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Nightmare protection hypothesis and female gamers
- 1. Nightmare Protection Hypothesis and Female Gamers Arielle Boyes and Jayne Gackenbach MacEwan University Boyes, A. & Gackenbach, J.I. (2014, June). Nightmare Protection Hypothesis and Female Gamers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, Berkley, CA. Abstract published in the International Journal of Dream Research, http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/IJoDR/issue/view/1703.
- 2. Video Games • Hard-core video games often portray the main characters as fighting back against threats. This provides a scenario similar to the one Revonsuo (2000) argues dreams evolved for. • Also, provides a realm for fight-or-flight responses (Taylor, 2012).
- 3. Social Media • Social media provides users with a new medium for social contact. – Cirucci (2013a) suggests that winning in gaming is defeating one’s foes, while winning in social media is becoming a celebrity. – In previous study Gackenbach & Boyes found: • Differences seemed to support the nightmare protection thesis of video game play such that high end gaming, no matter the degree of social media use, suffered less from these negative types of dreams. Additionally, the high VGP/high SMU group had the thinnest psychological boundaries and thus were perhaps most susceptible to media effects. While at the same time this group of high end media users showed the least negative self concepts in their recent dream content. This was reflected in their typical dream reports as well.
- 4. Nightmare Protection Hypothesis • Gackenbach, Ellerman, and Hall (2011) conducted a study on military gamers. – They found: – For those not currently experiencing PTSD, video game play appeared to lessen the effects of nightmares. – These dreams were seen as being more empowering – A limitation of this study was that it included an almost entirely male population.
- 5. But… • When Gackenbach, Darlington, Ferguson and Boyes (2013) replicated this study with a student population they found: – For male high-end gamers, the nightmare protection hypothesis appeared to hold – However, female high-end gamers were still troubled by their nightmares.
- 6. Hypotheses • Genre of games played may be causing the gender divide. • Women may be experiencing more stereotype threat. • Coping responses may differ between genders. Females may be utilizing tend and befriend responses.
- 7. Methods • Data was gathered on: demographics, video game history and social media use, BRIEF Cope, Stereotype Threat and a Dream Questionnaire. • A nightmare was collected with questions about it • Four groups were examined: high-end male gamers, low-end male gamers, high-end female gamers, and low-end female gamers – video game groups based on factor scores of game history questions – lower 2/3 (lows) and upper 1/3 (highs)
- 8. Results- Demographics • 355 participants, – of this 272 reported nightmares. • Of the 101 males, 68 were high-end gamers • Of the 194 females, 31 were high-end gamers. • Participants ranged in age from 17 years old to 50 years old with a mean age of 20 years old.
- 9. Differences in Nightmare Protection Sex Males Females Nature of Threat Low-End Gamers High-End Gamers Means 2.20 2.40 2.60 2.80 3.00 3.20 Nightmare protection
- 10. More Differences in Nightmare Protection • In-dream emotions • 15 emotions asked about • Factor analysis reduced these to three factors • Sex x gamer x dream emo fac score ANCOVA (#words/dream as covariate) • Three way interaction
- 11. Results-Dream Variables Low-End Gamers High-End Gamers Negative Emotions Low-End Gamers High-End Gamers Fear Positive Emotions Male Female Male Female Male Female Low-End Gamers High-End Gamers Low-End Gamers High-End Gamers
- 12. Results- Gaming Variables • Participants answered questions about their favorite genre. • These genres were divided into seven categories. • First-person shooters, action-adventure games, strategy, role-playing, driving and sports games were more popular among high-end male gamers. • Females played more music, dance, and casual games. The group most likely to not report having a favorite game was low-end female gamers.
- 13. Results- Social Media Variables • Factor analysis was conducted on video game and social media use. • Factor 1: Video game variables all loaded together on this factor from which gaming groups were identified • Factor 2: Social media for professional use • Factor 3: Social media breadth and speed
- 14. Results- Media Use Variables Factor 3- Social Media Use Speed and Breadth Means -0.60 -0.40 -0.60 0.00 0.20 0.40 Sex Males Females Low-End Gamers High-End Gamers Male Female
- 15. Results- Brief Coping Scale • Sex Main Effects: – Females use more social support, reassessment and denial. – Males use more alcohol and drugs and self- negativity • Gamer Main Effects: – High-end gamers use more reassessment and denial.
- 16. Results- Brief Coping Scale BCS- Denial Subscale Means -0.60 -0.40 -0.20 0.00 0.20 Sex Males Females High-End Gamers Low-End Gamers
- 17. Stereotype Threat • Participants completed the Social Identities and Attitudes Scale (SIAS). • Irrelevant subscales were removed from analysis – Females scored higher on gender items and negative self – High-end gamers scored higher on negative self.
- 18. Results: Coping in Dreams • Self report of frequency of each type of response to nightmare (fight, flight, tend, befriend) • ANCOVA on Sex x gamer x type of response frequency with # of words covariate • Main effect: type of response (Flight>Fight>Tend>Befriend) • Interactions: sex x response • Sex x gamer x response (1=fight; 2=flight; 3=trend; 4=befriend)
- 19. Results-Dream Variables Males Females Males Females Males Females Males Females Low-End Gamers Low-End Gamers Low-End Gamers Low-End Gamers High-End Gamers High-End Gamers High-End Gamers High-End Gamers Fight Response in Dream Flight Response in Dream Tend Response in Dream Befriend Response in Dream
- 20. Discussion • Overall, results further indicated a male-female high end gamer difference in nightmare protection (males have it while females do not) • Provided support for our hypotheses. – Genre: F>M casual types – Stereotype threat: • F>M gender & Negative self • Hi>Lo gamer groups negative self; no difference in gender – Coping style in waking • Hi>Lo gamer groups reassessment & Denial • Denial interacted with sex (low end males did not use denial as much) – Coping in dream • Male gamers use fight way more than female gamers
- 21. Questions?
- 22. References • Ashforth, B., Kreiner, G. & Fugate, M. (2000). All in a day’s work: Boundaries and micro-role transitions. The Academy of Management Review, 25(3), 472-491 • Cirucci, A. M. (2013a). First person paparazzi: Why social media should be studied more like video games. Telematics and Informatics, 30(1), 47-59. • Coutts, R. (2008). Dreams as modifiers and tests of mental schemas: An emotional selection hypothsis. Psychological Reports, 102(2). 561-574 • Crick, F. & Mitchison, G. (1983). The function of dream sleep. Nature, 304(5922), 111-114 • Empson, J. (1993). Sleep and dreaming. England: Harvester Wheatsheaf • Gackenbach, J., Ellerman, E. & Hall, C. (2011). Video game play as nightmare protection: A preliminary inquiry with military gamers. Dreaming, 21(4), 221-245 • Gackenbach, J., Darlington, M., Ferguson, M., & Boyes, A. (2013). Video game play as nightmare protection: A replication and extension. Dreaming, 23(2), 97-111 • Montangero, J. (2012). Dreams are narrative simulations of autobiographical episodes, not stories or scripts: A review. Dreaming, 22(3), 157-172 • Nahari, G., Glicksohn, J. & Nachson, I. (2009). Do textual features affect credibility judgment? It all depends on who is the judge. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23(2), 288-295 • Schredl, M. (2006). Factors affecting the continuity between waking and dreaming: Emotional intensity and emotional tone of the waking-life event. Sleep and Hypnosis, 8(1), 1-5
Editor's Notes
- Hard-core video games such as first person shooter, mmos, etc
- Limitation: almost male population
- Will verbally explain in more depth- drawing from my intro.
- . Participants were analyzed as a function of gender and gamer group. Participants were considered low-end gamers if they fell into the lower two-thirds of responding, the upper third was considered high-end gamers. Not all subjects reported nightmares thus the cell sizes are larger than the total who reported nightmares.
- All Ss – near sig (.08) interaction Low-end gaming males scored much higher levels of threat in their dreams. High-end gaming males showed less threats, This verifies the nightmare protection effect we expected to find. High-end female gamers showed more threat than low-end female gamers. This is what we previously found and are trying to explain with the current inquiry.
- Three groups of in-dream emotions were given. Group one- general negative: anger, frustration, sadness, hate, jealous, embarrassed, downhearted. For negative emotions, low0end gamers showed the opposite of high-end gamers. High-end males showed less negative emotions than low-end male gamers. Whereas low-end female gamers showed less negative emotions than high-end gamers. This demonstrates the nightmare protection hypothesis.
- (dremo1=neg emo;dremo2=fear;dremo3=pos emo) – negative emotions like frustration, may be motivating while fear/terror freeze responses
- Favorite gamer genres were grouped into categories, the first category consisted of first-person shooter and action-adventure games, the second category consisted of strategy games, the third category contained simulation and role-playing games, our fourth category was racing and sport games, the fifth was music and dance games, the sixth category was casual games. Finally, a seventh category was created for participants who skipped the question or answered none. Confirms that there are differences in gameplay genre. “Why would low-end females be more likely not to report a favorite genre??” Least invested group, possible stereotypes, men may feel more obligation to enjoy some sort of video game.
- Gaming variables consistently factor out together. Social media is much messier. “Why??” Many elements go into social media use, Huge variation in types and purposes of social media sites. Ie wordpress for blogging vs. instagraming for sharing pictures. Different people will use these differently. Factor 2- linkedin, lastfm, flickr, bing, blogger Factor 3- twitter and use of cell phone- using it the most. There were 7 factors but these showed effects as a function of gaming history and sex of subject
- Sex main effect- females use youtube (factor 5) and pinterest (factor 7) more Gamer main effect- facebook/cellphone use. (factor 3) High-end gamers are using twitter and cell phones more. Low-end males are not using at all but low-end females do.
- BCS has fourteen subscales- we did factor analysis to reduce these to seven and they mimicked in large part the original version.
- Gaming inflates denial in high-end male gamers – it’s a great device to deny problems and who better to do that then those who play games Minimal difference in females.
- Ethnic and math stereotype threat subscales removed
- Low-end gamers did not show huge differences in their use of fighting as a coping response. However, high-end males were significantly more likely to use fighting than high-end females. Of the four coping responses, fighting is the one that showed the biggest differences. Flight was used by both groups of females more than males.
- This is being followed-up on in future studies addressing sex-role orientation As expected, in both the high-end and low-end male gamers preferred the hard-core genre. While high-end females tended to play a lot of hardcore games, as predicted casual games were preferred more than by their male counterpart