8/ Gender- The influence of media on gender roles Flashcards
what is the definition of gender roles?
behaviours and attitudes considered appropriate for one gender and inappropriate for the other
what is the definition of media?
public forms of communication such as TV, film, books, commercial
what research has been done into the role of the media on gender? 1
tv programmes and commercials - williams et al
what research did williams et al into tv and commercials carry out?
assessed children with access to tv and no tv in a natural experiment, No tv town was called Notel, town with one channel - unitel and 4 channels called multitel. assessed gender roles and children with access to tv had more stereotyped behavior
what are criticisms of Williams et al research?
poor cause and effect - extraneous variables because of a natural experiment, cannot repeat
what research has been done into the role of the media on gender? 2
social media - study in 2013 investigated relationship between language and gender by analysing thousands of twitter messages - females used more emotive language and a higher number of emoticons.
what does this research about the twitter messages suggest?
media can portray males and females in traditional gender roles and therefore can influence children from a young age.
why does research into the social media (twitter study) have poor cause and effect?
unsure if children are already gender stereotyped so they actively seek out gendered media, which came first?
how might media influences on gender roles be exaggerated?
gender development occurs at 4 years old when media influences are weak - likely that media reinforces existing gender role beliefs rather than create them.
what potential PA does research into influence of media on gender roles have?
suggests that media creates and maintains traditional gender role stereotypes - therefore should be possible for the media to help breakdown these stereotypes eg. encouraging female scientists
what issues can be brought about about media on gender roles?
deterministic and mechanistic way - children are seen as passive recipients pf media messages about gender roles - however children may actively select characters and events to respond to suggesting a cognitive input rather than purely a social learning effect.
what approach does this topic refer to?
social learning theory - media provides role models whom children may identify with and want to imitate. Children are more likely to select role models of same sex as they are showing THEIR gender appropriate behaviour.
