Comm 348 Exam 2
The main takeaway from Van Anders' (2015) sexual configurations theory is (diagram w all diff pathways you could take):
An individual's sexual identity is based on many different parameters
Dixon & Williams (2015)
Article Title: The Changing Misrepresentation of Race and Crime on Network and Cable News Purpose: To analyze how often whites, blacks, Muslims, and Latinos are portrayed as perpetrators or victims of crime on network and cable news programs beyond the scope of blacks and violent crime as previous research has focused on Theory or main idea/theme: No theoretical background, but looks at interreality comparison to assess the misrepresentation of minority groups in news programs Methods: A content analysis using interreality comparison (comparing their representation in the news programs to real life statistics) 1. Compared the proportion of African American and White perpetrators and victims according to the crime reports from the U.S. Department of Justice to the proportion of African American and White perpetrators and victims represented in the news 2. Compared the percentage of immigrants and undocumented immigrants that were Latino according to special reported by the Pew Center and the Department of Homeland Security to the percentage of immigrants and undocumented immigrants who were Latino in news programs 3. Compared the proportion of terrorism perpetrated by Muslims in the news to the proportion of terrorism perpetrated by Muslims according to the FBI - Used the equal probability of selection method (EPSEM) to select two composite weeks of news programs - 146 programs, about 90 of which contained a crime story, undergrads coded the crime stories for: 1) race of perpetrator 2) the crime committed 3) the race of victims (based on if there was a video of photo shown of them, rather than inferred race measures) 4) the religion of suspect 5) whether the suspect was a terrorist 6) whether the suspect was an immigrant Hypotheses: H1. Whites will be overrepresented as victims whereas African Americans will be overrepresented as perpetrators H2. Latinos will be overrepresented as undocumented immigrants H3. Muslims will be overrepresented as terrorists RQ: Will cable news outlets differ from network news outlets in their treatment of social category and crime portrayals? Results: - Latinos more likely to be seen as immigrants, - - Blacks less likely to be depicted as violent criminals or victims than real stats - whites were just as likely to be depicted as violent perpetrators of crime on tv compared to real life - whites were just as likely to be portrayed as homicide victims than to be victimized in the "real world" - Muslims more likely to be portrayed as terrorists - Non-Muslims were extremely underrepresented as terrorists RQ Question: Cable vs. Non cable - The researchers found that in almost all situations there was no difference between cable vs non cable news. - The only difference found was that Black homicide victims were more likely to appear on cable than on non cable shows Implications: - Guard dog perspective → News stories get greater attention if they identify a phenomenon as an intruder or threat. Those with least power in system (ex: immigrants) receive most bias in news coverage. - News raters constantly pursue higher ratings to increase ratings to increase their profits. Accurate representations are not first goal. Editors attempt to draw in audiences by highlighting controversial interracial, interethnic or interfaith conflict as exemplified in the overrepresentation of Latinos as undocumented immigrants or the overrepresentation of Muslims as terrorists. Additionally, all journalists and news editors may succumb to "everyday racism" and unconscious bias, which leads them to associate social problems with race, ethnicity or religion. Limitations: - Small sample size - Little difference between cable and network - Only focused on crime and criminal activity (if time could have focused on racialization of politics)
What were the purpose and findings of Kirschner and Tomasello Study?
purpose: preschoolers who make music together more likely to help each other? does the music making prime collectivism? - children either walked around pond or did that but also played instruments together - followed by helping test procedure FINDINGS - found girls in musical priming condition was the group to actively help the most until problem was solved - males in musical priming condition second most likely to actively help until problem was solved (helped less than the girls) Implications - music making together increases prosocial behavior - making music primes for collectivism
We watched ted talk about porn. What was main takeaway from this talk?
Porn images have potential to shape gender and sexual identity western culture is teaching young girls how to pornography themselves/hyper sexualize themselves without ever actually having to be featured in porn men live in culture where before they can even speak females are offering themselves to them via the media speaker doesn't find the sex objectionable she finds the power differentiators between men and women the problem
Describe the Bond (2014) content analysis study (purpose & main takeaway)
Purpose: What are LGBTQ adolescents seeing when they turn to media for signals about who they are? Main Takeaways: - Media they are watching HIGHLY heteronormative - Validating talk vs. demeaning talk (most of it is validating but when LGB talk is done through insults or jokes it tends to be more demeaning on these adolescents.
Describe Pettijohn and Juneberg Study
Purpose: do faces and bodies change with social and economic times? Theory: Environmental Security Hypothesis: attracted to more mature faces during hard times because they can help us survive during hard times, people look for girls who are older/heavier/taller Method: - content analysis of playboy of year from 1960-2000 Findings: in hard times, centerfolds were older, waist gets bigger, taller, weigh more, waist to hip ratio bigger, bust to waist ratio is smaller BUT BMI was the same-- getting taller but still reporting the same low numbers, this is NOT an accurate measure bc BMI should be getting bigger Fun fact: When the CEO changed the BMI's got a little bigger-- we need to be representative more of general public in america
The Media Script
The idea that media have power to generate scripts in our lives... provide information on how to act in situations - example 1: Mean Girls, how to act in a HS cafeteria - example 2: The Dating Script (your typical date)
Which is NOT an example of a propensity for a teen girls increased sexual media diet and increased sexual behavior?
The number of televisions in a house (because it doesn't have to do with sexual behavior) actual propensities: - parents who are not home often - friends with little parental supervision - hitting puberty earlier **PROPENSITY HAS RELATIONSHIP WITH INDEPENDENT VARIABLE AND DEPENDENT VARIABLE (relates to both sexual media diet and sexual behavior) - PROPENSITY: predicts both the IV/DV it leads them to be correlated... but not necessarily causally - accounts for potential covariates that predict sexual media diet and sexual behavior
Russell, Wilson, & Hall (1992): Colorism in Films throughout History
Lighter women, darker men for black people depiction in movies, lighter women bc casted as a love interest, darker men bc casted as a criminal, lighter skin being attractive, darker skin being malevolent
Ethnic Blame Discourse
- Blaming outgroups for social problems - This discourse is regionally adaptive (in CA, problems in news blamed on blacks→ overrepresented as problem people in news in this area, whereas in other areas, whatever groups are stigmatized/seen as inferior there will be blamed for that area's issues) - Dixon & Azocar (2006): content analysis of crime news, in LA/Orange County, black youth overrepresented as felony perpetrators/those arrested in tv news, latinos are underrepresented for felonies/those arrested; this may be due to structural limitations of news production contributing to this under representation (language barrier etc.)
What was the Scharrer (2001) content analysis about?
- Content analysis of dads in media over years and looked at social class. - Coders coded overall foolishness of dads and code whether the family was upper, middle or working class - The foolish dads are in the working class most often, then middle class, then upper class the least - Same trend for proportion of jokes making fun of dad
"Good Hair" Movie
- Every black girl feels pressure to get hair relaxed - Relaxer (aka "creamy crack") is the chemical-filled cream that black women use to get their hair straight - Try to conform to a more european look; the straighter the hair, the better - Weaves are another huge craze used by black women to add fullness & thickness to hair - Weaves are made out of imported hair from India (huge industry/Indian export, get hair from girls "sacrificing their hair" at temple, women falling asleep and people taking their hair while sleeping, etc.) - Weaves are where the money is; hair exporter brings thousands of dollars of hair to US/LA, Beverly Hills gets it first - Hard to sell African hair; no one wants it
Movie: Hip Hop Beyond Beats & Rhymes
- Masculinity and manhood in rap and hip hop - misogyny , violence, homophobia - Complex intersections of culture and commerce in hip hop - Strong, player, primp, powerful, not emotional etc. to fit inside the manhood box; if not people label you as a pussy, weak (feminize you etc.), stereotypical masculine standards - History of hip hop= history of black men in america, trying to deny their own frailty (bc they were slaves) - Blacks pressured present self physically as someone worthy of respect; men with less power like black and working class white men do this - Rich men can exert their power in other ways than physically - Lots of mentalities come out of forced environments in Reagan era (drug war→ prison culture, gangs, etc.) - Dominant image in hip hop is to be confrontational, "Black animosity" adds to street cred factor - Hyper-masculine Hollywood movie violence also has influence - Black men more likely to be homicide victims than any other racial group in US, group most likely to be killed by homicide between 15-30 - Says it's ok for black men to die early, killing/shooting is a natural part of life - Confrontation & black animosity: don't confront the wrong person - By 90's, the guy who looks just like you is your enemy - The heads of these big record labels are mostly white rich guys, know the enemy/violence stuff sells, big structural issues
Pettijohn and Tesser's (1999)
- Measured BABYFACENESS - how ones face is structured. Created measurement to assess it - Also measures "general hard times" - Hypothesis: the harder the times the less baby face features should be correlated - Went through history and found nation wide polls of favorite film actresses across decades. Not about "who is most attractive" but whop are our favorites? - Found: baby face features (eye height, eye width, eye area, cheekbone prominence) INVERSLEY correlate to general hard times
Porn (class overview minus readings)
- Media has gotten more sexual explicit over time - We don't recognize sexual heteronormative media because it is so common (ex. Husband and wife feeding each other cereal in a Kashi commercial) - On the flip side, picture of gay couple getting married can trigger sexual thoughts→ is their relationship sexual? If we saw it with a heteronormative couple we wouldn't think of the sexual aspect - Innuendo: see couple waking up in the morning, screen goes dark after they start kissing - Explicit symbolism: guy trying to throw football thru tire (aka. get penis in vagina), the guy then leaves with girl; it is also what we don't see that is implicitly explicit - Van Anders (2015), Sexual Configurations Theory; we are made up of a lot of different intersectional components that determine our sexuality - Study on trends of sexual and violent content by gender in top-grossing us films: found that 82% of movies contain sexual content, only 31% of main characters are female but the % of female characters involved in sexual and explicit sexual content is way higher than male - Porn has been a driver of technology (VHS really started proliferating due to porn so people wouldn't have to go to public theatre to watch, internet porn led to technology giving us greater bandwidth (can pay with credit cards now which is a private transaction) - Gail Dines on Porn: porn images shape gender and sexual identity, this culture socializes girls to be ready for pornography even if they're never going to do it, taught to hyper-sexualize and pornify themselves; bad - Opposing view; Feminist Porn: Is the problem with the sex or is the problem with the sex packaged in a certain way?; this kind respects sex from a woman's perspective, creates films that show clear verbal consent etc., financial incentive to serve women too, gives women agency (they are in charge of what they want), shows sex with no coercion, exploitation, deception (is that as obscene as other view which shows women with much less agency?)
Reproduction & Motherhood (class overview minus the readings)
- Pregnant women look like they're so happy and loving being pregnant in the media, brought back into childlike state in the media (blowing bubbles), seen as saintly because going to be a mom, husband is shown as infatuated with her, everything is white & clean, you're completely put together when you breastfeed, pregnancy is glamorous --> media does not show the reality of motherhood, it is a "bliss myth" - This media puts subtle pressure on new mothers- guilty if you resent any of the experience of having kids or sleep deprivation is hard, life falling apart etc→ child well being is all that matters; You should be happy if your child is happy
What is the evolutionary hypothesis?
- The idea that face preference differs by economic status of nation. This gives certain people an "evolutionary" advantage - Women: when nation prosperous/times are good, baby faces most attractive. Why? Linked to fertility and reproduction - During hard times "adult" faces should be more attractive. Why? Less about reproduction and more about survival! Caretaker over baby-maker - Issue: It is individually based. We make facial judgements on a case by case basis. Laws of attraction are complicated.
What was the Kuperberg & Stone Content Analysis About?
- analyzed articles about stay-at-home moms - two key jobs to maintaining a home: earning money/staying at home to do chores, raise kids etc. Analysis of qualitative themes: Theme 1: Women are optng out of workforce to put family first, fathers were not mentioned in the articles whatsoever Theme 2: It's an elite decision to make where moms can stop working and have someone else in "backup." - It's a CHOICE that they are able to make freely ...But for some women it is NOT a choice at all!
Why were BMI's of playboy playmates not always accurate?
- height and weight were self-reported - playmates were getting taller thru out the years but weights may have been manipulated (bc weights were not getting bigger.. lied about weights)
What type of sexual ideal does playboy attempt to achieve?
- sexual ideal: not just the image. the person behind the image is FUN and NON-THREATENING (to your manhood). Up for anything but not going to compete with you!
What was the Schick et. al. study about? What were the general findings?
- pubic hair disappeared as time went on - 70s visible - 80s always on displayed - 90s visible but limited - early 2000s pubic hair basically gone
Race in News Media
- Infers all black people are violent bc that is how they are portrayed
Context Collapse
Managing multiple identities in spaces where you have to perform various versions of yourself for different groups of people in your life
De Laat & Baumann (2016)
Title: motherhood in an era of hyper-consumption; cultural beliefs about motherhood and consumption Premise: Analysis of certain representations of mothers/non-mothers in the media Purpose: - to gain insight into production of cultural schemas and the reproduction of beliefs about gender and motherhood - to understand how maternal consumption is portrayed in Canadian T.V advertisements Theories: - Goffman's idea that advertisements are symbolic vehicles that provide insight into the nature of dominant cultural schemas and the reproduction of beliefs about gender and motherhood Hypothesis: As this is a content analysis there is no specific hypothesis, but researchers expect to find the same sort of themes that previous research has found, such as... - Mothers derive joy from caring for others - Extreme "caring consumption" - mothers consume to ease the guilt of not spending enough time with children, not being a good enough mother - Mothers needs not represented - Child care is the responsibility of mothers, involves emotional and time investment - Motherhood is a white, middle class phenomenon Method - content analysis - primetime tv - 21 evenings over 18th month period - 68 ads total: 33 with mothers as primary characters, 35 with non mothers as primary characters - ads coded for: primary character status (mother or non mother), gender, race, whether one is depicted as parent, depiction of home or workplace, product category of advertisement Results: CONTROL (mothers) VS. INDULGENCE (non-mothers) - Control: mothers in commercials were commonly presented as efficient and "in control"; depicted as organized and adept for their ability to meet several needs simultaneously and make informed decisions about what to consume; consumption is benefit to family, utilitarian, tool of efficient and effective motherhood; opposite of indulgent - Indulgence: portrayal of non-mothers, ads are more provocative or humorous, food serving as metaphor for sex, self-serving consumption can't be taken seriously CARING FOR OTHERS (mothers) VS. CARING FOR SELF (non-mothers) - Caring for Others: caring mothers are depicted consuming with or for their kids, only as a means to spend quality time with them/benefit them in some other way, never address camera head, no other identity other than being a mother, gets satisfaction from providing for others - Caring for Self: non-mothers, healthy eating and exercise or indulging in unhealthy food; self-consumption positively reinforced and encouraged Implications: - Exaggerated portrayal of non-mothers in food ads (extreme self-indulgence, hyper-sexualization) = hyper-consumption - Real-life mothers expressed "caring consumption" (absence of indulgence and self interest) - Ads featuring mothers depict the promise that mothers will be able to accomplish tasks for their kids quickly, without conveying why they need efficiency (because they don't depict moms being interested in anything other than their kids) - Other oriented care (not self cate) = primary cause of happiness for a mother - Ads may contribute to prevailing cultural beliefs: that mothers are (and should be) perfectly satisfied solely through their caring consumption on behalf of the family Limitations: - There are outliers (in 6/33 ads with mothers, we see mothers interacting with other adults or consuming a product for their own benefit, almost half of mothers portrayed are women of color) - There's no way to know that the schemas are uniformly interpreted and internalized by women and mother consumers
Peter and Valkenburg (2016)
Purpose: -To provide an up to date review on porn and adolescents -To investigate whether and to what extent porn is related to adolescents sexual attitudes and beliefs, self-development, and sexual behavior between 1995 to 2015 -To integrate the results of existing research in a recent theoretical model for media effects research Theory: -Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model (DSMM) -Three types of variables (dispositional, developmental, and social) predict media use -Response states (state variables that originate from media use) mediate the relationships between media use and criterion variables -Dispositional, developmental, and social variables may not only predict media use but also moderate the extent to which media use predicts criterion variables -Media use and criterion variables are related in a transactional way, that is, the notion that (changes in) criterion variables predicted by media use can themselves also predict media use Method: -Cross-sectional experiment that covered many articles in a methodological study (searching for codes and similarities between different peer-reviewed journal articles about porn use of adolescence) -The sample started with 349 articles from Web of Science and 271 articles from PsychInfo. All of the articles were peer-reviewed journals and published in English. They also all dealt with adolescents between 10-17 years of age (after filtering through 64 quantitative articles and 9 qualitative articles qualified for the review) Results: - Majority of studies used peer and pencil surveys (49%) or online surveys (20%) -Face-to-face surveys (12%), telephone surveys (8%) - Teens use of porn focused on: unintentional use, intentional use, or any use of porn (i.e. spam) -There were DIVERSE findings about the presence of teen porn use because -studies vary methodologically and results may not translate easily -the internet has undergone dramatic changes -cultural contents may differ -The most common users of porn: male, more advanced with respect to puberty, sensation-seeker, with weak/troubled family relations. -Porn suggested stronger permissive sexual attitudes (i.e. being more comfortable with having sex with casual partners) and less progressive gender-stereotypical sexual beliefs -Porn was related to occurrence of sex, more casual sexual behavior, increased likelihood for sexual aggression and experience (for females) -Females > males had more sex/likelihood to after frequent porn use -There was no evidence between porn and sexual risk behavior -In the qualitative studies, it was found that porn weakens progressive beliefs about gender Implications: -Teens use of porn varies greatly however, for the most part, it was related to having sex, being more open to casual sex, and an increase in sexual aggression as well as sexual experience for females. Limitations: -Many different definitions of "porn" -High number of cross-sectional studies I'm the field -A lack of a more advanced overarching theoretical perspective to guide the study - No genuine developmental perspective -There were biases -Western bias -Heteronormativity bias -Negativity bias (negative view of porn) -Biased towards the status quo
Modern Racism (Entman, 1992)
Hostility (toward particular group), rejection (of whatever their mission is; equal rights vs. special rights), denial (that there is even a problem→ "black people have the same rights as everyone else")
Describe the Brown (2006) Study:
METHOD - longitudinal survey design with adolescent (not experiment, longitudinal study) - used 25 percent of 4 diff racial/gender groups (black, white, male, female) - first surveyed teens to see what media they were using. the content analyzed for sexual content in those media. - second survey asked about teens sexual activities/intentions KNOW THIS FOR TEST: - calculation for sexual media diet (SMD)** exposure (1-10) X % of vehicle with sexual content (.00-1.00)= SMD for each type of media - sum of all SMD scores= total SMD score FINDINGS - for black teens, when you account for all the factors, the log odds of SMD predicting having sex are not significant (when you account for all of the propensities, SMD did not matter) - for white teens it was the opposite, log odds of SMD predicting having sex are significant - MUST BE SOMETHING IN THE BLACK'S LIVES THAT IS NOT IN THE WHITE'S LIVES
Finding from Bleakley et. al. study investigating the top US grossing films between 1950-2006
Point of study: women extremely underrepresented in films but still way more sexualized than men ever were - us films featured more white men than white women - 82 percent of films featured some sexual content
Rubin and McClelland (2015)
Premise: -The 'closet' ultimately takes on new meaning in this virtual space -participants described trying to develop social relationships within Facebook, which demands sharing one's thoughts, behaviours and ideas, while also hiding and silencing their emerging sexuality. Purpose: -To understand how eight young women (aged 16-19 years) who self-identified as queer and as women of color navigate social media -The psychological/emotional consequences that come along with this navigation of managing sexual identity online Theory: -Context Collapse: managing multiple identities in spaces where you have to perform various versions of yourself for different groups of people in your life. -Goes into the idea of sexual identities -Development of strategies: tempering self-preservation Hypothesis: -In this 'virtual closet', tempering self-presentation to offset social exclusion has become a continuous, yet personally treacherous, activity during the daily practice of using Facebook. Method: -Participants: 8 queer women were interviewed -3 AA -2 Mexican -1 Al Salvadoran -2 Asian -5 lesbian -3 bisexual -4 Themes Analyzed: -Emotional labor of concealment -Facebook and homophobia -Labor of social surveillance -Ruminating about profile content -Study: thematic analysis of phone interviews with them Findings: -Pressure to conform to family heteronormative ideals -Managing "otherness" comes with costs of silence and stress -Checking a box seems aggressive -Self-surveillance even off the internet -Sexual identities: developed identities may be a psychological strategy -1) Emotional Labor of Concealment: girl hears dad talk homophobically, doesn't reveal herself because does not want to get the same negative response from him, other girl dresses like her mom and sister even though that doesn't fit who she is -2) Facebook and Homophobia: girl's brother posts stuff on fb that sexualizes girls who are bisexual and lesbian, other girl sees people comment stuff that says "that's so gay" -3) Labor of Social Surveillance: girl already feels out of place being African American so doesn't want to deal with the other stuff on top of this regarding being bisexual, doesn't mark sexual identity on facebook because does not want to deal with homophobia/repercussions ("small checkbox...big deal") Social media platform like facebook is not like other communities online where you can connect to people like you, on facebook it is the opposite bc your family is there etc. -4) Ruminating about Profile Content: have to be aware of what you write and what other write about on your wall (sorority girl wrote "I love girls" by accident instead of "I love these girls", sorority sister than outed her online by saying, "yeah, we know!"), other girl stays aware all day of what gets posted on her wall bc doesn't want anything posted about sexuality bc parents could see Overall Takeaways: -Emotional labour was integral to the consistent monitoring of Facebook profiles and rumination was not an uncommon response to worrying about being outed or unintentionally outing oneself. -These responses formed a type of 'virtual closet' for young women, as they largely remained silent about their lesbian and bisexual identities. -These online environments created a set of sexual identity(s). -Acknowledging the development of both singular and plural sexual identity(s) enabled us to observe the strategies young people used to reveal and conceal their emerging sexual subjectivity within the digital age. Implications: -Stigma harms mental health -Surveillance requires energy -Playing it safe (and not joining social media) means losing a lot; no profile= no family fear but also no community -Juggling of several sexual identities Limitations: -Just looked at Facebook, not other social media sites -All females-- How do intersectional males (queer, men of color) navigate Facebook? -Different countries may have different acceptance
Arendt et. al. (2015)
Premise: stereotypes play a role in the decoding of facial displays of emotion Purpose: what is the impact of media stereotypes on the facial affect perception process? Theory: Implicit social cognition model of media priming (arendt, 2013): the strength of one automatic association can implicitly activate another (when one node is activated in our mind it can activate another node— this process is implicit), node criminal will activate the second node, dark skinned individuals - ^ One association can implicitly impact the other (pb...jelly), the idea of automatically activated stereotypes Hypothesis: reading stereotypic tabloid articles about crimes committed by dark skinned offenders would increase perceived facial threat of dark skinned strangers encountered in subsequent situation Method: - experimental design in Austria, - N= 99 college students (74.4% female) - sample was "light skinned" - all participants read 4 crime unrelated articles (about sun/vitamin D), and 7 crime articles (manipulated) - Conditions: 1) control group (34 people, no mention of skin color in crime articles read) 2) moderate dose group (29 people, skin color mentioned in 5/7 crime articles) 3) high dose group (36 people, skin color mentioned in all crime articles) Experimental Manipulation (manipulating dose of skin color in articles): - articles referenced foreign nationalities stereotypically associated with dark skinned inhabitants (Nigerian, Indian, Turkish), this avoided having to blatantly mention skin color - nationality of offender mentioned in headline and one time in body of each article - in all crime articles (consistent across conditions): one male offender, similar length, crimes took place in Europe, no info about time - Assessing Facial Threat: six short video clips (randomly ordered) used with 3 light-skinned targets and 3 dark skinned targets. Target person's facial expression changes from non hostile to hostile (100%) over course of 15 seconds, participants told to hit space bar when they believed the face changed from non hostile to hostile, positive values: quicker perception of facial threat in dark skinned targets, negative values: quicker perception of facial threat in light skinned targets Results: Median Test Highest median values of perceived threat: high dose group Lowest median values: control Also tested hypothesis: control < moderate dose < high dose, HYPOTHESIS WAS SUPPORTED, control /moderate condition did not differ significantly, control/high dose condition DID differ significantly with facial threat perceptions... Shows that priming works Implications: - Reading articles about dark skinned offenders increased perception of facial threat: participants perceived quicker onset of anger in dark skinned faces compared to light skinned faces - News stereotype exposure can prime perceived hostility of dark skinned compared to light skinned faces - Newspaper articles did not mention skin color/no images presented: even subtle group cues can produce stereotypic responses - Short term exposure to mediated stereotypes can influence perception of facial threat (at least in the short term) Limitations: - In Real Life the experience of facial affect is quicker. BUT the authors argue that... the 15 seconds actually underestimates media effects; If they utilized a shorter morphing phrase: media effect may have been more evident due to participants inability to suppress automatically activated response - Only high dose condition produced significant effect on perception of facial threat...moderate dose condition had to weak of a dose? - Student sample (not representative of entire population/diff ages)
Capodilupo (2015)
Premise: white models and social comparison Theory: Influence of presumed influence (gunther & story, 2003): I might not buy into an ideal, but if I feel like other people do, then I have to try to fit that ideal (not directly affected by magazines, but I think guys are, and I want guys to like me, so therefore I have to try to look like the girls in the magazines) Influence OF black men (influence of black men on me) Influence ON black men (perception of media's influence on black men) Method: - Qualitative pilot study, 26 black women - 3 aspects: media images (lack of acknowledgment of afrocentric features etc.), interpersonal influences, experiences of oppression Main study: 230 Black/AA women Body esteem 1: in shape Body esteem 2: sexy Own vs. cultural: appearance satisfaction Results: - Higher in level of internalization of media images if assumed media images have more presumed influence on men - If assuming more presumed influence on men, feel invisible, leads to low body esteem - Higher on level of internalization of media images, also leads to low body esteem - More internalization, lower satisfaction Implications: - black women are just as vulnerable to media images as white women but there are other factors that play in which are related to racism - We might not want to be noticed by some people → makes the line more ambiguous for us in terms of how we dress, invisibility plays a role in this study Limitations: not possible to know who participants felt vulnerable to
Propensity
Propensity: outside factor that may account for how different groups have different relationships with IV and DV (e.g., having strict parents vs. less strict parents) Propensities are NOT the same thing as Mediators and Moderators
Tukachinsky, Mastro, and King (2011)
Purpose: -To investigate the extent to which visual and verbal exemplars have a disparate influence on readers' assessments of social issues (emergency room use by uninsured White Americans and undocumented Latino immigrants) depicted in news -Whether these social judgments lead to subsequent attitudinal effects. -Exemplification theory:the degree to which a number of exemplars reliably exemplify the exemplified phenomenon (like a news story!) -Even if you tell the truth in a news story and your exemplars are of people that match stereotypes in a schema, people remember the exemplar over the statistics. -Exemplars are processed more quickly because they are concrete. Study 1: Hypothesis: -Compared with exposure to verbal exemplars of undocumented Latino immigrants, exposure to pictorial exemplars of undocumented Latino immigrants will have a greater impact on perceptions that undocumented immigrants are responsible for the hospitals' financial difficulties. -Compared with exposure to verbal exemplars of undocumented Latino immigrants, exposure to pictorial exemplars of undocumented Latino immigrants will have a greater negative effect on readers' attitudes toward illegal immigration. -Believing that undocumented immigrants are responsible for the hospitals' financial situation will lead to more negative attitudes toward immigration and to greater support for stricter immigration regulation. Method: -Sample: 114 White undergraduate students -Majority (61.7%) female -Average age: 22.45 -Each participant read an online newspaper article -Pictorial exemplars -Verbal exemplars -Base-rate information only -Article was followed by series of questions that measured perceptions of undocumented immigrants' contribution to the hospitals' financial crises (attribution of responsibility), attitudes toward immigration (pro-immigrant attitudes), and support for possible solutions to the hospitals' situation (support for anti-immigrants solutions). Results: -Verbal exemplars and pictorial exemplars did not significantly differ from each other on their impact on both responsibility perceptions and attitudes toward immigration. -Both verbal and pictorial exemplars had significant effects on recollection of the article and on attitudes toward immigration. -Exposure to any type of exemplars deteriorated readers' attitudes toward immigration, but the effects of the two exemplar conditions were indistinguishable. (Thus, H1 and H2 are not confirmed.) Implications: -While previous studies claimed that pictorial exemplars are superior because they are processed faster and more easily recalled -No significant differences in the effect sizes of the two types of exemplars were found, suggesting that pictures are not inherently more influential than verbal exemplars. Study 2: Hypothesis: -Readers exposed to a news story about financing emergency room services that contains a majority of visual exemplars of undocumented Latino immigrants (vs. verbal exemplars) will perceive immigrants to be more responsible for the hospitals' financial difficulties. -Readers exposed to a news story about financing emergency room services that contains a majority of visual exemplars of undocumented Latino immigrants (vs. verbal exemplars) will be have less favorable attitudes toward immigration to the United States. -Perceiving undocumented Latino immigrants to be responsible for the hospitals' financial situation will lead to more negative attitudes toward immigration and to greater support for stricter immigration regulation. Method: -Sample: 173 White undergraduate students -Mostly female (69.9%) -Average age: 20.06 -They read a modified version of the news article used in Study 1: -The revised story did not explicitly specify the base-rate information. -The visual and verbal exemplars and counter-exemplars were embedded in the news story; however, the ratio between them varied across the experimental conditions -Experimental condition 1 (Presenting a majority of visual exemplars to counter examplars) -Two pictures of undocumented immigrants from Mexico -One story about an undocumented immigrant from Mexico -One picture of a White uninsured U.S. citizen -Two stories about White uninsured U.S. citizens -Experimental condition 2 (Presenting majority of verbal exemplars to counterexamplars) -Two stories about undocumented immigrants from Mexico -One picture of an undocumented immigrant from Mexico -Two pictures of White uninsured U.S. citizens -One story about White uninsured U.S. citizen -Control condition -Participants were not exposed to the article -Dependent variables: same as Study 1 (attribution of responsibility, pro-immigrant attitudes, and support for anti-immigrants solutions) Results: -Exposure to exemplars has no significant effects on perceptions of undocumented immigrants' contribution to the problem or attitudes toward immigration, with the exception of the path from the majority of visual exemplars to immigration attitudes -Perception of undocumented immigrants' contribution to the hospitals' financial difficulties and attitudes toward immigration were not significantly different in the majority of verbal exemplars condition, majority of pictorial-exemplars condition, and the control condition. -No effect of condition of condition on attitudes toward immigration, in the verbal exemplars condition and majority of pictorial-exemplars condition compared to the control condition. -these results are consistent with the findings from the latent composite variable analysis, thus alleviating any reservations pertaining to low statistical power.Implications -As long as there is no bias in the numerical distribution of exemplars, there is no impact on the readers' issue perception. -This study provides convincing evidence that, at least in some cases, words speak as loudly as pictures. -Having an equal number of exemplars and counterexemplars can accomplish the goal of impartiality in effects of news coverage Limitations: -Examines only short-term effects - don't know long term effects -In study 2, 2:1 ratio between visual and verbal exemplars were used. -Utilizing 3:0 ratio (only visual exemplars and only verbal counterexemplars) may offer important insights into the potential for message modality to moderate media effects under different conditions. -Doesn't differentiate between various media (eg., print, television) and modalities of message presentation (eg., verbal, audio, visual), as well as the specific combinations of these modalities, as these message characteristics can promote different attention allocation and result in distinct types of effect
Tukachinsky (2015)
Purpose: -To predict national-level racial/ethnic perceptions based on 20 years of television representations of racial/ethnic characters Theory: -Exemplification theory: exposure to both visual and verbal exemplars can lead readers to overestimate the prevalence of the phenomenon and form attributes that correspond with inaccurate recollection -Quantification heuristic: individuals form their perceptions of issues based on the frequency of exemplars and counter-examples -Visual processing theories: new stories with majority of visual exemplars will have a greater impact than news stories with a majority of verbal exemplars Method: Study 1: -Comparison between effects of inclusion of pictorial or verbal exemplars about undocumented immigrants -Randomly assigned to computer station and asked to read an online newspaper article -Pictorial exemplar (n=44), verbal exemplar (n=33) or base rate information (n=37) -In experimental conditions there were 3 exemplars (either verbal or pictoral) of specific incidents and undocumented immigrants from Mexico were provided with urgent care -Caption of photo with brief description and "illegal immigrant from Mexico" -Followed by questions measuring: -Perceptions of undocumented immigrants contribution to hospitals financial cries -Attitudes toward immigration -Support for possible solutions to the hospital's situation -114 white undergrad college students, 62% female, mean age of 22.45 -DVs: attribution and mediating variables, pro-immigrant attitudes, support for anti-immigrants solutions (all measured on scales and calculated averages) Study 2: -Competing pictorial and verbal exemplars -173 white undergrad college students, 70% female, average age of 20.06 -Revised news story did not explicitly specify the base-rate information (this is different than Study 1) -Experimental conditions contained 3 verbal exemplars and 3 visual exemplars -Included 3 exemplars of undocumented Latino immigrants and 3 counter-exemplars of uninsured White American citizens -Differed in ratio (2:1 ratio) of visual and verbal modalities of exemplars and counter-exemplars -Control - not exposed to article and filled out the measures of DVs -White and immigrant verbal exemplar differed only in name of patient (John vs. Juan) -Photos were digitally manipulated - same except for patient's race -Same DVs as in Study 1 Results: -Quantity of representations over time -Number of whites stay consistent, majority white -Less blacks on TN now than there was in late 80s -Slight increase in Latinos, but portrayed stereotypically -Asian and Native Americans still largely ignored -Quality of representations over time -Black characters stay consistently likable and good -Black characters increasingly shown in professional contexts Black characters fluctuate with being social and sexual -Latinos increasingly sexualized and also increasingly likable -Latinos professional, social, and good qualities fluctuate -White's perceptions of minorities (according to surveys) -Number of professional and social latinos positive effect on White's attitudes -Number of sexualized Latinos has negative effect on White's attitudes -Number of good and liked Latinos has no effect on White's attitudes -Prevalence of Black characters and their professional and social status have positive effect on White attitudes -Good, liked and hyper sexual portrayals of Blacks have negative effect on White's attitudes towards Blacks -Has a positive and significant effect on attitudes toward Blacks. The number of good and liked Black characters and the number of hyper sexual Black characters significantly reduced the support towards blacks -Men gave more positive attitudes towards Blacks compared to women Implications: -It is important to improve the quality of representations of ethnic minorities rather than merely increase the number of those characters in the media -To promote overall positive attitudes toward the outgroup, a likable media persona need also be perceived as typical of the group -Possible that many of the positive and likable characters in this study were deemed nonrepresentative of Latinos and Blacks as a whole, therefore limiting the potential for positive feelings to extend to the group -Contact hypothesis asserts that group membership should be salient for attitudes to shift -If viewers don't perceive the mediated contact to be an interracial/ethnic experience, positive contact will not be transferred to perceptions of the outgroup -Likability and morality affect attitudes only when the character's racial/ethnic identity is central to the story line -Preexisting attitudes about race may influence racial attitudes concerning certain groups despite media representation -I.e. The positive and likable Latino character promoted favorable attitudes only among viewers who were already positively predisposed toward members of other ethnic groups -Results can be relevant to intergroup media representations in countries other than the U.S., too -Minority social groups with low group vitality lack political power and access to the media industry and are therefore symbolically alienated and marginalized by the majority group that controls the media -Need for social policies promoting education of media consumers about stereotypical representations of race/ethnicity Limitations: -Were not able to examine effects of media on attitudes towards Asian Americans or Native Americans -Reliance on secondary data that was a single item measure about the attitudes towards the minority groups, if could more extensively measure attitudes could be more accurate -Did not measure exposure to media, just assumed -Did not separate by gender (ex Black women vs Black men) grouped all of race together, this could be inaccurate, could view the genders differently Limited to recurring characters on primetime TV, no other media was looked at
Roberts and Muta (2016)
Purpose: -Many women were looking at other women in media and trying to emulate the 'thin ideal.' -Failure to live up to these standards led many women to high body dissatisfaction and in some cases eating disorders. -Sypeck et. al. (2006) found that BMI's in media portrayals were going up, thus making the model look more realistic. -This study went further and looked at models height, weight, bust, waist, and hip measurements featured in Playboy magazine centerfolds from 2000 to 2014. Theories: -Thin ideal -Body dissatisfaction Method: -Cross-sectional study -N=180 models -"Playmate of the month" are published once a month from January 2000 to December 2014 -Anthropometric measurements -Obtained from data sheets which have body measurements, interests, and other miscellaneous information provided by the model that includes a picture -Weight Trend Measurements -Measured by body mass index Results: -BMI -Average BMI across all years was 18.36, "Mild thinness" category -Only 3 models fell into the "severe thinness" category, two of which occurred in 2014 -6 models were "moderately thin" -Remaining 95% were almost equally divided between "normal weight" and "mild thinness" -Temporal Changes in body measurements -Correlational analysis -Year of publication was unrelated to height, weight, hip measurement, or bra size -BUT was significantly related to bust, waist, and age (models got older with larger waists and smaller busts over the 15 years) -Temporal changes in BMI -Nonlinear trend indicating an increase in BMIs during the first 13 years of the millennium (generally possessing BMIs in the normal range) -But a sharp decline in BMIs during 2013 and 2014, the last years studied, offsetting the increase -Basically BMIs were increasing at the beginning of the last decade and continued, but decreased during the last 2 years Implications: -Sypeck et al. (2006) suggested that the trend toward increased thinness reported in earlier studies of Playboy might have started to reverse, this study's findings provide qualified support for this view -Found little support for the view that American standards of beauty, as conveyed through Playboy centerfolds, currently reflect unhealthy levels of thinness -The beauty ideals presented in Playboy magazines have a direct influence as those standards of beauty are then accepted by society and influence women's esthetic preferences -Even though the study shows that BMI has gone up over the years, it is not to say that the images are no longer harmful in terms of body dissatisfaction -Comparison to even normal weight images may result in negative body image for some women Limitations: -Only used Playboy Magazine so results are only generalizable to Playboy -Scale used here isn't US but world (Based on World Health Organization guidelines), so it's a little skewed towards 18 being healthier -Anthropometric measurements are self-reported by the models, could result in bias
Moorman and Harrison (2016)
Purpose: -To determine whether or not risk management messages are present in online sex worker advertisements and to explore the behavior and demographics associated with these messages and the resulting identity-related risks. -Do advertisements contain risk management messages? -If risk management messages are present, does the use of risk management messaging differ by sex worker race or gender? -If the use of risk management messages differs by sex worker race or gender, which group has the highest overall use of risk management messages? Theory: -Theory of Intersectionality - race, class, and gender (and sexuality) act together to create heightened and unique experiences of risk for marginalized people, these identities cannot be teased apart. -Sociological construction of risk - risk management is a strategic effort on the part of sex workers, implemented with the aim of balancing their need to attract as large a suitable client base as possible while simultaneously discouraging clients deemed to be too risky. Method: -Observational/experimental study. Observed online ads from variety of sex workers as well as interviewing workers in person. -Looked at ads on Backpage.com. -Content analysis with a sample of 600 advertisements (5 categories: Body rubs, Dom and fetish, Escorts, Male escorts, T's) collected from December 1, 2012-January 20, 2013 based on a 24 hour day -Targeted to Detroit and surrounding areas. -Coding Scheme: 13 client-screening and rule-setting variables. -Client-screening -presence or absence of physical or demographic client descriptors. -Rule-setting: presence or absence of statements prohibiting client behaviors(No dirty talk, no games, no fakers, no blocked calls, no text messages, no law enforcement) Results: -Ads contained risk management messages that varied by age and gender -Black and white transgender women had the highest use -The "no law enforcement" rules were common throughout this study -"First times" and "no blocked calls" were used more by the transgendered women -Risk overall, white transgendered women had the highest mean use Implications: -Risk management is an intersectional practice, the use of risk management messages is a venue specific manifestation of broader risk management priorities -Risk management strategies appear in web-based sex work ads -Risk management is informed by race and gender; identities could not be separated -Black women along with black and white transgendered women were the most vulnerable -Police level intervention -Decriminalization or legalization of sex work could potentially help with institutional risks Limitations: -Cannot say that the person that is in the ad is the same person that posted the ad -Sex workers could be using phrases in different ways -There may be other risk management messages -Could only be a representation of the Michigan area
Coyne & Padilla Walker
Purpose: Examining how listening to various content in music influences aggression, sexual behavior, and prosocial behavior Theories: - General aggression model (GAM), specific to aggressive behavior - General learning model (GLM), can describe many different types of behavior, ex. sexual and prosocial - In the short-term, these models explain how music can influence a person's internal state, including cognition, arousal, and affect. This also relates to priming theory because the song may activate sex-related scripts in memory. Listening to a song with strong sexual content may get the individual in a state that's "ready" to act in a specific way - In long term, music content can shape the way aperson thinks about the world. Potential toinfluence long-term personality development Predictions: - Exposure to aggressive content would be positively associated with aggression and negativity associated with prosocial behavior over time - Sexual content would be positively associated with sexual behavior over time - Prosocial content would be associated with increased prosocial behavior and decreased aggression over time Method: - longitudinal study across a one-year time period - participants: selected from larger project called the Flourishing Families Project, took subsample of 548 adolescents from the larger study who reported having at least one favorite musical artistor band. - Questionnaire (2-waves of panel survey, 12 mos.): 1) Music content- name three favorite musicalartists (only at time 5) 2) Aggression- answer questions such as "I lose mytemper" 3) Sexual behaviors- age of first intercourse +frequency + partner count (only at time 6) 4) Prosocial behavior- Kindness and Generositysub-scale of the Values inAction Inventory ofStrengths 5) Control- Total time spent using media Results: - Aggressive content was positively correlated withaggressive behavior and negatively correlated with prosocial behavior - Sexual content was positively correlated withaggressive behavior and negatively correlated with prosocial behavior - Prosocial content was negatively correlated withaggressive behavior, negatively correlated with thenumber of sexual partners, and negatively correlated with prosocial behavior --> NOT RELATED TO ANY TREND (thought that prosocial music was associated with increased levels of prosocial behavior was not significant) Implications: - Music can have a long term affect on behavior during adolescence- depended on type of content and type of behavior - aggression in music has the strongest effects across time; associated with higher levels of aggression and lower levels of prosocial behavior one year-later - Consistently listening to aggression in music hasthe potential to strengthen aggression norms andcontribute to an "aggressive personality" duringadolescence - Listening to sexual content in music was associated with an earlier age of sexual initiation. Trend between listening to sex in music and the number of sexual partners the next year. - Prosocial content in the media was NOT associated with prosocial behavior or aggression. The thought that prosocial music was associated with increased levels of prosocial behavior and decreased levels of aggression, was non significant. Limitations: - Participants not diverse - Only used participants favorite band/musicalartist as an indicator of their music exposure - Lack of musical content at time 6 - Sexual behavior was not measured at time 5- limiting our interpretation of longitudinal effects
Describe the Hefner et al. (2015) experiment
Purpose: How do heterosexual people respond to pro-gay or anti-gay content in social media? Method: 2 x 2 design: sex of participant (male/female) X valence of social media (anti-gay/pro-gay) DV: tolerant gay attitudes/likelihood to interact with content Participants: 357 undergrads at a Christian university Social media scenario: "Imagine these photos appearing on your peers' social media page Participants were asked: Would you like/share/comment? What would you say? 3 conditions: no photos (control), pro-gay photos, or anti-gay photos Findings - More likely to interact with photo and endorse gay tolerant attitudes if less religious - If participants had more gay social media exposure then they were more likely to comment on photos and report tolerant attitudes - Females more tolerant than males - If in pro-gay condition over anti-gay condition, more likely to comment - Females in the anti-gay condition showed the most tolerance. Males in the anti-gay condition showed the least tolerance. - The people in pro-gay condition with high previous gay exposure in media were more likely to comment than those with low prior gay exposure in pro-gay condition
Hopper & Aubrey (2015)
Purpose: The present study investigated the notion that the scrutiny of postpartum celebrity bodies by gossip media reinforces the message to all women that their bodies are vulnerable to close, critical scrutiny and that their value is contingent upon their appearance. Theories: Objectification Theory: - Sexual objectification occurs when women are reduced to being represented only by the sexual value of their bodies. - General objectification occurs when an individual is reduced from a human being to the level of an object, which strips the individual of his or her autonomy and dignity - Sexual and general objectification in the media help teach girls and women to perceive themselves based on how they think their bodies appear to others and thus focus on their externally perceivable traits, rather than internal traits - This is known as self-objectification Priming Theory: - This study uses priming theory in order to understand how short-term exposure to post-partum baby bodies is linked to self-objectification in women - Priming theory states that we have a network of nodes that are all interconnected. When one node is stimulated, many other nodes associated with that one will also be stimulated (ex. Peanut butter = jelly) - want to see if exposure to pictures of post-partum celebrities with captions, prime their participants to think of their value as connected to their body and appearance Method: - Experimental study on 127 never-pregnant female undergraduate women between the ages of 18 and 24 at U.S. universities - 3 experimental conditions 1) Full-body pictures of postpartum celebrities with captions that focus the reader's attention to the weight/body/thinness of the depicted celebrity 2) The same pictures and captions, but with only the head shown 3) A control group that was shown pictures of home decor and travel destinations with no people involved - Dependent variables: state self-objectification and body surveillance - State Self-objectification measured by: value on the Twenty Statements Test as measured by the codes of comments relating to body shape and size, other physical appearance, physical competence, nonappearance-related traits or abilities, nonappearance-related states or emotions, and miscellaneous - Body Surveillance measured by: 1 to 5 Likert-scale responses to 8 item questionnaire intended to measure the extent to which you are aware of your body physically/think others are aware of your body Results: - For state self -objectification: scores higher when exposed to face and body (not significantly different from each other, but significant against control group) - For body surveillance: scores were higher for face only shots (not significantly different from heads and bodies but near significant) - It is possible that that viewers filled in the gaps and matched headshot with visualization of the celebrity bodies (paying more attention to their own) Implications: - They interpreted the findings to be in line with a framework of media priming effects, in that the images likely activated participants' nodes about self-scrutiny and surveillance for a short time following exposure to the images - The results also have implications for serious issues impacting women's health. Engaging in self-objectification has been linked to having detrimental effects such as depression. - The results are also noteworthy in light of recent research that has suggested the current trend for women in the U.S. to have babies later in life. Limitations: - The results can only be generalized to a U.S. college-based sample of primarily White women who are an average of 20 years old - Also important to note that the celebrities chosen for the present study were portrayed as successful in losing weight after pregnancy - Further studies could focus on how pregnant and recently postpartum women are affected by media portrayals - Could just be short term priming effects → more research needs to be done
Boepple & Thompson (2016)
Purpose: To examine the appearance messages and standards for women of color present in popular magazines. Theory: No main theory; current study concerned with appearance dimensions/standards for women of color in popular magazines Method: - Content analytic study - Rated 17 female targeted magazines with the highest circulation ratings (coded all images and text) Hypotheses: H1) Latina, Asian, and Black women will be underrepresented in magazines, in comparison to their numbers in the U.S. population H2) The majority of all women of color will have lighter skin tones, smaller facial features, and long, straight hair H3) Images in magazines geared toward Black audiences will be less consistent with mainstream beauty standards than images in magazines geared toward wider audiences -Research question: How will Latina and Asian women be portrayed in magazines? - Participants/sample: A single issue from 17 different magazines from June 2014 that aimed toward female audiences (Elle, Seventeen, O, the Oprah Magazine, InStyle, etc.), chosen based on circulation ratings Measures: - All images and text in advertisements related to Latina and Asian women was coded for general themes - Coding categories/variables: race, age, skin tone, facial features, hair color, hair texture, styled hair, non-styled hair, hair length, eyes, technology, sexualization, and person description Results: H1) Correctly hypothesized that Latina and Asian women would be underrepresented in magazines; however, black women were not (72.9% White, 22.28% Black, 2.40% Latina, 2.40% Asian) H2) Not correct in hypothesis that majority of women of color would have smaller facial features, with the exception of Asian women, but were correct that majority of women would have straight hair and lighter skin tones H3) Hypothesis regarding Black and mainstream magazines unsupported; images in magazines geared toward Black audiences WERE somewhat consistent with mainstream beauty standards than images in magazines geared toward wider audiences (light skin tone didn't differ between two magazine types, although other facial features did) RQ1: How will Latina and Asian women be portrayed in magazines? Latina- - 25% of Latina women were depicted in ads; additional 75% were depicted in editorials - ½ of ads were hair care related, 1/3 make-up related, remaining were skin care related (lots of beauty related content) - Of the editorials, 1/3 related to fashion; another 1/3 related to Latino specific issues, 5 smaller themes: dating, Latina celebrities, exercise, undergarments, and hair Asian- - 30% of Asian women were present in advertisements; the remaining 70% were present in editorials - 1/5 ads contained Asian women featured skincare products; Half related to fashion/clothing; Remaining were on topics of make-up and food - ¾ of editorials featuring Asian women were fashion related; one Asian woman depicted as a scientist with the remaining topics relating to skin care, food, exercise, and makeovers Implications: - Percentage of Latina, Asian, and Native American women were well below US population averages, while percentage of Black women was slightly above US census norms - Skin tone norms consistent with mainstream beauty standards across all magazines, but other physical features are becoming less consistent with Caucasian norms Limitations: - Limited by the publication dates of the magazines - Since this is content analytic work, no assumptions can be made regarding how media-based portrayals of women of color may affect women who are exposed to them - System of coding racial categories of women was imperfect and may have led to women being inaccurately discarded from the sample
Vadenbosch and Eggermont (2015)
Title: The Role of Mass Media in Adolescents' Sexual Behaviors: Exploring the Explanatory Value of the Three-Step Self-Objectification Process Purpose: Can the 3-step process of self-objectification explain the influence of sexual media messages on adolescents' sexual behaviors? 3-step process: how media depictions affect our surveillance of ourselves and our ideas about appearance ideals 1) internalization of appearance ideals 2) valuing appearance over competence 3) body surveillance Hypothesis: Expect objectification to predict sexual behavior Method: - 3 wave panel study over 18 months - Data collected at Time A, Time B, and Time C - Examining magazines for sexual media content - Participants: 730 adolescents (12-18 years old) in Belgium - Note: teens who dropped out after 1st wave were more likely to have had sex (this impacts the results because this demographic was the target of the study) - Measures: Exposure to sexualizing magazines (men's, fashion, gossip) - Procedure: coded the magazines; found that men's magazine had more sexual material, next was fashion, gossip was least sexual - Researchers then composed mean averages of sexual exposure to magazines: means were all below 2 - Used a variety of sexual measures to interview the participants: French kissing: yes/no, Intimate touching: yes/no, Sexual intercourse: yes/no Results: - Most sexualized content in order: Men's Magazines, Fashion Mags, Gossip Mags - All 3 variables increased from the first wave to the third wave (french kissing, intimate touching, and sexual intercourse ALL increased for both boys and girls) - however, increase larger for boys than girls - 3 step objectification process worked for french kissing (this worked and the others did not; could be because they were young) - 3 step objectification process didn't work for intimate touching - 3 step objectification process didn't work for sexual intercourse; it was valuing appearance over competence that led to sexual intercourse, not the exact 3 step objectification process--there was an additional variable involved that probably led to the 'yes' outcome Implications: - this study indicates that exposure to sexualizing magazines is connected to the internalization of appearance ideals and valuing appearance over competence; association between media use and the 3-step process of self-objectification - Researchers suggest that while the behaviors measured in this study were not "risk behaviors", they may develop into and/or lead to riskier behaviors, especially when the underlying motivations are more risk-inducing Limitations - These models do not imply causation (models only appear to be causal) - there may be propensities for exposure to sexualizing magazines that lead to self objectification and sexual behavior (peer pressure, seeing parents french kiss, people telling you that you need to watch what you eat etc.) - Other media might be more potent (example: sexual behavior might be more prominent in mediums like TV, movies, social media, music)
Significance of Dove Ad
When minority groups are portrayed their can be controversy/backlash (ex. Ad is "racist"; this puts minorities in a bind; would you rather not be shown at all or be shown in problematic ways
