The influence of Media on Gender Roles Flashcards
How could this influence behaviour according to Social Learning Theory?
Viewers identify with TV characters/celebrities, so they become role models
If viewers observe their behaviour receiving a positive outcome then vicarious reinforcement will occur.
Mediational processes will influence whether or not the behaviour is actually imitated.
Gunter (1986):
Heavy viewers of television tend to hold stronger stereotyped beliefs about gender compared to those who watch less television.
Huston and Wright (1988):
Found that in US TV programmes males almost always outnumber females, especially in children’s programmes, with men shown in dominant roles and higher occupational status and women in a narrow range of inferior roles and less able to deal with problems.
This supports the idea that gender role stereotypes are present in the media, perhaps contributing to our own gender role stereotypes and behaviour.
Williams (1985) Notel, Unitel and Multitel study
Studied 3 Canadian towns (codenames):
Notel - surrounded by mountains, not able to receive a TV signal
Unitel - only one Canadian TV channel (CBC)
Multitel - access to a number of American TV channels
The behaviour and attitudes of the children in these towns was assessed using questionnaires about their gender stereotypes (e.g. asking what characteristics were more typical of boys and girls).
Findings: Children in Notel and Unitel had weaker sex-typed views than the children in Multitel.
This was especially true for girls.
The children were reassessed two years after the introduction of TV in Notel and it was found that their views had become significantly more sex-typed.
but, It’s introduction may have had other effects,
such as reducing face to face socialisation, which could have an effect on behaviour.
Although the study does appear to have high ecological validity, there are many factors that cannot be controlled for e.g. the fact that children in Notel live in a very rural setting, there may be many factors in their lives that are different to the other children in the study.
Charlton (2000)
It is very difficult to demonstrate the effects of media stereotypes because almost all children watch some TV.
One similar study looking at the effects of TV on aggression (Charlton et al. 2000) did not find that there was a change in behaviour once TV was introduced and that differences between children with and without TV were due to pre-existing community values.
However, it could also be argued that these studies have low population validity, for example, the Notel sample was a small group of children from one place (ethnocentric)
Steinke et al (2008)
Findings
Findings:
Of 196 scientist characters (across 14 popular TV programmes) 58% were male
Male scientists were no more likely than female scientists to be portrayed as high status
Female scientist characters were not more likely than males to be portrayed with feminine qualities (dependence, romantic etc.)
Male scientist characters were more likely than females to be portrayed with masculine qualities (independence, dominance but not athleticism)
Steinke et al (2008)
conclusion
Popular children’s TV shows portray more male than female scientist characters
Male scientist characters are more likely to be portrayed with stereotypically male characteristics
Suggests some progress has been made in presenting non-biased portrayals - earlier research (1996) showed females more likely to be portrayed as assistants
P: It is difficult to investigate and demonstrate the effects of media stereotypes and establish a causal relationship.
E: This is because much of the research is correlational and there are a variety of other reasons that may interact to produce these stereotypes, for example culture has an effect on both the media and gender stereotypes therefore could be an intervening variable
C: Therefore there may be a variety of other influences that may or may not interact with the media to influence gender stereotypes.
P: The fact that ‘heavy’ TV watchers display stronger gender stereotypes is purely correlational.
E: It may in fact be the case that those with strong stereotypes enjoy watching more TV as it confirms their beliefs.
C: Therefore it cannot be said that watching TV is the sole cause of gender stereotypes, it may be an effect rather than the cause.
P: It is simplistic to view children as passive recipients of media messages.
E: Children actively select the information that they pay attention to in terms of the characters and events that they respond to.
C: This suggests more of a cognitive input than a purely social learning effect (links to gender schema theory – children pay attention to information that relates to their ‘in-group’).
P: Arguably, media influences simply reinforce existing gender beliefs, rather than create them.
E: It may be the case that the effect of the media is exaggerated, because much in the way of gender development occurs before 4 years of age - a time when media is likely to only have a weak influence.
C: Therefore it may be the case that the media perpetuates and maintains gender stereotypes, but does not actually create them in the first place.
P: HOWEVER, if the media has the power to establish and/or reinforce gender role stereotypes then it could be used to change these by providing counter-stereotypes.
E: Johnston and Ettema (1982) used a TV programme designed to counter gender stereotypes and found that both sexes showed reduced gender stereotyping.
C: On the other hand, research by Martin and Halverson (gender schema theory) suggests that the existence of gender schema result in gender-inconsistent information being ignored or distorted in memory.
