Back to Search
Start Over
The effects of sexualized video game characters and character personalization on women's self-objectification and body satisfaction
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Female role models in video games are rare, and if they are present, they are often heavily sexualized. Objectification theory suggests that exposure to sexualized media characters increases self-objectification and decreases body satisfaction in female users. This study investigated the effect of playing a video game with a sexualized versus a nonsexualized character on women's experiences of self-objectification and body satisfaction. We further studied the effect of character personalization as a core feature of video games on the relation between sexualized avatars, self-objectification and body satisfaction. N = 262 female participants reported state self-objectification and body satisfaction after 30 min of playing the video game The Sims 4 with a sexualized or nonsexualized avatar that was either generic or personalized to look like the participant. We predicted that controlling for trait self-objectification, playing the game with a sexualized character would increase state self-objectification, especially in the personalized condition. Regarding the effect of character sexualization on body satisfaction, competing hypotheses based on priming vs. the Proteus effect were tested, considering character personalization and enjoyment of sexualization as moderators and controlling for trait body satisfaction. The current study did not find evidence for the proposed hypotheses. The findings are discussed in terms of the relevance of objectification theory in explaining effects of sexualized models in interactive media.
- Subjects :
- Department Psychologie
Sociology and Political Science
Social Psychology
05 social sciences
050109 social psychology
050105 experimental psychology
Personalization
Sexualization
Character (mathematics)
ddc:150
Priming (media)
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Self-objectification
Objectification
Psychology
Video game
Social psychology
Avatar
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....a52fa833c76efa4849bc767c26102326