midterm 2 Flashcards

Question

Debate what can be done to buffer negative impacts of media on body image

Answer 1

1. changes to media: disclaimer labels - required in UK, France, Israel, Norway for images that are digitally distorted - research: no effect of disclaimers on reducing body dissatisfaction - may increase social comparison 2. changes to consume: media literacy programs - capacity to critically evaluate media messages - students enrolled in media literacy programs show: (1) less internalization of thin ideal (2) less drive for thinness (3) more body satisfaction

Answer 2

- children identify gender by age 2 ; understanding of gender stereotypes (gST) begin around the same age - 5-7 : the peak of gender stereotypes in middle childhood - 7-9 : deeper understanding of gender as **internal** and **stable** over time (not judging purely based on appearance) - children learn understanding of gender from many sources: parents, friends, teachers, media

Answer 3

**books picture books** - historically: heavily stereotyped (boys are doctors ; girls are nurses) - these historical books still stay in circulation, passed on through generations - current: still contain stereotypes (eg. damsel in distress; men are heroes) AND contain less representation of girls/women (1 female : 1.5 male character) **books for older children** - also use stereotyped representations - benevolent sexism = women in traditional roles are idealized, seen as delicate and overly romantic (we need women for a beautiful world) **textbooks** - sex and gender essentialism : conveys a dichotomy of gender (only either male or female) and implies certain characteristics associated with each gender TV and movies quantity of representation - male characters outnumber female characters (1 female : 2.5 male character) **characteristics of representation** - characters portrayed in stereotyped ways - women = more fearful, more often at home, family-oriented, better liked, polite, focus on appearance/sexual appeal - men = more physical/verbally aggressive, more often working, in STEM, incompetent at home and family, pursue and prioritize sex **video games** - female representation increased but (males > females) - playable characters that are female: 13% (2005) → 22% (2017) - female characters are more likely to be presented as bystanders or needing to be rescued **online media** - prevalent gender biases in images → online images amplify gender biases - gender bias is more prevalent for online images for both male and female-typed social categories - searching “scientist” would more likely show a depiction or a male scientist - underrepresentation of women is strong in online images than in US census than in US census data on occupations

Answer 4

1. **cultivation theory**: over time exposure to media content shifts our understanding of reality 2. **social cognitive theory**: observe media models to learn normative behaviour/valued behaviour - influenced by: (1) identification (2) rewards/punishment (3) realism

Answer 5

**amount** - more TV → more endorsement of traditional gST - varies across genre: stronger for soap opera, talk shows and less for prime time drama content exposure to stereotyped content → increased gST (e.g TV or video games) **STUDY** - PS: 15-20 years - IV: (1) violent and sexist video game (2) violent (3) non-violent/sexist - DV: masculine beliefs: (1) boys should be encouraged to find a means to demonstrating physical prowess (2) it’s ok for a guy to use all means possible to convince a girl to have sex - results: more sexist games → more masculine belief → less empathy for female violence victims masculine beliefs are moderated by (1) identification with characters (2) perceived realism - for violent-sexist games, more masculine beliefs with more identification with character - identification didn’t matter when games were violent-only or neutral similar findings with **younger children** - PS: grade 5 boys and girls - IV: watched videos with (1) gender stereotypes — boys are better at math (2) neutral video about learning math - DV: endorsement of stereotype results: - for both boys and girls, viewing stereotyped content → more endorsement of ST content gendered behaviour toy and play behaviour - children exposed to gender-stereotyped media were more likely to (1) judge toys as gendered (2) same-gendered playmates - engagement with “princess culture” media predicts female gender-stereotyped behaviour **STUDY (1 year longitudinal)** - PS: 3-6 year olds - IV: engagement with princess culture - DV: (1) gender stereotyped toy choice (2) gender stereotyped play **effects on black youth** 1. black oriented programs → endorsement of “strong black woman” stereotype - positive impacts: feelings of pride - negative impacts: linked with anxiety to live up to expectations of stereotype to be self-sufficient **mainstream programs** → endorsement of mainstream gender roles male consumers 1. sexually violent media with submissive female characters → negative attitudes towards women 2. sexually violent media with strong female characters → no negative (but also no positive) attitudes towards women

Answer 6

- in general, most TV characters are white (other populations like blacks, latins, asians, indigenous are underrepresented compared to their actual proportion in the population (80% white) - children’s media tends to be a bit more diverse than adult oriented media (more so for educational media) → 72% white **black**: historically dominated by negative archetypes - subservient - black men: lazy, poor, jobless - black women: angry 1960s: more idyllic representations - overly positive representations of “the happy black family” or black boss modern portrayals are more diverse and positive but stereotypes still persist - less respected, less prestige - more disheveled - overrepresented as criminals, underrepresented as victims - greater percentage of reports show black crimes than the percentage of actual arrests - dichotomy of very successful vs criminal (challenging stereotype) **latinx**: portrayed with stereotypical, negative characteristics - sex objects (eg. modern family) - rarely having high status jobs - lack of intelligence, accented - associated with crime — either criminals or cops some evidence that portrayals may be shifting **asians**: VERY LOW representation, less is known - often portrayed as a homogenous group (lack of distinction btwn different types of asians) - “model minority” stereotype → linked with intelligence, strong family values, strong work ethic, passive - puts undue pressure on asian-americans to succeed ; glosses over problems with housing, jobs, status they face in the US - portrayed as villians (eg. kungfu victims) **indigenous**: very very low representation - also presented as homogenous - may be depicted as aggressive and uncivilized - depicted as wise and connected with nature impact of invisibility → conveys status/social importance (absence has negative effects) **middle eastern**: new area of study - depiction of middle eastern men as terrorists - post 9/11 films and video games **multiracial**: little has been studied, better depictions needed!

Answer 7

**adult consumers** exposure to **negative** stereotyped portrayals → more negative judgement of individuals within that group exposure to **positive** portrayals 1. more favourable attitudes 2. more sympathetic responses to discrimination (eg. more likely to endorse political movements) **youth consumers** exposure to **positive** stereotypes can lead to more positive ingroup attitudes **STUDY** - two clips of sesame street: (1) multi-racial (2) white control - children were more likely to choose the asian/indigenous toy to play with when they watched the multiracial clip behaviour towards outgroup may change/be more malleable at certain ages

Answer 8

**BIPOC adolescents**: exposure to media stereotypes were associated with lower self-esteem (even when ST were positive) **STUDY** - exposed indigenous youth to exemplar picture of pochahontas - viewing media ST led to lower self esteem even when they had positive attitudes towards pochahontas - ST depiction makes ppl think there is less of a range of how one could be (there is no one like me)

Answer 9

**RQ**: how does engagement with disney princesses effect gender stereotypes, body esteem, prosocial behaviour - participants 3-6 year olds boys and girls **measures**: baseline and after 1 year - disney princess engagement (time spent watching/playing with toys) - gender stereotypical behaviour (eg. more likely to engage with feminine toys?) - body esteem - prosocial behaviour **results**: for both boys and girls: 1. disney princess engagement correlated with gender stereotypical behaviour in the moment 2. same affect was seen longitudinally after one year (ie. more princess culture = more feminine stereotype behaviour) 3. active mediation from parents (parents discussed media content with children) → larger effect NOTE: we don’t know what the content of this mediation was (did they enforce or retaliate the message?) * for girls, no strong effects on body esteem and prosocial behaviour * girls were more likely than boys to engage with disney princesses **FOLLOW UP** 5 years later (kids at 10), consumption of disney princess culture was linked to less adherence to gST in adolesence - change in princess culture - possible difference in affect across age groups or time? is there something about this particular age group/range that reacts a certain way? **implications**: stereotypical behaviour may be limited if girls believe that their opportunities in life are limited because of preconceived notions regarding their gender 1. girls/women with stronger adherence to traditional feminine ideologies → (1) more depressive symptoms (2) lower SE (3) lower self-efficacy 2. men who play more sports video games → greater masculine ideal → (1) more alcohol/drug use (2) more delinquent behaviour **positive** → princess media may provide models of femininity to young boys; more androgyny in early childhood has benefits for development through lifespan **limitations** 1. sampled from white, middle class families 2. all child outcome variables were parent report at time 2 3. did not measure length of time enrolled at school (can’t determine reliability of teacher reports 4. children only test 1 year apart → future research to examine across childhood and adolescence 5. disentangle effects of media viewing from product engagement 6. did not specifically ask about parent mediation details (don’t know what the parents were discussing with their children)

Answer 10

**RQ**: impact of TV ST on self-esteem of latin emerging adults - in individuals from marginalized groups, exposure to media stereotypes are often associated with lower SE even when examples are positive - examine moderating role of ethnic-racial identity ethnic racial identity ethnic-racial identity = person’s thought’s or feelings about race/ethnicity (do you feel positively about your ethnicity/is it central to your identity) - individuals with strong ERI often related to positive outcomes - (1) better grades (2) less depressive symptoms (3) buffer agains stress from discrimination measured centrality of ERI (how central or important is ERI to your definition of sense/self) - PS latin young adults (18-25) - **IV**: (1) stereotyped portrayal (eg. latin housekeeper/menial labour ST) (2) non-stereotyped portrayal - **DV**: (1) ERI centrality (2) self-esteem **results** - for young adults with strong ERI, exposure to stereotyped content led to lower social self-esteem - strong ERI has big benefits but also puts individuals at greater risk when exposed to ST content no sig difference for moderate and low ERI groups between neutral and ST video explanation stereotype threat/social identity threat - stereotypes can be communicated in many ways (eg. through media portrayal) - may be more pronounced when we have stronger identification with the group being negatively stereotyped with high ERI centrality → group id is more linked to self id so negative ST about the group creates more worry social identity (shaped by group membership) → confrontation with negative group ST → (1) negative emotions (2) stress response (3) worry of conforming to negative views → lowered self-esteem about the self **limitations** 1. online sampling → participants may be distracted, skewing results 2. did not ask participants about location, nationality, or immigrant generation

midterm 2 Flashcards

(34 cards)