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Sexual priming, gender stereotyping, and likelihood to sexually harass: Examining the cognitive effects of playing a sexually-explicit video game

  • Mike Z. Yao*
  • , Chad Mahood
  • , Daniel Linz
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

82 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

The present study examines the short-term cognitive effects of playing a sexually explicit video game with female "objectification" content on male players. Seventy-four male students from a university in California, U. S. participated in a laboratory experiment. They were randomly assigned to play either a sexually-explicit game or one of two control games. Participants' cognitive accessibility to sexual and sexually objectifying thoughts was measured in a lexical decision task. A likelihood-to-sexually-harass scale was also administered. Results show that playing a video game with the theme of female "objectification" may prime thoughts related to sex, encourage men to view women as sex objects, and lead to self-reported tendencies to behave inappropriately towards women in social situations. © The Author(s) 2009.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)77-88
JournalSex Roles
Volume62
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2010

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 5 - Gender Equality
    SDG 5 Gender Equality
  2. SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
    SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Research Keywords

  • Gender schema
  • Gender stereotype
  • Lexical decision task
  • Media sex
  • Priming
  • Sexual harassment
  • Video game

Publisher's Copyright Statement

  • This full text is made available under CC-BY-NC 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

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