. Despite an increase in games featuring playable female characters, games still depict female characters more often in secondary roles and sexualized them more than primary characters. A positive relationship emerged between the sexualization of female characters and their physical capability. Critical success of games was unrelated to sexualization. We discuss these findings in light of social identity and objectification theories.

Media commonly feature imagery that celebrates idealized bodies and researchers have observed the adverse effects of such depictions. Although video games commonly feature idealized bodies, experimental work investigating the effects of game characters on body image disturbance remains underrepresented. This trend is surprising as the preponderance of hyper-muscular male and hyper-sexualized female characters speaks to the heteronormative, masculine fantasies often given prominence in game content. Using social comparison theory, the current work investigated how ideal and hyper-ideal video game bodies affected women's (study 1) and men's (study 2) body image dissatisfaction. The study also compared these outcomes to a non-exposure control condition. Generally, the data provided evidence that hyper-idealized game characters negatively affected men but positively affected women. Tested how ideal and hyper-ideal bodies affected body image dissatisfaction.Conducted separate experiments for men and women.Hyper-ideal bodies reduced body image dissatisfaction for women.Hyper-ideal bodies increased body image dissatisfaction for men.

Listeners exhibit orienting responses to voice changes in audio messages. However, the impact of pitch similarity between voices on the nature of the OR has not been explored. We conducted a 3 (Vocal Pitch) × 2 (Location of Change in Message) × 2 (Repetition) within-subjects experiment to address this question. Four non-professional announcers were selected based on differences in vocal pitch. Twelve radio commercials were produced using these announcers to include a single voice change—with either Low-, Medium-, or High-Pitch Differences. The voice changes occurred either within the first or last 20 seconds of the commercial. Heart rate and recognition memory data were collected from 41 subjects. Results show that vocal-pitch difference between speakers impacts automatic attention allocation via the orienting response, and recognition memory for the message is thereby affected. Furthermore, results suggest that having voice changes occur early in an audio message produces the best attentional result.

This study presents the results of a survey of 269 undergraduate students conducted to examine fright experiences caused by video games. Over half of the participants reported game-induced fear. Sex, sensation-seeking, and empathy all emerged as important individual differences in terms of enjoyment of frightening content, consumption of frightening content, and frequency of fright experience. Interactivity and presentations of realism also predicted fear. This work identifies titles, stimuli, and features that caused fright experience.

Research has used the cardiac orienting response (OR) to show that structural changes in the auditory environment cause people to briefly but automatically pay attention to messages such as radio broadcasts, podcasts, and web streaming. The voice change—an example of an auditory structural feature—elicits orienting across multiple repetitions. This article reports two experiments designed to investigate whether automatic attention allocation to repeated instances of other auditory structural features—namely production effects, jingles, and silence—is a robust phenomenon or if repetition leads to habituation. In Study 1 we show that listeners of a simulated radio broadcast exhibit ORs following the onset of auditory structural features that differ in semantic content. The prediction that listeners would not habituate to feature repetition was not supported. Instead, both jingles and synthesized production effects result in more iconic ORs to the second repetition compared with the first. However, orienting...

Digital games are a medium in which new forms of representations are possible and where new, imagined rules can be created and established. Unfortunately, many representations and rules within digital game worlds reinforce harmful sexist beliefs and attitudes belonging to the real social world. Male and female digital game characters are portrayed as sexist archetypes, and some games feature sexist themes and rulesets which depict women as objects. Yet the question remains if sexualized and sexist portrayals influence players of digital games. In this chapter, we will draw on social psychological theories as well as evidence from empirical research (e.g., Behm-Morawitz and Mastro, Sex Roles, 61(11–12):808–823, 2009; Fox and Bailenson, Sex Roles, 61(3–4):147–157, 2009; Fox et al. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3):930–938, 2013) to argue that critiques of sexist character portrayals have legitimacy and that this content may undesirably influence some players’ cognition, attitudes, and behaviors both during and after gameplay. We provide a dispassionate, evidence-supported argument that sexist content in games does contribute problematically to perceptions of women and their status in contemporary society. We also provide some suggestions for future research, such as asking scholars to carefully consider and distinguish sexist imagery from the game mechanics which may contribute to sexist thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors.

Little is known about what it is like to live in adolescence with a chronic inflammatory bowel disease. This article reports the findings of a small qualitative study that explored the experience of four New Zealand youth aged between 16 and 21 years, who had been recently diagnosed with Crohn disease. Semistructured interviews focused on discovering the youth' thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of living with this condition. Analysis of the transcribed data is presented thematically. The findings reveal stress as integral to living with Crohn disease. They illuminate the paradoxical relationship between fear and hope and provide insight into what helps and what hinders young people's ability to cope with the disease and its treatments. Collectively, these three themes describe the ways in which the lives of young adults are drastically and almost irreparably changed by Crohn disease. The findings contribute to the "promoting wellness" literature and will inform those who support the increasing number of young people living and coping with a chronic inflammatory bowel disease.

Nurse Teresa Lynch spent a day on the set of the BBC television drama Silk, advising the programme makers on the portrayal of character with advanced prostate cancer. She ensured equipment and procedures were accurate, and encouraged the script writer to make the storyline more hopefull.