“Who in their right minds plays Pokemon Go?”
New technologies, old prejudices.
It doesn’t matter how advanced technology is: VR, Machine Learning or Internet of Things, human beings still have our little things, imperfections and shadows. The tolerance to diversity and to differences is a challenge for humanity since we exists.
“Everyone who reads Facebook has nothing to do”
“Who in their right mind plays Pokemon go?”
“Pinterest is only for crafts without interest”
“I don’t like anyone who doesn’t post on social media like me”
Rather than talking about prejudices, psychologist talk about micro-aggressions, or small gestures of digital expression, preconceptions of who uses what technology and how; specially with mind blowing successes like Pokemon Go or Chewbacca Mom (“really, who watches that? Millions of people no less)
On the other side of the coin, a side that interests me much more is how technological development can help us be better persons. Precisely regarding these issues, the investigation that is being put forth on game experiences and devices to manage and even minimize the prejudice effect. In the end, the internet, in general is a big experimental simulation of the other side, our side.
A study form Yale University, depicts how their exists a great deal of investigation that demonstrates how looking at certain media content can help reduce prejudices, and video games in particular, have a special power as they mimic situations that are close to reality via simulation, in which the users can control a character that is going through certain difficulties. These investigators, in specific, studied how a particular game experience provides a positive framework to handle certain prejudices about low-income social sectors.
Interesting: the result is not that evident, I see the game, and I stop having prejudices about poor people. Here they go. The longer the participant played the game, the more they demonstrated a better attitude towards certain indicators that measure prejudice. The game was perceived as an educational experience, that is to say the objective of minimizing prejudices about low income people was evident, explicit; this educational experience connected with personal believes about public policies and legislations systems that can better equality.
Prejudices are not, in general, 100% individual attitudes, rather they are related to a political and economic context that obligates the observer to take a stand and assume agreement or disagreement with others.
In another investigation from The University of Darmouth, the investigators asked high school boys to participate in two video-games: Buffalo: The Name-Dropping Game, in which the players are invited to name women with a profession in physics, and the other, Awkward Moment, where the players have to decide what to do in a simulation where they sell t shirts for women that say “Math is hard!” The results? The ones that played “Buffalo” felt more concerned about their own potential to have a career in science, because the game was based on their own knowledge more than on demonstrating an attitude. The ones that played “Awkward Moment”, after being exposed to certain images of women, were 30% more prone than the ones that weren’t, to assume scientific careers in female images. For now, totally arguable. But the fact that scientific study is increasing about the power that technology has to mold and train human capacities is very promising. Let’s continue to keep a close eye…