Found on heatst.com
Last year, a study by Italian researchers provided “evidence” that Grand TheftAuto makes male teenagers have less empathy towards women. The research was picked up by outlets like The Daily Beast and uncritically spread around the web.
It fit neatly into the narrative that gamers are sexist and the media they enjoyed were contributing factors. But as with most sociological studies, it has been debunked by yet another sociological study.
Two researchers, Christopher Ferguson and M. Brent Donnellan, reanalyzed the data and published their results in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. They found there was “little evidence” for video games affecting empathy towards women.
“Our reanalysis raised concerns about the strength of the evidence,” wrote Ferguson and Donnellan. “Thus, our reanalysis joins an increasing body of literature that suggests there may be little link between sexism in games and sexism in real life.”
They also mentioned that prior studies did not conclusively find a link between video games and sexism.
Read more at: heatst.com
