Influence of media and culture on gender roles (gender)

Question 1

Why do psychologists look at influence of culture on gender roles?

Answer 1

• Assess if gender is a biological or social construct

(if gender was solely biological, then the difference cultures people experience around the world wouldn’t impact upon their gender)

Question 2

Explain Mead’s research into the differences in gender roles between different societies

Answer 2

• for 6 months she lived with 3 different tribes and observed them
• She recorder behaviours shown by males and females in each group

Question 3

What were the results from Mead’s study and what conclusions can be drawn from this?

Answer 3

• 1st tribe= both males and females were masculine

-2nd tribe= both males and females were feminine

-3rd tribe= the roles of men and women were the opposite of the traditional roles in Western societies

——-> conclusion= different cultures show different gender related behaviour, suggesting nurture over nature

Question 4

AO3 evaluation of Mead:

Answer 4

• Unscientific, she went to the tribes with a strong nurture view point and that was what she found, experimenter bias

-Cross cultural studies show imposed etic and sports findings may not be generalisable

• She later changed her own viewpoint, saying women are ‘naturally’ better at childcare , invalidates her previous research and insight
• Some researchers went back and reviewed Mead’s documents and found that in the 3rd tribe in fact no sex dominated the other and meads conclusions had been wrong–> leads us to question the rest of her findings

Question 5

AO3 evaluation of influence of culture

Answer 5

• Research support for different gender roles=
• tribe in North America had gender roles that were different to Western societies
• Native Americans had a 3rd gender, called the BERDACHE. These people had a male and female identity and had specific traits. Different to western culture that only specifies 2 genders.
• Madagascar boys who are pretty are raised as girls and readily adopt the female gender role, marry men and are treated as women
• Some stereotypes and gender roles don’t vary cross culturally, suggesting a biological role to them. Globalisation may be the cause of less differences in gender stereotypes, suggesting that social influences are stronger than biological ones.
• Gender roles should be seen as a combination of nature and nurture— gender role is initially established and then is later modified by society

Question 6

Influence of media on gender roles- general points=

media influences include TV, __________________________

Children who consume more media develop _______ perceptions of gender roles

Answer 6

• magazines, social media, pop music
• stronger

Question 7

Influence of media on gender roles- 3 studies

Answer 7

• HUSTON AND WRIGHT
  Found that in most US TV shows, men outnumber women and are shown in more dominant roles, with women in a smaller range of inferior roles
• BEE
  Found that children’s books are gender stereotyped.
  Also noticed that TV commercials aimed at boys are fast-paced, sharp and loud whereas the ones aimed for girls are quiet and slow.
• WARTMAN
  Found that on Facebook there’s often portrayals of traditional gender stereotypes. Males conform to the traditional view of masculinity and females conform to the traditional views of femininity.
  –> Shows that although social networking is a new phenomenon it can be used to enforce traditional gender roles

Question 8

AO3 evaluation of the influence of media on gender roles

Answer 8

• The fact that ‘heavy’ TV watchers are associated with strong gender roles is merely a correlation
• If TV promotes negative gender- role stereotypes, then it can be used to promote positive non-gender-role stereotypes
  ———————> study done on 12 year olds where they showed them a TV programme designed to counter gender stereotypes and they found that both sexes had reduced levels of gender stereotyping
• Too simplistic to see children as passive recipients of media messages about gender. Children choose characters and events to respond to suggesting a cognitive input
• Media influences on gender development may be exaggerated, as most gender development takes place up to 4 years of age where media has little influence.
  –> therefore when media is consumed later on, it most likely reinforces already held gender stereotypes, not create them