Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 1

Transcription

1 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 1 Sexy Assassins are Dangerous? Sexualized Female Video Game Avatars and Its Effect on Self-Esteem Guicheng Tan Nicholas Christenfeld University of California, San Diego

2 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 2 Abstract Previous studies suggest that sexualization of females by the media industry can impact how people feel about themselves (Irving, 1990; Thornton & Moore, 1989; Behm-Morawits & Mastro, 2009) This study hypothesized that interacting with sexualized female video game avatars, a form of popular entertainment media exposure, can have similar effect on people s self-esteem. Female and male participants were told that they were in a study interested in the relationship between personality and game character preference. In the study, they were asked to play as a neutral or sexualized female video game avatar and responded to State Self- Esteem Scale and Self-Perceived Mating Success scale. Female participants reported marginally lower mating value self-esteem after interacting with sexualized female avatars. Findings were consistent with prior research suggesting that sexualization has a negative effect on female self-perceived desirability. Limitation and application of the current design is discussed in this paper. Keywords: Sexualization, self-esteem, mate value

3 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 3 Introduction Video games have become a field in need of research attention due to their popularity and potential influence on people. As a form of media, video gaming is a fast growing industry that is very popular among the younger generation. Adolescent boys spend an average of 13 hours per week playing video games, while girls spend an average of 5 hours per week (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, & Walsh, 2004). Among college students, 70% reported playing video games, and 65% reported being regular game players (Jones, 2003). According to Entertainment Software Association, the U.S. gaming industry generated as much as 21 billion dollars in revenue in 2013 (ESA Annual Report, 2014). Due to the popularity of this industry, there has been a growing need for research examining the player-and-game interaction. Since video game character portrayals played a big role in creating a sense of personal connection between game and player, how these characters influence player s real life activities and attitudes is a question worth investigating. Female characters are known to be underrepresented and sexualized in most video games. Female characters are more likely to be portrayed as sexualized than male characters, and a survey reported that the public stereotypes female game characters as sexually objectified physical specimens (Dill & Thill, 2007). When female characters are the dominant leading characters, they experience the Lara Croft phenomenon, which is the emphasis on their feminine features in a sexualized manner. Female characters are mostly thin, having voluptuous chest size, scantily clad, and significantly more attractive than their male counterparts (Jansz & Martis, 2007; Robinson, Callister, Clark & Phillips, 2009). All of this research demonstrates the sexualization of female characters among today s video game

4 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 4 industry, which reinforces gender stereotypes (Beasley & Standley, 2009). According to previous studies, media has a significant effect on body image (Irving, 1990) and self-esteem (Bessenoff, 2006). As a part of media, sexualization in video games should share similar causal responsibility in shaping people s values and attitudes. In fact, previous research demonstrated a significant relationship between the exposure of sexualized contents in video game and an increase in some form of sexism. Males who played video games with sexist content frequently were more likely to possess benevolent sexism, a form of sexist bias that can be perceived as positive thoughts. For example, people found the statement women need to be protected by men to be a positive statement, displaying politeness and chivalry-like courtesy. However, it reinforced traditional gender role, viewing women as subordinate to men and the inadequate gender (Stermer & Burkley, 2012). Many experimental studies also suggested the exposure of sexual content in video games can lead to negative attitudes towards women. Male participants who were exposed to sexually objectified female video game avatars reacted faster to lexical decision tasks involving sexual words and sexually-objectifying description of women, scored higher on Likelihood to Sexual Harass scale, and were more tolerant of sexual harassment (Yao, Mahood & Linz 2010; Dill, Brown & Collins, 2008). Moreover, female participants who saw themselves as avatars wearing revealing clothing became more accepting of rape myth than those who saw themselves as avatar wearing regular clothing (Fox & Bailenson, 2009). These studies showed stronger evidence suggesting a causal link between the exposure to sexual video characters and the promotion of sexist attitudes, since both studies depicted a significant shift in attitude after being exposed to the visual appearance (the sexualized

5 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 5 figures) of game characters. However, while many studies focused on the strong connection between sexualized character exposure (seeing images) and sexist attitude towards others, limited studies have been conducted to examine the effect of sexualized character interaction (playing as the character) on people s attitude towards themselves. A study provided evidence that sexualized female characters negatively impacted female s self-efficacy (Behm-Morawits & Mastro, 2009). Even though Rosenberg s Self-Esteem Scale was administered, no significant difference was shown. This opened up research potential investigating sexualization of female characters and its effect on self-esteem. First of all, a decrease in self-efficacy confirmed that game character portrayal influences aspects of self-evaluation. Self-efficacy, the confidence in one s own ability and capability (Bandura, 1994), could be closely associated with self-esteem as a part of core self-evaluation (Judge, Locke & Durham, 1997). Secondly, although Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale considered being a largely adopted scale assessing one s self-esteem, it might be too global of an assessment when examining shortterm exposure effects. Therefore, a different self-esteem scale testing acute effects of certain manipulations should be administered (Heatherton & Wyland, 2003). With that being said, the present study investigates the effect of sexualized female game characters on people s self-esteem using different measurements. Since our study involves only short-term exposure of sexualized female characters, we consider measurement dealing with momentary fluctuations and area-specific self-esteem more suitable. State Self- Esteem Scale (SSES) is a 20-item measurement responsive to experimental manipulations and highly related to trait measure, including three facets of self-esteem: Appearance,

6 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 6 Performance, and Social (Heatherton & Wyland, 2003). We consider this scale to be appropriate for our study as it provides area-specific self-esteem assessments, and it illustrates the immediate effects associated with feelings about oneself after experimental exposures. Previous study shows that after being exposed to attractive counterparts, people become less satisfied with their romantic partners in real life (Kenrick, Neuberg, Zierk & Krones. 1994). This suggests the real-life implication of sexualization exposure on mating value, as sexualization creates social comparison through idealized figures, which impacts how people perceive their attractiveness (Irving, 1990). Because self-perceived attractiveness as a mate is a significant component for assessing self-esteem (Brase & Guy, 2004), Self- Perceiving Mating Success (SPMS) scale is included in the study to assess changes in mating value self-esteem. Hypothesis It is hypothesized that females and males will react differently to sexualized female video game avatars in all areas: female participants playing as sexualized female video game avatar will score lower on self-esteem measurements than those who play neutral game avatars. Conversely, male participants playing as sexualized female video game avatar will score higher on self-esteem measurements than those who playing neutral game avatars. Altogether there are a total of 5 different types of self-esteem being examined for this experiment: appearance, performance, social, state self-esteem (all assessed by SSES) and mating value (assessed by SPMS). Among the five self-esteem facets, appearance, performance and mating value are

7 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 7 predicted to be most affected for female group; while social, performance and mating value are predicted to be most affected for male group. Between the two gender groups, female participants are expected to be more affected by interaction with sexualized female characters due to possible same-sex upward social comparison (Thornton & Moore, 1989). Previous study shows decreased self-efficacy among females after playing as sexualized character (Behm-Morawitz & Mastro, 2009). This suggests interacting with sexualized character can negatively impacted female perception on their ability to perform, leading to lower performance self-esteem. Since the exposure of idealized female figures negatively affects women s body image satisfaction and self-esteem (Irving, 1990; Thornton & Moore, 1994; Bessenoff, 2006), interacting with video game characters shall produce similar effects on appearance self-esteem due to upward comparison. Lastly, since appearance has significant implications for self-perceived desirability for females (Buss, 1989), mating value self-esteem is expected to be negatively impacted by sexualization interactions as well. For males, previous evidence suggests that sexualized exposure promotes sexist attitudes, behaviors and reinforces of patriarchal gender role (Yao, Mahood and Linz 2010; Dill & Thill, 2007). Therefore, the present study postulates an increase in performance selfesteem for males as their belief in ability to perform might be strengthened by these thoughts. Some research suggests that exposure to idealized female bodies and attractive females can increase implicit self-esteem for some males and dissatisfaction with their current partners (Skorek & Dunham, 2012; Kenrick et. al., 1994). It is possible that this self-enhancing effect can bolster male s social and mating value self-esteem, trying to match their mating value with highly attractive and desirable females.

8 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 8 Method Participants 73 UCSD psychology undergraduate students (28 males, 45 females) participated in this study for course credit. Participants were recruited from the SONA participation system at UCSD psychology department. Participants were randomly assigned into control and experimental conditions through random number generator. Measurement of the study included State Self Esteem Scale and Self-Perceived Mating Success scale after subjects interacted with assigned conditions. Materials The control group of this study was exposed to five neutral female video game characters and played as one of them, while the experimental group of this study was exposed to five sexualized female characters and played as one of them. Video game characters were selected from the popular game League of Legends. The neutral characters consisted of female avatars with no sexual features due to conservative outfit and normal body portion (showing mid-section, thighs or cleavage, having child-like/dwarf-like figure). The sexualized avatars consisted of female characters with strong sexual features with revealing costumes and idealized body proportions (showing cleavage and thighs, significantly larger chest sizes, thinner waistlines and rounder hips). See Image 1 for more details.

9 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 9 Image 1. Control conditions (top) featuring neutral characters, and experimental conditions (bottom) featuring sexualized characters. Each character was presented to the participant with the following elements: background story, images of the character, and a video clip. Background story was a paragraph explaining the origin, personality, and occupation of this specific character. Images displaying three different types of in-game appearance were inserted throughout the paragraph in order to have people study the avatars in detail; images were adapted from the gaming company s original artwork. Game selection. A popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game called League of Legends was used for this experiment. League of Legends was selected for its popularity and content quality. Since it was one of the most popular and successful games of this decade (Forbes, 2014), League of Legends was suitable for the present study because of its potential influence and content quality. Its popularity allowed the game to be developed with great graphics, resources and game mode for this experiment, providing this study with both sexual and non-sexual avatars. In this study, the game was customized as a beginner-level single-player game to eliminate frustration due to game difficulty. Participants had to complete a simple task of destroying all enemy turrets (a protective tower in the game); they were also told that their

10 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 10 performances in game would not be monitored or evaluated. Cover story. Participants were told that this experiment was designed to examine the correlation between personality and video game character preference. They were asked to view a series of characters, and then assigned one to play with. A self-report survey was administered in the end to assess their personality type and their gaming experience, which was the study measurement. Measurement. Measurements investigating self-esteem were administered after the exposure to specific characters and in-game interaction. The self-esteem measurement included State of Self-Esteem Scale (Appendix A) and Self Perceived Mating Success Scale (Appendix B). These two scales were implemented to assess the immediate effect of sexualization on participant s self-esteem. Some questions from the Big Five personality traits test (Appendix C) were embedded in order to make the study appear consistent with the cover story. Procedure Part I. An experimenter gave the participant a quick overview of the study, and had the participant read a script that included the cover story. Then, the participant was instructed to view a series of five game characters on the computer screen, either neutral or sexualized based on his/her condition assignment. There were three different pictures for each character, with the slide show containing a total of 15 pictures. After viewing a panel of characters and their stories, an instructional video featuring the assigned character (see Image 2 for details) was presented, demonstrating her play style and ability sets. Then the participant was asked to play a 25-minute game trying out the selected character and her skill sets. A handout

11 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 11 included any gameplay information participant might need was given to each participant in the beginning of the session. Assistance on how to play the game was given through the first five minutes, and then participant was asked to play independently for the next 20 minutes (or until they have completed the task). Image 2. Neutral character (left) and sexualized character (right) were chosen for their similarity in play style. Part II. Participant was first given a Gaming experience survey, answering gamerelated question to echo the cover story and to collect data (See Appendix D). The personality test composed of State Self-Esteem Scale, Self-Perceive Mating Success Scale and selected items from the Big Five personality test is given to the participant. Lastly, the participant answered a survey regarding his or her gaming history. The whole test was administrated and collected via Qualtrics system for analysis. Results Two participants were eliminated from the analysis due to technical issues. The participants failed to complete the game or survey due to internet connection errors. Manipulation Check

12 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 12 In order to confirm that the selected characters are consistent with their intended conditions, an independent t-test was conducted on the average 10-point attractiveness ratings of neutral character and sexualized character. A significant difference was found between the two conditions with the sexualized character (M=6.36, SD=2.06) being rated significantly more attractive than neutral character (M=5.17, SD=2.65), t(71)=2.21, p<0.02. This manipulation analysis confirmed that sexualized character is correctly being viewed as more attractive as suggested by her sexualized features in comparison to neutral character. Analysis Treating the study as a 2 x 2 Gender (female, male) x Group (sexualized, neutral) between-subject study, we first utilized ANOVA for the assessment of statistical significant of the interaction and main effects. No significant gender effect, group effect or interaction was detected for all areas of self-esteems: Group effect on appearance F(3,67)=0.83, p=0.33; mating value, F(3,67)=0.004, p=0.94; performance, F(3,67)=1.35, p=0.25; social, F(3,67)=1.13, p=0.29; total SSES, F(3,67)= 0.37, p=0.56. Gender effect on appearance, F(3,67)=3.83, p=0.06; mating value, F(3,67)=2.93, p=0.09; performance, F(3,67)=0.01, p=0.92; social, F(3,67)=0.62, p=0.43; total SSES, F(3,67)= 0.01, p=0.91. Interaction on appearance, F(3,67)=0.04, p=0.84; mating value, F(3,67)=1.36, p=0.24; performance, F(3,67)=1.43, p=0.23; social, F(3,67)=0.02, p=0.88; total SSES, F(3,67)= 0.22, p=0.64. However, a marginal significance of gender effect was detected upon appearance and

13 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 13 mating value self-esteem. A follow up contrast test was employed to further inspect these trends, since previous hypothesis postulated that females would be more sensitive to the group effect. Significant result was observed in Self-Perceived Mating Success for females: after playing as sexualized character, female participants reported to have significantly lower Self-Perceived Mating Success value (M=26.70, SD=7.04) than those played as neutral character (M=31.14, SD=6.05), F(1, 67)=5.66, p < This significant effect suggests that females mating value scores were negatively influenced by playing as sexualized characters, resulting in female participants regarding themselves as are less desirable (see Figure 1). Figure 1 Marginal significance was detected for female participant s appearance self-esteem, F(1,67)=3.05, p=0.08. No significant results were found in female participants social selfesteem F(1,67)=0.60, p=0.44, performance self-esteem F(1,67)=0.82, p=0.37, and total state self-esteem F(1,67)=0.08, p=0.77. Moreover, no significant results were found in male participants in any area of self-esteem: Appearance, F(1,67)=1.12, p=0.29; Mating Value F(1,67)=0.12, p=0.73; Performance, F(1,67)=0.66, p=0.42; Social F(1,67)=0.16, p=0.69; and Total stat self-esteem, F(1,67)=0.13, p=0.72.

14 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 14 Mating value and appearance state self-esteem appeared to be significantly correlated for females, t(44)=2.82, p<0.007, but not for males, t(25)=0.12, p=0.90. Although this was not a part of initial hypothesis, the relationship between sexualization on the enjoyment and investment of the game was examined. While there are no significant gender/group effect and interaction on enjoyment and investment, attractiveness of the character correlated positively with people s thought on enjoyment and investment of the game. The more attractive the participants found their assigned character is, the more fun they think the character (t(70)=3.85, p<0.0003) and the game (t(70)=5.02, p<0.0001) is, and the more time (t(70)=4.63, p<0.0001) and money (t(70)=2.96, p<0.004) they are willing to spend on the game. Discussion Overall, this study indicates that interacting with the sexualized female video game avatars can negatively affect female s mating value self-esteem, and has the potential to affect other areas of self-esteems as well. In line with our hypothesis, interaction with sexualized characters reduces confidence in female players self-perceived mating value, perhaps due to a decreased self-perceived attractiveness. When females are exposure to highly idealized and attractive female figures, an upward social comparison occurs as they begin to compare themselves to unrealistic standard of beauty. This type of social comparison may lead to negative self-evaluation due to disappointment from non-realistic expectations, ultimately resulting in lower body-image esteem, self-perceived attractiveness, depressed mood and eating disorders (Irving, 1990; Thornton & Moore, 1989; American Psychological Associate, 2007). Therefore, interacting

15 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 15 with sexualized female avatars can negatively influence self-perceived attractiveness among female players, as character s physical appearance is the primary information for comparisons in this interaction. For females, physical appearance plays a significant role in assessing their own mating desirability since it is the primary mating preference for males (Buss, 1989), thus illustrates the negative impact of decreased self-perceived attractiveness on female mating value. Some additional studies also show that sexualization of females in the media influence people s view on dating, in which females feel compelled to conform to younger standard of sexiness for relationship happiness (American Psychological Association, 2007). Such comparison might result in females thinking they are less desirable, as they continue to compare themselves with their social surroundings, including projection of female avatars. Although self-perceived attractiveness is highly influential in self-esteem for females, it is possible that while the mating value self-esteem is negatively influenced by interacting with sexualized female figures, appearance self-esteem might experience a smaller effect. In addition to the marginal difference, appearance self-esteem and SPMV appear to be highly correlated. Perhaps longer exposure is needed for self-perceived attractiveness to influence female s self-esteem, leading to a significant difference within appearance self-esteem. An alternate explanation for lack of significance in appearance self-esteem lies within the attractiveness of both characters. Different in appearances, the two characters shared a certain level of attractiveness which might influence appearance self-esteem. Because this study centrally focuses on sexuality, it is assumed that a child is suitable for the role of neutral character. However, both characters still share some level of attractiveness as the

16 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 16 neutral character could be considered as generally attractive instead of not sexually attractive. This might contribute to upward comparison within neutral conditions as well, which limits significant finding in appearance self-esteem. It suggests that for future study, a control group with no game interaction and an experimental unattractive character group can be included for a greater difference and contrast effect (Kenrick & Guiterres, 1980). Self-perceived attractiveness can also be tested for studying the relationship between sexualization and selfevaluations, and reveals deeper understanding of the reduction in both SPMS and appearance self-esteem. There was no significant effect found in performance component of state self-esteem. Possible explanation is that although self-esteem in performance and self-efficacy are somewhat related, performance self-esteem is more worth-orientated whereas self-efficacy is more ability-orientated (Bandura, 1997). For example, a female participant might have poor self-efficacy and is not confident in her ability to perform, but can still maintain stable performance self-esteem believing the things she do well are valued. Nonetheless, although participants are told that their performance in the game was not being taken into considerations, it is possible that participants are still affected by their in-game performances. Factors such as number of death, learning process of the game, and completion of in-game goals can potentially reduce group effects by influencing performance state self-esteem. Social self-esteem is the confidence one possess towards ones social status among peers, since the interaction with female character is not a pro-social or antisocial behavior, it is expected that this area of the state self-esteem would be affected the least. The absence of significance within total state self-esteem can be explained through two factors. First of all,

17 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 17 out of the three components of the scale, only one reported to be significant, which makes the total value less likely to produce a significant result. Moreover, it is possible that the brief interaction with the character was not long enough to have a significant impact on their state self-esteem. For instance, the study that demonstrated effect of sexualized characters on female s self-efficacy allows its participants to play as long as 30 minutes (Behm-Morawits & Mastro, 2009). Unlike appearance, which is an innately sensitive comparison for females (Buss, 1989) that can be established in a glance, other comparison might require interaction time that s longer than 20 minutes. No significant results are detected for males at all, primarily due to the limited sample size (n<30) in the study. Contrary to the hypothesis, observed trends show that male participants played sexualized character have lower self-esteems in all areas except for social. While social state self-esteem trend supports with our hypothesis, rest of the trends seem to oppose the proposed hypothesis. Out of the 11 subjects who self-identified as gamers, 10 of them were males, and 19 out of 26 male participants reported to play video games sometimes. This pre-exposure could possibly produce some type of resistance to the potential positive effect we postulated, which could be better understand with an increased sample size. Limitation and Future Application While the current study has interesting findings and potentials, a few limitations are presented. One area of limitation lies within the emphasis on mating value. Mating value, as assessed by Self-Perceived Mating Success, is not a direct indication of romantic desirability or romantic self-esteem. Instead, it focuses on attention from opposite sex and access to sexual partners for heterosexual population, undermining other sexual orientations and

18 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 18 reflecting primarily on short-term relationships. A homosexual female with high romantic self-esteem, someone who believes in her ability to obtain and maintain a long term romantic female partner, might result in low SPMS mating value as heterosexual sexual relationship is not her interest. On the other hand, someone who is only interested in committed relationships might have a low level of self-perceived mating value, but high level of selfperceived romantic desirability. Future study can focus on examining the effect of sexualization on homosexual players mating value and people s romantic self-esteem. Perhaps homosexual females will experience an increase in their mating value when exposed to sexualized female video game characters: they might be attracted to these video game characters, as opposed to feel the pressure of most heterosexual female due to upward social comparison. It is important to note that this study was not designed to critic the game development of League of Legends, but rather to reveal the potential effect of sexualized character portrayal. Throughout the study, the game was modified for a reduced difficulty for most inexperienced participants; features such as ranking, merchandise purchase, team coordination and performance scoreboard were eliminated as we did not want to overwhelm participants. Several possible future experiments can be derived from this using similar MOBA game with full activated features and experienced players. Even though participant s gaming history was collected, due to the uneven gender distribution and limited sample size (22% females reported playing video games, 73% males reported playing video games), no analysis was performed. As observed in male participants result trend, it could be that gaming history can produce resistance towards sexualization to protect self-esteem (Dill &

19 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 19 Thill, 2007), which is an interesting relationship for other researchers to explore. Another possible area for future study would be to look at the relationship between player viewing angles and the effect of sexualization. Throughout the game, participants interacted with characters by roaming around from a bird s eye view. In a previous study, promiscuously dressed female character with high gaze agent (immediate eye contacts with the player) led to higher rape myth acceptance among females (Fox & Bailenson), as participants viewed characters from a level-grounded point of view. Gazing as a non-verbal cue could convey dominant or hostile attitude, being viewed as either sexual intent by males or sexual dominance by females (Koukonas & Letch 2001). More research could be conducted on the topic of gazing and effect of sexualization. The lack of gazing in bird s eye view possibly reduced the sexualization effect in comparison to ground level games, as players are not experiencing the same type of interaction with sexualized characters. Interestingly, a significant relationship between character appearance and game satisfaction was revealed while doing supplementary analysis: although there were no significant group or gender effects, avatar attractiveness was positively correlated with enjoyment of the character, the game, and hours and money willing to spend on the game. This pointed the study to a new avenue looking at the relationship between sexualization and external evaluations. Halo effect, the tendency in which people s global evaluation influence attribution evaluation (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977), might explain this significant relationship: perhaps the attractiveness of the character created positive impression that lead o enhanced evaluations. A study could be developed testifying to what extent does sexualized outfits enhance experience and evaluation of the game by utilizing same characters in different

20 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 20 appearances (sexualized vs. non-sexualized; attractive vs. non-attractive). The present study offers some preliminary results and suggests dome potential for further work in the future. It is one of the limited studies focusing on the interaction with sexualized characters instead of exposing to images only, the investigation of sexualization in MOBA game, and the direct relationship between specific areas of self-esteem and sexualization. Although small, a negative effect of sexualization is apparent in this study. It is important for game developers to take these findings into consideration, as brief exposure and interactions with characters with overly sexual portrayal can affect how female players value and evaluate themselves. As technology continue to advance, video games are becoming one of the most popular entertainment resources among the younger generation. It is important for research on psychology of video games to continue in order to have a better understanding of the impact these virtual assassins embodies, so they may not hurt players in the process of enjoyment.

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24 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 24 explicit video game. Sex Roles, 62,

25 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 25 Appendix A State Self-Esteem Scale Subjects respond on a scale of 1 to 5 indicating how much they agreed with each item (1 = not at all, 5 = extremely) This is a questionnaire designed to measure what you are thinking at this moment. There is of course, no right answer for any statement. The best answer is what you feel is true of yourself at the moment. Be sure to answer all of the items, even if you are not certain of the best answer. Again, answer these questions as they are true for you RIGHT NOW. 1. I feel confident about my abilities. 2. I am worried about whether I am regarded as a success or failure. (reversed) 3. I feel satisfied with the way my body looks right now. 4. I feel frustrated or rattled about my performance. (reversed) 5. I feel that I am having trouble understanding things that I read. (reversed) 6. I feel that others respect and admire me. 7. I am dissatisfied with my weight. (reversed) 8. I feel self-conscious. (reversed) 9. I feel as smart as others. 10. I feel displeased with myself. (reversed) 11. I feel good about myself. 12. I am pleased with my appearance right now. (reversed) 13. I am worried about what other people think of me.

26 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM I feel confident that I understand things. 15. I feel inferior to others at this moment. (reversed) 16. I feel unattractive. (reversed) 17. I feel concerned about the impression I am making. (reversed) 18. I feel that I have less scholastic ability right now than others. (reversed) 19. I feel like I'm not doing well. (reversed) 20. I am worried about looking foolish. (reversed) Sum scores from all items and keep scale as a continuous measure of state selfesteem. The subcomponents are scored as follows: Performance Self-esteem items: 1, 4, 5, 9, 14, 18, 19. Social Self-esteem items: 2, 8, 10, 13, 15, 17, 20. Appearance Self-esteem items: 3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 16.

27 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 27 Appendix B Self-Perceived Mating Success Subjects respond on a scale of 1 to 7 indicating how much they agreed with each item (1 = disagree, 7 = agree) 1. Members of the opposite sex that I like, tend to like me back. 2. Members of the opposite sex notice me. 3. I receive many compliments from members of the opposite sex. 4. Members of the opposite sex are not very attracted to me. (reversed) 5. I receive sexual invitations from members of the opposite sex. 6. Members of the opposite sex are attracted to me. 7. I can have as many sexual partners as I choose. 8. I do not receive many compliments from members of the opposite sex. (reversed)

28 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 28 Appendix C Selected Item of Big Five Personality Test Subjects respond on a scale of 1 to 5 indicating how much they agreed with each item (1 = disagree, 5 = agree) 1. I am always prepared. 2. I get chores done right away. 3. I am exacting in my work. 4. I leave my belongings around. (reversed) 5. I shirk my duties. (reversed) 6. I change my mood a lot. 7. I get stressed out easily. 8. I worry about things. 9. I am relaxed most of the time. (reversed) 10. I seldom feel blue. (reversed)

29 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM 29 Appendix D Cover Story According to current research in video games, some evidence suggests that people's relationship and experience with video game characters depends on their personalities. In this study, we are looking to investigate more on how people's personal traits relate to their ingame experience. This study contains three parts. The first part requires you to view some text and graphic, the second part requires you to play a trial game, and the third part requires you answer some questions about yourself and your feelings. Here is your first part of the experiment, you will be viewing a series of graphic displaying a character that are potential characters you get to play in part II. In-Game Experience Please answer the following questions (10 point scale, 1=not at all, 5=neutral, 10=extremely) 1. How attractive do you think she is? 2. How fun do you think she is? 3. Did you enjoy the game? 4. If more time is given, would you play more? 5. If you can purchase the game, how much money are you willing to spend on the game? ( USD) Gaming History The following questions are questions regarding yourself and normal gaming habits.

30 Running Head: SEXUALIZATION AND SELF-ESTEEM What s your gender? Female, Male 2. Do you play video games? Yes, No 3. Do you consider yourself a gamer? Yes, No 4. How many hours do you spend on playing video games on a weekly basis? 5. How familiar are you to this game? (1=Never heard of, 2=I ve heard before, 3=I ve seen people playing it before, 4=I ve played it before/sometimes, 5=I m an active player myself)