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Female gamers and the nightmare protection thesis a further exploration
- 1. Female Gamers and the Nightmare Protection Thesis: A Further Exploration Alison Ditner Honor’s student in Jayne Gackenbach’s Video Game Lab International Association for the Study of Dreams, 2015
- 2. Overview • History of dreams • Dream Theories – Gaming connection • Previous research • My Research • Results
- 3. Dream Simulation Theory • Evolutionary advantage • Mimic threatening situations • Increasing survival value Revonsou & Valli (2000)
- 4. Continuity Hypothesis • Dreams tend to reflect waking experiences Schredl & Hofmann (2003); Schredl (2003)
- 5. Video Games • Increasing realism • A new route for rehearsing threatening situations • Waking practice influences dreams 1996 2013 Video Game: Tomb Raider
- 6. Nightmare Protection Theory • Well-rehearsed defensive responses due to video game play generalize to dreams • Study of military gamers – High end male gamers showed a decrease in nightmare frequency than low end males Gackenbach, Ellerman, & Hall (2011)
- 7. Gender Difference in Nightmare Protection Effect Male Female Hi Low Nightmare Intensity Gackenbach, Darlington, Ferguson, & Boyes (2013) Nightmare Protection
- 8. Explanation of Gender Difference Main explanations: a)Genre b)Sex-role Conflict c)Personality Variables d)Expressions of aversion in dreams, and pervasiveness of emotions during and after dreaming e)Game-related reactions in dreams Gackenbach, Darlington, Ferguson, & Boyes (2013)
- 9. Participants • Females • Dream recall > once a month • Game play of any frequency • Genre preferences: – Combat-centric: First person shooter, role- play, action-adventure – Non-combat-centric: driving, casual, puzzle, dance/music, card, etc.
- 10. Methods Prescreen • Gender • Dream Recall, Video Game Play, Genre Personality • BEM, BSQ, BFO Dream • Recent: Nightmare Report and Questions, MACE • Historical: Typical Dream Questions - DIS Post- Survey • Dream Threat Simulation – Independent Judges
- 11. Findings – Gamer GroupsLowEndGamers(68) 20 Combat 48 Non-Combat HighEndGamers(66) 41 Combat 25 Non-Combat Video Game Genre
- 12. Findings • Personality: – Extraversion higher in low end players – Agreeableness marginally higher in low end players • Social Media Use: – Low end females engaged significantly more in social media – Inconsistent with literature based on personality variables • Possible reason: Media use scale failed to capture new types of video game related social media
- 13. Findings • Game related responses: – Participants perceived similarity between their dream and video game responses to threat, no difference was found • Interaction styles with threat in reported nightmare • Tending Response – Higher in non-combat players • Seeking Help Response – Higher in low end combat players
- 15. Nightmare Aversion Low High Combat Combat Non- Combat Non- Combat Low High Nightmare Emotion Fear Consequences of Threat
- 16. Findings • Sex-role Orientation: – Combat players were marginally more masculine than non-combat playing females.
- 17. MACE • Strange significant findings
- 18. MACE Items Yes (Combat) Yes (Noncombat) No (Combat) No (Noncombat) OPTION: Did you choose between two or more options? (e.g. I chose to do my homework instead of going out to the movies) Nonsig nonsig Hi VG (69%)>Lo VG (31%) Hi VG (21%)<Lo VG (79%) COMMENT: Did you comment to yourself about any person or event? (e.g. I said to myself “that person looks like my sister”) Hi VG (66%)>Lo VG (34%) Hi VG (28%)<Lo VG (72%) Hi VG (72%)>Lo VG (28%) Hi VG (39%)<Lo VG (61%) ATTENTION: Did something or someone suddenly capture your attention? (e.g. I heard a scream behind me and I turned around to see what happened) Hi VG (63%)>Lo VG (37%) Hi VG (34%)<Lo VG (66%) Hi VG (86%)>Lo VG (53%) Hi VG (28%)<Lo VG (72%) FOCUS: Did you focus for a period of time on accomplishing a particular task? (e.g. I looked all over for my keys) Hi VG (61%)>Lo VG (39%) Hi VG (38%)<Lo VG (63%) Hi VG (76%)>Lo VG (24%) Hi VG (27%)<Lo VG (73%) DIFFICULTY: Did you experience any unusual difficulty in accomplishing anything you were trying to do? (e.g. My tennis serve is usually good, but for some reason I couldn’t get the ball over the net) Hi VG (65%)>Lo VG (35%) Hi VG (36%)<Lo VG (64%) Hi VG (74%)>Lo VG (26%) Hi VG (28%)<Lo VG (72%) CONCERN: Were you concerned about the impression you made, how you looked or how you appeared to others? (e.g I was afraid I’d seem foolish if I asked a question) Hi VG (75%)>Lo VG (25%) Hi VG (27%)<Lo VG (73%) Hi VG (66%)>Lo VG (34%) Hi VG (35%)<Lo VG (65%) EMOTION: Did you feel any emotions during the experiences? (e.g. I felt angry) Hi VG (69%)>Lo VG (31%) Hi VG (32%)<Lo VG (68%) Nonsig Nonsig SELF-THOUGHT: Did you think about your own thoughts or feelings? (e.g. I thought about the intensity of the jealousy I was feeling) Hi VG (65%)>Lo VG (35%) Hi VG (34%)<Lo VG (66%) Hi VG (75%)>Lo VG (25%) Hi VG (31%)<Lo VG (69%) TASK THINKING: Did you think about what you were doing? (e.g. I was thinking I need to be careful not to spill the boiling pot) Hi VG (62%)>Lo VG (38%) Hi VG (36%)<Lo VG (64%) Hi VG (77%)>Lo VG (23%) Hi VG (29%)<Lo VG (71%) AWARENESS THINKING: Did you think about what was happening around you? (e.g. I though about how people seemed to be running in all directions at once) Hi VG (65%)>Lo VG (35%) Hi VG (40%)<Lo VG (60%) Hi VG (82%)>Lo VG (18%) Hi VG (17%)<Lo VG (83%)
- 19. MACE • High end combat players are more likely to answer respond YES and NO than low end combat players. • Low end non-combat players are more likely to respond both YES and NO than high end non-combat players. • Still unsure what this exactly means
- 20. Future Directions • Examine both Males and Females using this study – Currently being undertaken • Explore the data in new ways – *what were they called. Not covariates? I don’t think • Experimentally examine Nightmare Protection in Females
- 21. Questions? Thank you to Dr. Gackenbach for your supervision! Thanks to Carson Flockhart and Cynthia Ma for your help! Slides can be found at: www.spiritwatch.ca And http://academic.macewan.ca/gackenbachj/ In the near future!
Editor's Notes
- Good afternoon! I’m Alison Ditner and today I will be talking to you about Female Gamers and the Nightmare Protection Thesis which is a further exploration of the work done previously by Dr. Jayne Gackenbach.
- Here is a quick overview of what I will be talking to you about today: I will quickly cover some: Historical view of dreams Dream theories and how these relate to gaming We will look at some previous research And the research that I conducted this year and the results
- Every night, as we and many other mammals are fast asleep, we dream. Even if you don't remember it, studies have shown that we all dream (Aserinsky & Kleitman, 1953) Dreams have been a phenomenon to humans throughout time with evidence from ancient civilizations conceptualizing dreaming dating back to 3100 BC. The question is why do we dream?
- Dreams have been conceptualized in evolutionary terms, such that dreams have a specific and important purpose in allowing us to mimic threatening situations in the real world in a safe manner. This allows us to practice ways to react to these situations, without real danger. This would have particular impact in more historical contexts when humans lived in more hostile environments.
- Dreams are hypothesized to follow the continuity hypothesis. Meaning that dreams reflect the experiences we have in waking life. When looking at the content of dreams, evidence has been found indicating that experiences people had in their day to day lives, like lots of driving, tend to occur in dreams.
- With ever increasing graphic capabilities, and immersive stories, video games have started to be seen as an alternative route for experiencing and practicing reactions to threatening situations, replacing the need for the simulation aspect of nightmares. Because we play video games during our waking lives, the practice afforded to gamers during the day, under dream continuity should also be reflected in our dreams by means of aiding gamers responses to threatening situations in their dreams.
- The well-rehearsed defensive responses due to video game play generalizes to dreams. In a study of military gamers, Dr. Gackenbach and her colleagues found that high end males (males who game more than once a week) showed a decrease in nightmare frequency compaired low end males (or males who game less than monthly). This is the nightmare protection hypothesis.
- This study shows that lo gamers, both male and female had about equal self-reported nightmare intensity. High Male Gamers had significantly decreased levels of nightmare intensity this is the nightmare protection effect ***CLICK***. High female gamers had significantly increased nightmare intensity. So the protection effect only seems to be happening in males! The aim of my current study is to try to figure out why this is…
- In conversation with Dr. Gackenabck, came up with some possible explanations for this gender difference Genre: perhaps the reason for this difference lies in the difference in typical genre of video game play for males and females Sex-role conflict: The traits of masculinity and femininity in female gamers may be playing a role in nightmare protection Personality differences The expression of aversion in dreams and the pervasiveness of emotions after dreaming (the types of threat, the emotions they cause and how long negative emotions last after waking up and how intense they are) And game-related reactions in dreams (are females actually using the same responses to threat in their nightmares as they use in their video game play)
- For my study we looked exclusively at females with a dream recall of more than once a month, and video game play of any frequency. We exclusively chose females who fit one of two genre prefrences of video game play: combat centric and non-combat centric. Combat-centric games are those that involve a fighting element, where as non-combat games do not have the fighting element. Examples of combat games are FPS, role-play and action-adventure. Non-combat games are typically casual games such as driving, puzzle, and dance/music games.
- Here is a quick look at the methods we used in this study. After passing the pre-screen criteria just discussed, participants moved on to fill out a series of questionnaires. First they answered some personality questionniares. The participants were then asked to report their most recent nightmare and answer questions pertaining to that nightmare. This was followed by questions about participant’s typical dreams.. Additionally, a media use questionnaire was completed by participants After the survey was completed, the nightmares were coded under Threat Simulation by independent judges who will evaluated different elements of threat in the nightmares.
- Cautionary note on cell size of low end combat groups, and high end non-combat groups. This may have affected findings
- Personality: In my literature research on personality variables, dreams and video game. I did not expect to find the traits of agreeableness and extraversion to show up. What I found was low end players tend to be more extraverted, as well as marginally more agreeable. When compared against information from social media literature, these results were even more surprising. Typically, the literature tells us that low end social media users tend to be less extroverted, but we found low end players to be more extroverted and be more frequent social media users. SO how could this be? One possibility is that our social media use measure failed to take an accurate measure of social media use through video games, such as built in messangers, video chats, and team voice chats. Maybe high end players, who are less extroverted, are actually engaging in a lot more social media, but just not through traditional means like facebook or email. More exploration needs to be taken on this topic to figure out if this is the reason our data is inconsistent with previous literature.
- Game relation: when asked about the similiarity between how they react to aversion in their self reported nightmare and video games, the groups showed no difference. However, we did only approach it by asking one question. Nightmare reports: Threat responses in nightmares can take many forms such as Tending, Befriending, Fight, Flight, and Engaging in Dialouge with the threat. By assessing the self-reported threat responses in the reported nightmares, we saw that non-combat players were more tending to others, and low end combat players sought more help from others to deal with threat. This Could be due to game play styles. In non-combat games, players often have nothing to lose by helping others, such as accepting requests for more lives. In combat games, however, aiding others could put you in more danger! Such as rushing into a combat area to revive a fallen teammate. When an infrequent combat player is in danger or struggling to advance in the game, they may look to others for advice, such as tactical tips. This usually offers no detriment to other players, and helps to increase survival and success rates of novice combat players and even their teams. So the similarities between game responses to threat and nightmare responses to threat may exist.
- Under our first hypothesis of Genre playing a role in nightmare protection via the rehearsal and continuity hypothesis discussed earlier, we found that females who frequently play video games of the combat style showed a significant decrease in the amount of self-reported fear they experienced during their nightmare and after waking from their nightmare! Interestingly, according to this data, for females who play combat games at low frequency, there is a significant increase in nightmare fear! Understandable under continuity, if you are playing a scary or traumatizing game, like combat games, but not playing enough to develop responses to these threats, then you may dream about those experiences at night and not be able to respond to them. This result not only showed how genre could be affecting nightmare protection, but also how females in these game groups may be experiencing aversion differently in their dreams.
- When we looked at how our judges coded threat under the Threat Simuluation coding scheme, we found that high end combat players had a marked increase in the severity of the consequences of threat compaired to the other video game groups. These consequences went from no loss to self, to mild loss, to severe loss. Even though high end gamers have more aversive content in their self-reported nightmares, they are having a much lower reaction of fear, which suggests to us that they are responding to and interpreting the aversive content in their dreams differently than the other groups! The different reactions to aversive content needs to be examined more exclusively in future studies.
- Sex-role: Found that… although it is marginal, it may reflect the hypothesis of stereo-type threat affecting nightmares in females. Traits of masculinity may protect some combat playing females from unconscious feelings of stereo-type threat, or the threat that as a women, there is something “wrong” with playing video games, especially combat video games, causing combat playing females with more feminine traits to feel more stereo-type threat. It is possible that females with more masculine traits naturally gravitate towards combat style video games, or that these video games bring out more masculine traits. It is unclear at this time how sex-role traits affect nightmare frequencies in these video game groups and much more further exploration is needed to see if there is a difference between low end and high end combat playing females in their sex-roles or stereo-type threat.
- CHI square row percentages as function of VGF X Genre group
- Are our stats wrong, did we ask the wrong questions…? However, it did just ask about the self-reported nightmare, and not an overall view of dreams. Perhaps in the future, participants should be asked to provide an example of instances in their nightmare, or MACE should be assessed by judges, this may be difficult though because participants do not often report their metacognitive thoughts in their dream report.