Visual Gender and Its Motivational and Cognitive Effects – a User Study

Cognitive and motivational effects of more neutral or androgynous-looking virtual characters versus more pronouncedly feminine-looking or masculine-looking virtual characters are explored. In a user study, 158 students aged 17-19 encountered four virtual characters that were visually manipulated to represent gender stereotypicality versus androgyny. One aim was to explore students’ attitudes towards the different characters as seen in how they ranked them as preferred presenters and how they articulated their arguments for doing so. Another aim was to look for patterns as to which character(s) influenced female and male students most positively with respect to their attitudes towards a university level computer engineering programme. The combination of these two aims allowed us to compare more conscious and articulated with less conscious and unarticulated, user responses. Results from the study are presented and discussed. We conclude by pointing towards future research and applications.