1. Exposure to Sexually Objectifying Stimuli Reduces Self-Regulation Resources in Women
Student Researchers: Amanda Herring, Jennifer Bader, Todd Allmond, Tyson Lemka, & William Worrell / Faculty Advisors: Vann Scott & Wendy Wolfe
Introduction
Method
Results
Sexual objectification occurs when an individual’s body is viewed as an instrument that exists for the pleasure of others (Bartky, 1990). Sexual objectification occurs through a variety of mediums including video games, television, films, music videos, magazines, and advertising, as well personal encounters with others involving inappropriate comments about or gazes towards one’s body. Although sexual objectification can occur through a variety of means and mediums, the focus of the current research is sexual objectification through video game images. According to one of the largest nationally representative surveys of media use among young people, from 1999 to 2009, daily time spent playing videogames tripled among 8-18 year-olds, and in 2009 the average young person spent 1 hr, 13 min gaming per day (Kaiser Family Foundation [KFF], 2010). The same study found that over half of all 8-18 year-olds had played the Grand Theft Auto series, despite its M rating. Much of the research on the psychological impact of gaming among young people has focused on aggression in males. However, young women are also increasingly exposed to videogame images, through their own game play, and that of their male peers. Indeed, the KFF study found that girls reported as much videogame play as boys. When female characters are portrayed in videogames, they are typically depicted as sex objects and/or as potential targets for aggression (Dietz, 1998).
Dill et al. (2008) explored perception of a harassment scenario after exposure to sexually objectifying images of women. In this study, men and women were randomly assigned to view images of professionally dressed women or images of scantily clad animated female video game characters. Following exposure to these images, all participants read a vignette depicting a sexual harassment scenario. Dill et al.’s findings revealed that men who were exposed to sexually objectifying images of a female video game character were less likely to perceive the situation described in the vignette as harassment than women who saw the same images or men and women who were exposed to the professional images of women.
Saguy et al. (2010) investigated the effects of sexual objectification within the context of interpersonal interaction and found that female participants spent significantly less time talking during a personal introduction when they believed that a male participant was viewing them from the neck down via closed circuit television as opposed to either viewing their face or hearing their voice. Saguy et al. provided two possible explanations for their results. The first explanation is that women talk less because they attempt to conform to a schema activated by the objectification. A second explanation is that less talking time may have occurred because cognitive resources were consumed by regulating concerns about physical appearance. The current study builds on the latter hypothesis and proposes that brief exposure to sexually objectifying videogame images will drain the participant’s self-regulation resources, presumably as a result of their attempts to modify their self-presentation during a subsequent interpersonal introduction task. Consistent with Saguy et al.’s observation that women who have been objectified attempt to minimize their psychological presence as indicated by reduced talking time, we hypothesize that the effort to minimize psychological presence will not only result in reduced talking time but will also deplete self-regulation resources as indicated by reduced ability to consume a bitter tasting beverage for a small monetary reward.
Results were consistent with hypotheses in that the expect communication condition and game condition interaction was significant, F ( , ) = , p < Planned comparisons revealed that participants exposed to the audio only/GTA game only condition consumed significantly more vinegar solution than participants exposed to the audio only/GTA + strip club condition, p < No other mean differences were significant (see Figure 1). Figure 2 shows results found by Saguy et al. (2010) accompanied by results of the current study. Though not statistically significant, these group means are consistent with our expectations that women who are briefly exposed to the strip club scene will talk less than women who are not exposed to the strip club condition. These results also reveal a potential carryover effect of exposure to the strip club scene in that women in strip club audio only condition are exhibiting talking times consistent with those of objectified participants in Saguy et al.’s study. Although we expected to find an additive effect of multiple sources of objectification (i.e., the video game strip club scene and the introduction task involving focus on the chest), we did demonstrate an important influence of the strip club scene on talking time that is consistent with women experiencing a sense of objectification through brief and mere exposure to the strip club scene in the video game.
Participants
Participants were 16 female students (aged M = yrs., SD = 10.09). Participants were recruited through the research management system, SONA and received extra credit in a course of their choice in exchange for participation. Participants were treated in accordance with current ethical guidelines put forth by the American Psychological Association.
Materials
Pre-experiment surveys were administered through Survey Monkey. Two small rooms were utilized during the experiment. Video game exposure was conducted using a 36-in TV, Sony Play Station 2 controller, and hidden DVD player. The DVD player contained a recording of either a sexually explicit scene from the popular game, Grand Theft Auto 3: San Andreas, or a neutral scene containing normal game play from the same game. During the talking task, a stop watch, video camera, wireless router, and 19-in TV were used. Surveys, which were administered as part of a larger investigation but completed during the experiment, were administered using a computer. These measured several variables, including body satisfaction, body estimation, adherence to sex stereotypes and beliefs regarding sexual objectification, along with some distractor questionnaires. Three ounce cups were used to hold an unpleasant tasting liquid (a mixture of water, flavored drink mix, and vinegar).
Procedure
Upon signing up for the study, participants completed a series of surveys online. The day of the experiment, participants were greeted by a researcher at the designated meeting place. The participant was taken to a waiting area where they were asked to wait until the researcher was ready. One male confederate occupied the room. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions. Depending on the condition, the confederate was “playing” either a video game in which women are being sexually objectified or a neutral video game. The participant was told that the confederate student was waiting to participate in another study. The researcher left the room for a designated period of time. The researcher returned to retrieve the participant and took her to the experimental room. The participant completed an interaction task in which she believed a male student in another room was either watching her body from the neck down or only hearing her voice. At this time the participant was presented with a self-regulation task consisting of consuming as many 1 oz cups of an unpleasant tasting liquid as she could for a reward of $.05 per oz. Lastly, the participant was presented with a series of questionnaires.
The participant’s speech, which was originally recorded with the video camera, was later transferred to audio files so that talking time could be measured by a researcher who was blind to the condition to which the participant had been assigned.
Conclusion
Brief exposure to an objectifying scene in a video game was powerful enough to evoke a reaction in women that was consistent with being explicitly exposed to an objectifying situation in which a male counterpart is focused on one’s chest for a period of two minutes. Future research will examine the extent to which this effect spills over into other aspects of psychological life, such as one’s self-perceptions regarding body image, one’s expectations for interactions with members of the opposite sex, and one’s ability to adequately engage in self-regulation to maintain attention and motivation to complete a variety of everyday goals and tasks.
Key References
Dill, K. E., Brown, B. P., & Collins, M. A. (2008). Effects of exposure to sex-stereotyped video game characters on tolerance of sexual harassment, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, , doi: /j.jesp
Saguy, T., Quinn, D., Dovidio, J., & Pratto, F. (2010). Interacting like a body: Objectification can lead women to narrow their presence in social interactions. Psychological Science, doi: /
For further information, contact: Dr. Vann Scott,
Thanks to student members of the Scott-Wolfe lab group for their assistance with this project.
Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Southeastern Social Psychologists, Charleston, SC (10/30/2010).