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Date of Award

Spring 2025

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department or Program Affiliation

Department of Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Czopp, Alex

Second Advisor

Lehman, Barbara J.

Third Advisor

Bell, Angela C.

Abstract

Prejudicial comments within online player vs. player (PvP) video games have become normalized. Players with marginalized identities frequently hear comments that denigrate their identities. Social norms (descriptive norms and injunctive norms; Cialdini et al., 1990), and misperceptions of those social norms (pluralistic ignorance; Allport, 1924), may be influencing online players to use prejudicial comments or avoid confronting prejudicial comments when they typically would not. Study One investigated whether social norms influenced prejudicial behavior and confrontation behavior in an observational study using United States residents who played online PvP video games (N = 174). We found there is a collective misperception of other players’ behaviors and attitudes. Participants believed video game players made prejudicial comments more often than they actually did, and believed they approved of prejudicial comments more than they actually did. We found both social norms predicted players making prejudicial comments, but only descriptive norms predicted players confronting prejudicial comments. In Study Two, we experimentally manipulated confrontation norms (pro-confrontation vs. anti-confrontation) and anticipated social reactions post-confrontation (supportive vs. unsupportive), and measured confrontation intentions after participants witnessed an online sexism incident. There was an interaction; White American men who played First-Person Shooter online games (N = 201) reported higher confrontation intentions only when they received information that most players approved of online confrontations and anticipated support from other players after they confronted. This effect was only true for public confrontations, not for private confrontations. Implications for future research, industry applications, and the individual player’s role in changing the current norms are discussed.

Type

Text

Keywords

social norms, pluralistic ignorance, video game, prejudice, discrimination

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

1524311125

Subject – LCSH

Video games--Social aspects--United States; Video games--United States--Psychological aspects; Prejudices--Social aspects--United States; Prejudices--United States--Psychological aspects; Discrimination--Social aspects--United States; Discrimination--United States--Psychological aspects; Social norms--United States--Psychological aspects

Geographic Coverage

United States

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Rights Statement

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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