Stereotypes in Video Games and How They Perpetuate Prejudice

Systemic research has only recently begun to examine the psychological effects of video games on users. To date, only two studies have examined how the exaggerated stereotypes of minorities in these games affect those who play them. During both studies, game play was found to bring about increases of prejudice, even in users who in screening initially rated low in prejudicial thinking. Taking the theories of how learning and stereotypes work, this paper integrates theoretical approaches into existing research on video games in order to bring about more awareness of the effect of racist images of minorities in the video game industry