Influence of culture and media on gender roles

Question 1

Culture

Answer 1

• The ideas, customs and social behaviour of a particular group of people or society
• Cross cultural research - noted for its valuable contribution to the nature-nurture debate in gender
• Universal features - suggests innate basis for gender = Nature
• Culturally specific features - Suggests gender is learned = Nurture

Question 2

Research on cultural differences

Answer 2

• Mead
• Nature
• Lived with various tribes in New Guinea for 6 months - ethnographic study
• Tribe 1 - Both men and women were feminine
• Tribe 2 - Both men and women were masculine
• Tribe 3 - Gender roles reversed
• Concluded - May not be a direct biological relationship between sex and gender (gender roles depend on culture) - Found in later work that she underestimated the universal nature of gender typical behaviour

Question 3

Research on cultural similarities

Answer 3

• Buss
• Nurture
• Carried out survey in 37 countries - p’s had to raise importance of certain characteristics of a potential mate
• Found consistent patterns across the 37 countries - males rated good looks and youthful as important - women rated financial prospects and dependability important
• Supports idea that there are cross-cultural similarities in gender roles

Question 4

Media

Answer 4

Media provides role models who children may identify and want to imitate

Question 5

Rigid stereotypes

Answer 5

The media may play a role in reinforcing stereotypes concerning male and female behaviour
- e.g men are independent and women are dependent, men go out to work and women are domestic

Question 6

Research on stereotypes

Answer 6

• Content analysis of sex-role stereotypes in adverts
• Men tended to be used in power positions and women in familial roles
• Voiceovers tend to be males - more authority
• Media play a role in reinforcing sex-role stereotypes

Question 7

Research on media exposure

Answer 7

• Children who have more exposure to popular forms of media tend to display more gender stereotypes
• Research has found that people who view a lot of TV tend to display more gender stereotypical views in their behaviour and attitudes than people who view very little

Question 8

Self-efficacy

Answer 8

• The media influences what gender behaviour children believe they are capable of

Question 9

Culture - evaluation - limitation 1

Answer 9

• Criticisms of Mead’s research
• She may have become too involved with the tribes so her findings are too subjective
• Suggests she may have exaggerated these differences and characteristics of each male and female groups

Question 10

Culture - evaluation - limitation 2

Answer 10

• Reactivity
• The presence of the researcher in these studies may alter the behaviour of those being studied (social desirability bias)

Question 11

Media - evaluation - limitation 1

Answer 11

• Difficult to establish cause and effect
• The media has considerable influence on the formation and maintenance of children’s gender stereotypes but does the media create these stereotypes or reflect prevailing social norms about males and females

Question 12

Media - evaluation - limitation 2

Answer 12

• Difficult to establish the media’s effect without control groups
• The majority of children are exposed to the media on a regular basis and therefore finding control groups of children who are beyond the media’s influence are not available for comparison