Those who lose at video games are more likely to lash out at female competitors with sexist slurs, a new study has found.
According to a study published in the journal PLOS One, men who harass women online are “low-status” and “non-dominant,” after tests conducted using the Xbox 360 game Halo 3 found that those who were on the losing side of things were more likely to harass female competitors, while those on the winning end were far more cordial.
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The study, titled Insights into Sexism: Male Status and Performance Moderates Female-Directed Hostile and Amicable Behaviour, monitored how men treated women during 163 sessions of Halo 3, with researchers observing and tracking the comments players left to one another. In general it was discovered that males were more likely to react negatively to female players if they were losing, and while it was also noted that male players would also insult other male players, too, a poorer performance would lead to female competitors taking a disproportionate amount of the flack.
Here’s an excerpt from the study explaining the researchers’ findings:
“The goal of this study was to examine the moderating effect of performance and skill on the frequency of positive and negative statements towards a female- or male-voiced teammate in an online first-person shooter video game—a metric providing insight into sexism. We found that skill determined the frequency of positive and negative statements spoken towards both male- and female-voiced teammates. In addition, poorer performance (fewer kills and more deaths) resulted in more negative statements specifically in the female-voiced manipulation. We thus argue that our results best support an evolutionary explanation of female-directed aggression. Low-status males that have the most to lose due to a hierarchical reconfiguration are responding to the threat female competitors pose. High-status males with the least to fear were more positive, suggesting they were switching to a supportive, and potentially, mate attraction role.”
While playing with male teammates, men generally follow rules associated with navigating hierarchies. Skill did not moderate focal player positivity towards a male-voiced teammate, but higher skilled individuals were less negative. In addition, when performing poorly, players increased the number of positive and neutral statements, and were generally less negative towards a male-voiced teammate. As decreased cooperation or behaviours that lead to failure are often punished by teammates, the increase of positive and neutral statements and relatively less-frequent use of negative statements suggests poor-performing, lower-skilled males are demonstrating submissive behaviour towards a male-voiced teammate.
Males behaved in the opposite manner when playing with a female-voiced teammate. Overall, the female-voiced manipulation experienced a greater frequency of negative comments, but female-directed negativity decreased as focal-player performance improved. In addition, focal-player skill further moderated player behaviour with the lowest-skilled males behaving less positively towards a female voice. Focal players also increased the use of positive statements as their skill increased. Taken together, these results suggest that it is lower-skilled poorer-performing males that are significantly more hostile towards females, and higher-skilled focal players are more supportive.
So the study has concluded that sexists are – quite literally – losers. Who knew?
A key takeaway from the study is that the men who were harassing the women were said to be doing so because their participation upset the social hierarchy that had been established during the play sessions, and they therefore perceived themselves as the individuals most likely to suffer due to their poor performance.
As the ratio of men to women leaned more heavily towards men, the introduction of a female competitor changed the aforementioned hierarchy, and those who considered themselves to be of a lower status thought they were the most at risk to be disregarded by their fellow male competitors. In other words, it was believed that their sexism was a result of their embarrassing need to be accepted by their peers, and they therefore insulted female players in order to make themselves look better.
I can’t say that I’m particularly surprised by these findings, but if nothing else they serve as a sage reminder that those who bully and harass others online are doing so as a result of their own insecurities.
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