MEDIA

• Media

  Communication channels, such as TV, film and books, through which news, entertainment, education and data are made available
• The media provides role models who children may identify with and want to imitate. Children are likely to select role models who are the same sex as them and who engage in gender appropriate behaviour.
• Evidence

  • Bussey and Bandura found that media provides clear gender stereotypes that men are independent and ambitious , whereas women are dependent and unambitious.
  • Furnham and Farragher found that men were more likely to be shown in autonomous roles within professional settings whereas women were often seen doing familial roles within a domestic setting.
• Self-efficacy

  • The media does more than confirm gender appropriate behaviour , it gives information about the likely success of adopting these behaviours.
  • Mitra et al studied the attitudes of girls who watched a programme designed to challenge gender stereotypes. The girls who watched the programme were more likely to see themselves as capable of working outside the home. This suggests that their self efficacy had changed.
• Self efficacy - the belief that we can perform a task successfully