Trial reportPloS one2016
Acting like a Tough Guy: Violent-Sexist Video Games, Identification with Game Characters, Masculine Beliefs, & Empathy for Female Violence Victims.
Trial report in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Systematic Review of Gaming and Neuropsychological Assessment of Social Cognition.Neuropsychology review · 2024Pooled it
- Female Gaming, Gaming Addiction, and the Role of Women Within Gaming Culture: A Narrative Literature Review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- Neuromodulation can reduce aggressive behavior elicited by violent video games.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2017Trial
- Cultural fiction as predictive-affective simulation: a neurocognitive model of male emotional regulation and gender violence prevention.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Effects of Screen-Based Leisure Time on 24 Subsequent Health and Wellbeing Outcomes: A Longitudinal Outcome-Wide Analysis.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2025Article
- "Frontiers in sociology · 2025Article
- Thwarted belongingness and empathy's relation with organizational culture change.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Violence against women on Twitter in India: Testing a taxonomy for online misogyny and measuring its prevalence during COVID-19.PloS one · 2023Article
- "Even more than that, men love cars": "Car guy" memes and hegemonic masculinity.Frontiers in sociology · 2022Article
- Co-occurrence of Dating Violence Victimization Subtypes: Assessing the Influence of Family Factors, Dating Attitudes, Risky Behaviors, and the Moderating Effect of Gender Among School-Aged Teens.Violence and victims · 2020Article
- The Association between Sexist Games and Diminished Empathy Remains Tenuous: Lessons from Gabbiadini et al. (2017) and Gabbiadini et al. (2016) Regarding Sensationalism and Accuracy in Media Research.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2017Article
- Grand Theft Auto is a "Sandbox" Game, but There are Weapons, Criminals, and Prostitutes in the Sandbox: Response to Ferguson and Donnellan (2017).Journal of youth and adolescence · 2017Article
- Are Associations Between "Sexist" Video Games and Decreased Empathy Toward Women Robust? A Reanalysis of Gabbiadini et al. 2016.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2017Article
- Video Games Exposure and Sexism in a Representative Sample of Adolescents.Frontiers in psychology · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Empathy--putting oneself in another's shoes--has been described as the "social glue" that holds society together. This study investigates how exposure to sexist video games can decrease empathy for female violence victims. We hypothesized that playing violent-sexist video games would increase endorsement of masculine beliefs, especially among participants who highly identify with dominant and aggressive male game characters. We also hypothesized that the endorsement of masculine beliefs would reduce empathy toward female violence victims. Participants (N = 154) were randomly assigned to play a violent-sexist game, a violent-only game, or a non-violent game. After gameplay, measures of identification with the game character, traditional masculine beliefs, and empathy for female violence victims were assessed. We found that participants' gender and their identification with the violent male video game character moderated the effects of the exposure to sexist-violent video games on masculine beliefs. Our results supported the prediction that playing violent-sexist video games increases masculine beliefs, which occurred for male (but not female) participants who were highly identified with the game character. Masculine beliefs, in turn, negatively predicted empathic feelings for female violence victims. Overall, our study shows who is most affected by the exposure to sexist-violent video games, and why the effects occur. (200 words).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.