A2: Gender

Plan till Christmas W/C 28th 1: Finish Gender 2: RM (recap year 1) 3: RM (Year 2) Gender mini mock (30 mins) W/C 5th 1, 2 and 3: RM (year 2) W/C 12th: Mock week. All Lessons suspended

To do… Check revision material (complete recap quiz) Recovery lesson Hand you out an approaches pack Homework on website (read article/complete grid)

Recovery plan Running a compulsory session after Christmas to help year 2 students with year 1 content. Which day/time is best for you? What order do you want the content delivered?

Gender knowledge quiz: 10 minutes

Media and Culture Gender

Example exam question Discuss the influence of culture and media on the development of gender roles. [16 marks]

Friends clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCTRYlIo7Uk What does this clip illustrate? The stereotypes surrounding dolls (Girls play with dolls and boys play with action figures) The influence of parents in reinforcing gender stereotypes Television programs along with advertising can be influential in perpetuating traditional gender stereotypes.

Why is this a problem? The problem is that within the media are lessons about gender roles and expectations. Advertisements specifically target children with a message of what is and isn’t appropriate for boys and girls.  Although these may be “just advertisements” they are also one of the places that children learn about gender roles.

Social learning theory Children formulate gender role concepts through observations as well as through rewards and punishment The media have become a focus of study related to social learning, because the most readily available sources of models for children to emulate aside from their parents are movies, books and especially television Considering the number of hours of television that children watch, their exposure to televised models through programs and advertisements may even be greater than their exposure to their own parents’ behaviors (Bandura, 1969).

Media: key points Social learning theorists see gender-role behaviour as largely determined by the environment and socialisation. Two key areas through which social norms are transmitted and communicated are culture and the media. Media and gender roles: The media (television, magazines, social media, pop music) provides role models with whom children may identify and want to imitate. The media influence the acquisition, shaping and maintenance of gender roles. Males: represented in most T.V programmes and high-status jobs

Both males and females are portrayed in gender-stereotypical ways Media: key points Rigid stereotypes: The media may play a role in reinforcing stereotypes concerning male and female behaviour. Both males and females are portrayed in gender-stereotypical ways

Media: key points Media exposure: Media influence provide children with a constant source of information as to which gender behaviours to imitate Children who have more exposure to popular forms of media tend to display more gender stereotypes. Signorelli (1991) found that heavy viewers of television hold more traditional gender-stereotyped notions of proper role behavior than light viewers of television.

Research methods: Media and Gender The main sections of a psychology report. Abstract Introduction Method Results Discussion References

Media and Gender: research Task: In your pairs, search the introduction to find two pieces of research that look at gender in the media Look in the discussion, summarise the main findings of the report you are reading. Join with another pair and share your points

How can we use SLT to explain the influence of media on gender stereotypes? Role of factors such as observation, imitation, identification, vicarious reinforcement Mediating cognitive variables – children more likely to imitate models who are attractive, similar sex, high status etc SLT shows how the media creates and maintains negative gender stereotypes. . Equally SLT should be able to promote positive gender stereotypes through creating opportunities for observation and imitation of positive role models

Evaluation Correlation not causation (problems of inferring cause and effect) The fact that heavy TV watches hold stronger gender-stereotyped beliefs is merely correlational evidence, not necessarily indicating T.V to be the cause of such attitudes. It may simply be that gender stereotypical children watch lots of TV because it confirms gender stereotypes.

Influence of media per se versus specific forms of media Not all media representations are stereotyped. Degree of stereotyping is seen in the different forms of media For example, TV versus computer games versus books

Age as a mediating variable Media influences on gender development may be exaggerated, as much gender development occurs before four years of age when media influences are often weak. Media influences probably reinforce existing gender beliefs rather then create them. It is too simplistic to see children as passive recipients of media messages of gender stereotypes. Children actively select particular characters and events to respond to, which suggests more of a cognitive input than a purely social learning effect.

Differences in effects for boys and girls Bee (2000) found that books, including picture books and early reading books, are gender stereotyped and that boys’ TV commercials are fast, sharp and loud compared with those for girls, which are slower, gentle and quiet, suggesting that media gender0role portrayals and influences differ for boys and girls from an early age.

Determinism Is gender roles environmentally determined? Is there an argument for the role biology plays in gender role?

Application If media influence do have a negative influence in establishing and reinforcing traditional gender stereotypes, equally they should be able to create and promote positive non-gender role stereotypes, like female scientists and sport stars. Johnston and Etterna (1982) showed 12 year olds a TV programme designed to counter gender stereotypes and both sexes showed reduced gender stereotyping. Kolbe and Muehling (1995) indicates that the evaluation of gender appropriateness can be altered through non-stereotypical advertisements. They found that, boys who viewed ads with a female actor were more likely to indicate that the toy was appropriate for both genders than boys who saw male actor only ads. The boys who saw the male actor ads said that the advertised toy would be preferred by boys only. Girls who say the female actor ads also indicated that the toy was less appropriate for boys only.

Content analysis Research methods

What is content analysis? Content analysis is a research method used to measure the number of times a behaviour or event occurs within one or several forms of media (or other artefacts). e.g. songs, TV, books, magazines, computer games, newspapers etc. The process is similar to that of an observation although is indirect as you are not observing people directly. A content analysis is a bit like doing an observational study but instead of observing actual people a researcher makes their observations indirectly through books, films, adverts, photos, songs, diaries etc. In fact content analysis is the analysis of the content of any artefact.

Quantitative content analysis Strengths  You can make comparisons see patterns and trends Makes complex text easier to analyse. You can find meanings or biases at a glance You can repeat the analysis to test reliability Weaknesses  It can distort the truth. You will only find info on the categories you originally look for. This means you can easily create a bias Does not give context i.e. through analysis you can lose the original depth and detail See also Brain text book

Content analysis The researcher will make three decisions. Sampling method Coding the data. Method of representing data

What happens in a content analysis? Sample: A content analysis is different from other research methods in that the sample is not a group of people. The sample will be the artefacts that are to be analysed. This needs to be representative. For example, if looking at gender stereotypes in car adverts that appear in magazines, you would need a wide range of different magazines to get a representative sample. If you only used men’s magazines, your sample would be biased, and you may not be able to generalise your results.

These behavioural categories might be: Coding System Similarly to an observation, the researcher has to create a coding system, which breaks down the information into categories. So for each advert, you may first identify the gender of person in the car advert, and then tally what they are depicted doing. These behavioural categories might be: Driving the car Passenger in the car Washing the car Loading up the boot Sitting on the bonnet Looking at the car Etc.....

Tallies Driving the car Passenger Cleaning the Car Buying a car The researcher would then tally each time a particular behaviour is included. This is called a quantitative analysis. Gender stereotypes in car adverts Tallies Driving the car   Passenger Cleaning the Car Buying a car

An alternative to having a coding system like above is to do a qualitative analysis. This is where the researcher has discovered certain themes and chooses a particular example to illustrate this theme. Instead of counting the data, the relevant information is described (hence qualitative rather than quantitative).

Method of representing data the researcher then looks at the data he has collected, and draws conclusions. For example, you may find that there are more female roles in adverts in relation to products such as households goods (cooking, cleaning etc). You can then link this to the idea of stereotypes You may therefore conclude from this that there is a need to represent males in such adverts as todays society does not necessarily have such rigid stereotypes.

Strengths and weaknesses of content analysis High ecological validity No chance of demand characteristics. Replicable Reliability can also be assessed using inter-observer reliability Observer bias Culture bias (Ethnocentric) We cannot draw cause and effect relationships

Practical Media: Content analysis Conduct a content analysis to investigate stereotypes in adverts. Watch 20-30 adverts and see how gender is represented in these adverts. Are there any differences in the ways the different sexes are represented? To conduct the research, students should create a table with at least 5 behavioural categories. Consider things such as: the product being advertised (e.g. is it related to childcare, a body product, etc.). Also note the context in which the male or female in the advert appears (e.g. are they represented in the home context or a professional context?). Then carry out a content analysis of the adverts and draw a conclusion about what the adverts show about the gender roles of males and females.

Possible Exam question Researchers were interested in children’s use of social networking sites, such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’. They asked children to write an essay about their use of social networking. In their essays, the children were asked to consider how often they used social networking sites, who they communicated with and the main topics discussed. There were 80 participants in the study: twenty children aged 13 –14 years from each of four different schools in the Birmingham area. There were equal numbers of boys and girls. Before the study began, the researchers devised a set of categories to be used to analyse the children’s essays. These included the following categories: number of social networking friends; daily use of sites; topics discussed. a.Briefly explain why this study is an example of content analysis. (2 marks) b.Explain how the psychologists might have carried out content analysis to analyse the essay about their use of social networking. (4 marks) 3. Briefly explain one strength of content analysis. (2 marks)

Case Study type of question Case studies are different to content analysis. Ensure you are familiar with this method as well A psychologist had investigated whether people with depression felt that time passed more slowly than people without depression. She decided to conduct a case study into a small group of people with depression. Explain why it would be appropriate to use a case study to investigate this. (2 marks) Suggest how the psychologist could conduct a case study to find out this information. (4 marks)

Gender roles and culture

Key points Cross cultural research If behaviour is universal (all males in all cultures are aggressive, independent, etc.) then we can propose biology is responsible. If there are differences then we can infer that culture/environment are responsible. Cultural differences Mead found different gender roles in the three tribes which suggests that gender roles may be culturally determined. Cultural similarities Buss found similarities in mate preference in 37 countries across all continents.

Research Task: Read the research in your pack (page 26-27) and decide which pieces of research are arguing for gender roles to be determined by biology (nature) and which pieces of research are arguing for gender roles to be determined by socialisation (nurture)

Evaluation Cultural bias is an issue with the research into cultural influences on gender because, as highlighted with ethnographic research, it shows how difficult it is not to let our own cultural biases influence the way we record and interpret behaviour from a culture that we are unfamiliar with. Western researchers who take indigenous populations to be their object of study typically undertake cross-cultural research. There is a danger that researchers, armed with theories and methods that have been developed in the west, impose their own cultural interests and understanding upon the people they are studying (imposed etic). Although cross cultural research is generally regarded as a positive, as it allows us to extend our understanding of behaviour beyond western society, it also raises the question as to whether psychology can ever be totally free of cultural bias. Perhaps one way to reduce this bias is to include at least one member of the local population within the research team (as seen in Buss, 1990 study)

Evaluation Nature vs. nurture Task: In groups write an evaluation point for nature vs. nurture. Add to your pack.

As gender stereotypes and gender roles are fairly consistent across human population, it initially seems that gender is more biological. However, there’s also evidence of gender roles varying considerably across cultures indicating some influence of social learning. Globalisation maybe contributing to the lessoning of culture differences, and there have been a global reduction in the difference between masculine and feminine gender roles, implying that social influences are stronger than biological ones. it may be better to understand gender from an interactionist point of view where initial gender roles are biologically constructed and then later modified by social influences. This would explain the basic cross cultural similarities in gender roles and gender stereotypes, but also why there is cross cultural variety, especially in the types of activities to which gender roles are applied.