Females' video game playing motivation and performance: examining gender stereotypes and competence goals

Unrestricted Research on gender and video game playing has long been interested in the question of why females play fewer video games and play video games less frequently than males do. The present dissertation examines the immediate impacts of a negative gender stereotype on females' motivation for and performance in playing a racing video game. Exposure to a negative gender stereotype about video game playing was expected to decrease competence beliefs and motivation to play the game, as well as worsened performance. Mastery orientation, which emphasizes developing competence, was theorized to be more beneficial for competence beliefs and motivation towards video game playing, relative to performance orientation, which emphasizes the demonstration of competence relative to others. Measurement of achievement goals and manipulation of stereotype exposure indicated trends towards the predicted motivational outcomes. Implications for theories of video game playing and achievement motivation are discussed.关于性别与电子游戏游玩的开放性研究长期以来一直聚焦于一个核心议题：为何女性相较于男性，游玩电子游戏的数量更少、频率更低。本学位论文考察了负面性别刻板印象对女性游玩竞速类电子游戏的动机与表现的即时影响。过往研究推测，接触与电子游戏游玩相关的负面性别刻板印象，会降低女性的能力感知与游戏游玩动机，同时削弱其游戏表现。相较于强调向他人展示自身能力的成绩目标定向（performance orientation），以提升自身能力为核心的掌握目标定向（mastery orientation）被理论认为更有助于提升个体对电子游戏游玩的能力感知与动机水平。对成就目标（achievement goals）的测量以及对刻板印象激活的操控实验结果，呈现出与预期动机结果相符的趋势。本研究探讨了该发现对电子游戏游玩理论与成就动机理论的启示意义。