influence of media on gender roles

• The media often portrays sex-role stereotypes, and depicts males and females behaving in distinctively different ways
• The media portrayal of gender stereotypes


  Can impact on an individual's gender identity/role
• An individual's gender identity/role


  Will impact on their behaviour
• Gender role


  A set of behaviours and attitudes that are considered appropriate for one gender and inappropriate for the other
• The media influences gender roles by (often) portraying males and females differently e.g. female Disney characters are often pretty and engage in stereotypical female roles such as cooking and cleaning (like Snow White or Cinderella) who needs saving by a male prince, while male characters are often depicted as strong and athletic e.g. Prince Charming
• Social Learning Theory


  Explains the influence of the media on gender roles
• Individuals are most likely to identify with people in the media who are the same gender as them


  They observe these role models model gender stereotypical behavior
• Individuals observe role models being rewarded for their behaviour in the media


  Through money, fame, job satisfaction etc. (vicarious reinforcement)
• Individuals want to copy the behaviour of role models

  To achieve the same reward (imitation)
• An individual's gender identity

  Affects their behaviour
• As males and females are likely to identify with different models in the media, this explains why they behave differently to one another
• The influence of the media on gender roles

  Supported by evidence
• Kisler and Lee study

  1. Investigated short-term effects of exposure to hip-hop music videos with varying degrees of sexual imagery on viewers' acceptance of the objectification of women and gender attitudes

  2. Results showed that male participants who were exposed to hip-hop music videos of highly sexual content expressed greater objectification of women and stereotypical gender attitudes than male participants in the low sex condition
• Gender Schema theory


  • Explains how books (media) influence children's gender schemas and encourage them to have different schemas for males and females
  • This leads to gender-role stereotyping among the children which, in turn could lead to differences in their behaviour
• Gender Schema theory


  Favours the nurture side of the nature vs nurture debate
• Limitation of Gender Schema theory

  It takes a very one-sided, over-simplistic view of gender development and ignores any evidence to suggest other factors also contribute e.g. biological differences in males and females cause gender differences in behaviour
• Biological differences in males and females


  Cause gender differences in behaviour rather than environmental influences such as the media
• Gender Schema theory


  • Ignores research suggesting that differences in hormones or the size of certain brain structures such as the BSTc cause gender differences in behaviour rather than environmental influences such as the media
• Practical applications of research into the influence of media on gender roles

  • Has drawn awareness to the responsibility that the media has to reduce gender stereotyping
  • This has led to (in recent years) counter-stereotypical characters in the media e.g. Disney's 'Brave' which challenges traditional notions of masculinity and femininity
• The research might have had a positive effect on individuals' real-life gender roles