Workshop:
Designing and Researching Games to Reduce Stereotypes and Biases: A Psychological Approach
The workshop will give audience members a first-hand perspective on the psychological approach employed by Tiltfactor Laboratory to create and study games to reduce stereotypes and social biases. Participants will play buffalo and Awkward Moment, two card games created by Tiltfactor as part of a National Science Foundation-funded project addressing gender stereotypes in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), and complete sample post-game assessment materials used in recent experimental studies. Following game play, the presenters will provide a thorough debriefing to explain the psychological foundation of the games’ designs, the means by which the games combat stereotypes and bias, and the preliminary results from completed research involving both games. The session will close with a general discussion centering on the challenges and rewards of conducting rigorous, controlled research to test the efficacy of games, as well as the value of utilizing a cross-disciplinary approach to game design and research.
Geoff Kaufman, Mary Flanagan