The drench effects of narrative video games and their effects on relationships between adult men and young girls

Date of Award

2015

Degree Name

M.A. in Communication

Department

Department of Communication

Advisor/Chair

Advisor: Teresa L. Thompson

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify if the drench hypothesis could explain changes in nurturing responses of men towards girls as a result of playing a narrative video game. Additionally, further measures were taken to examine the mechanisms leading to changes to perceptions. A survey measured a small sample of young men's nurturance before and after playing their game. Pre-test and post-test nurturance scores were compared. Additionally, a survey designed to measure the drench effects of their experience playing the game was conducted after testing. Analysis of the effectiveness of the drench effects scale, and analysis of its ability to predict changes to nurturance were conducted. No significant changes were found among the pre-test and post-test scores. Thus, drench effects were not found to be a determinant of changes to nurturing responses. Analysis of the scale revealed that identification with characters was the best determinant of drench effects. Future research into the variables influencing the drench effect of video games is needed.

Keywords

Drench hypothesis, Video gamers Attitudes, Man-woman relationships, Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.), Impression formation (Psychology), Video game characters, Communication, drench hypothesis, communications, relationships, nurturing, video games, media effects, the walking dead, identification, parasocial interaction, modeling

Rights Statement

Copyright © 2015, author

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS