THE EFFECTS OF M.E.D.I.A. S.T.E.R.E.O.T.Y.P.E.S.

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THE EFFECTS OF M.E.D.I.A. S.T.E.R.E.O.T.Y.P.E.S.

• Presented By
• Ee Lin, Jasmine, Dionne, Andrea, Joanne Sabrina

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(No Transcript)
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Media Cultivation

• Cultivation process? cumulative, gradual changes
  in believes, attitudes and behavior
• A person? cultivated into the television view
  of social reality

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GERBNERS THEORY of MEDIA CULTIVATION
(Source http//www.ciadvertising.org/sa/spring_03
/382j/kimberly/page2.html)
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Media Cultivation

• Mainstreaming? refers to what happen when people
  of different groups are exposed to the same media
• Ultimately, everyone is being similarly
  cultivated by media messages
• Resonance? refers to what happens when a persons
  real-life environment strongly resembles the
  environment depicted in the media
• Receives double-dose of the same message,
  making the impact of media cultivation
  particularly likely

Sparks, G. (1996). Media Effects Research. A
Basic Overview. Cultivation Research. Pg151-153.
George Gerbner.
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Media Stereotypes (Application)

• Sex-Role Stereotypes
• Body-Image
• Racial Stereotype
• Face-ism

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Sex-Role Stereotypes

• Media Depiction
• Men far outnumber women
• Men have higher status roles
• Mainstreaming
• Men are more powerful and
• is more dominant in society
• Resonance (Double-Dose Effect)
• Men are employed in most of the
• higher paying job

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Body-Image

• Media Depiction
• Heavy emphasis on females to be overly-thin as
  compared to males
• Females with higher weight receives negative
  comments
• E.g. The Agency
• Mainstreaming
• Majority of females desire for thin bodies
• Resonance (Double-dose effect)
• Friends places great importance on thin body
  image
• Societys high values and regards for thin bodies

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Racial Stereotype

• Media Depiction
• More Blacks commit crimes
• Great difference in status for different race
• Mainstreaming
• Certain races are more capable as compared to the
  others
• Resonance (Double-dose effect)
• (e.g.) Most security guard positions are taken up
  by the Indians
• (e.g.) Most jobs require Mandarin speaking
  personnel

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Face-ism

• Media Depiction
• Focuses more on the faces of males
• Focuses more on the bodies of the females
• Mainstreaming
• Great importance are placed on a females
• overall figure
• A male face is enough for peoples judgment
• Resonance (Double-dose effect)
• Most fashion magazines published the entire
• body of females than focusing on her face
• More importance is placed on the face of a male
  than his body

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Sex-Role Stereotypes in Children

• Children make gender-typed classification
• at an early age
• Classify objects like toys, clothes, household
  items
• Learn from operant conditioning observational
  learning
• Basis of gender typing the social environment
• Children pay more attention to same-sex models
  (Bandura, 1962, 1969)

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Sex-Role Stereotypes

• George Gerbner
• ? women are much more likely to be depicted as
  victims of crime and violence than males.
• Females are relatively powerless as compared to
  the males in terms of the role they play on TV

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Sex-Role Stereotypes

• Jennifer Herrett-Skjellum and Mike Allen
• used meta-analysis to summarize consolidated
  data to examine sex-role stereotypes
• Conclusion of study
• ? Men
• more often on TV
• in higher status roles as characters
• represented as having more power than women

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Sexual Revolution

• Some masculinist theorists speculate that prior
  to sexual revolution, the idealized male was
  expected to be powerful while the idealized
  female was expected to be modest

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Sexual Revolution

• Modern Feminist Ariel Levy
• contributing editor at New York magazine
• wrote Female Chauvinist Pigs Women and the Rise
  of Raunch Culture
• warned that the current state of commercial
  sexuality has created a "Raunch Culture"

Ariel Levy. (2007, March 16). In Wikipedia, The
Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 1739, March 19,
2007, from http//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit
leAriel_Levyoldid115560408
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Effects of Media Stereotypes

• Media messages influence the
• construction of reality
• Experiment by Tannis Macbeth Williams Meredith
  Kimball
• - examined boys and girls job expectations
  over a 2 year period in the town of Notel
  (Canada)
• - no access to television initially
• - but later on access to one channel was
  implemented

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The TV Experiment by Tannis Macbeth Williams
Meredith Kimball

• 1st Hypothesis
• - children in Notel fewer stereotypical
  attitudes
• - children in towns with TV access
• more stereotypical attitudes

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The TV Experiment by Tannis Macbeth Williams
Meredith Kimball

• 6th 9th grade childrens attitudes measured by
  filling Sex Role Differentiation Scale
• Results
• - children in Notel did not differentiate
  behaviors according to sex to compared to other
  towns

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The TV Experiment by Tannis Macbeth Williams
Meredith Kimball

• Results interpreted as evidence
• - towns similar in every aspect except TV
  access
• 2nd Hypothesis
• - children in Notel gained TV access after
  1st hypothesis tested

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The TV Experiment by Tannis Macbeth Williams
Meredith Kimball

• Results after 2 years
• - pattern of results changed
• - showed dramatic increase in stereotypical
  attitudes
• Interpreted as clear media effect
• - only major change was TV access

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Media Portrayal Women as Sex Objects

• Women stereotyped as sex objects
• - anything that seems demeaning to women
• becomes controversial
• - women always portrayed as victims of rape

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Women as Sex Objects

• controversial D G advertisement pulled.
• - some said it depicts gang rape

Dolce Gabbana gang-rape ad banned. (2007).
Retrieved March 20, 2007, from http//www.creative
match.co.uk/viewnews/?93666
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Women as Sex Objects

• Grace Quek aka Annabel Chong
• - starred in The World's Biggest Gang Bang
• - had record breaking sex with 251 men in 10
  hours
• - wanted to shake up stereotypes about women
  being passive sex objects

Williams, L. R. (1999). Sex The Annabel Chong
Story. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from
http//www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/493
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Women as Eye Candy

• Just a Jade Hua Ping
• - vase (pretty but empty).
• - the Dance Floor co-host Jade Seah
• - 1st runner up of Miss Singapore
  Universe
• - viewers unhappy with her wooden and
  amateurish hosting

Shes a hua ping put there for ornamental
reasons!
Tan, J. (2007, March 13). Just A Jade Hua Ping.
The New Paper, pp.23.
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Women as the Weaker Sex

• Women are supposed to be
• - submissive
• - emotionally weak
• - home nurturing
• Man are supposed to be
• - authoritarian
• - emotionally strong (men dont shed tears!)
• - career driven

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Women as the Weaker Sex

• My Sassy Girl
• - 2001 Korean movie partially based on true
  story.
• - girl is fiery, violent, and calls the shots
• - boy is gentle,unassuming, and lets girl call
  the shots
• - success contributed to refreshing change in
  gender role reversal
• - started a new trend in the industry

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Examples of Stereotypes

• Females stuck in inferior roles compared to males
  in the media
• Females are always the
• - the nurse
• - the librarian
• - the teacher
• - the secretary

• Males are always the
• - the policeman
• - the fireman
• - the boss
• - the doctor

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Examples of Stereotypes

• Do you find yourself committing
• this mistake often?
• - When talking about doctors, we say he',
  even if we don't know that the doctor is a man.
• - We'll always ask, So what did he say?"
  even though the doctor could be a woman
• If you do, you are experiencing an effect of a
  stereotype

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Does TV Influence Attitudes?

• Science cannot explain everything
• Its not for sure that the impact of media
  messages causes disparity
• But they do have a contribution in
• people developing stereotypical attitudes

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MEDIA IMAGES of THIN BODIES EFFECTS on BODY
IMAGE Overview

• How female bodies are represented
• The impact of these representations

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Introduction

• Sociocultural factors (i.e. role of the media)
• - received the most attention as a possible
  contributor to body image disturbance eating
  dysfunctions (Fallon, 1990 Heinberg, 1996)

• Thompson, J.K. Heinberg, L.J. (1999). The
  medias influence on body image disturbance and
  eating disorders weve reviled them, now can we
  rehabilitate them? Journal of Social Issues
  Vol.55 (2), 339-353.

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Television
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Television

• TV on gt 7 hrs per day (Harris, 1994)
• Female TV characters thinner than average
  American woman
• lt 10 overweight (Gonzalez-Lavin Smolak, 1995
  Heinberg, 1996)

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Media Images of Thin Bodies Effects on Body
Image

• Research by Gregory Fouts
• Kimberley Burggraf
• 18 sitcoms from prime-time TV
• Findings
• Females in these programs were far more likely to
  be judged as being below average in weight
• The higher the weight, the more negative
  comments made
• - laugh tracks

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Media Images of Thin Bodies Effects on Body
Image

• Possible Media Effects
• Social problem
• Body dissatisfaction /
• Body-image disturbance
• Social Comparison
• Life-threatening eating disorders (eg. anorexia
  nervosa, bulimia)

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Magazines

• Probably more than any other form of media
  advocates promoters of the desirability of
  unrealistic ideal
• (Wolf, 1990)

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Magazines

• 83 teenage girls 4.3 hrs a week reading
  magazines (Levine Smolak, 1996)
• 70 who read magazines endorse them as an
  important source of beauty fitness information

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Magazines

• Adolescent girls endorsed ideal as the models
  found in fashion magazines aimed at teenage girls
  (Nichter Nichter, 1991)
• Ideal 57, 100 lbs, (BMIlt16), long blond hair,
  blue eyes

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Research by Eric Stice Heather Shaw

• 157 female college students to view pictures in
  magazines that contained thin, average or no
  models
• Findings
• Students who viewed thin models stress, shame,
  guilt, depression, insecurity
• High levels of body dissatisfaction symptoms
  associated with bulimia

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Magazines

• Photographic techniques blur realistic nature
  of media images
• Leading consumers to believe the models the
  viewers see through the illusions techniques
  create are realistic representations of actual
  people rather
• Carefully manipulated, artificially developed
  images
• (Stormer Thompson, 1995, 1998)

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TV Commercials
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Research by Duane Hargreaves Marika Tiggemann

• Cumulative effect of media exposure to ideal body
  types
• 80 random adolescents
• 20 commercials female thin ideals,
• 20 commercials no physical appearance

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Research by Duane Hargreaves Marika Tiggemann

• Findings
• Exposure to the thin body ideals gt small changes
  in body dissatisfaction
• Girls gt gt body dissatisfaction, gt drive for
  thinness
• Boys gt lt body dissatisfaction, gt drive for
  thinness
• Evidence for cumulative media effects
  initial media effect continued to produce changes
  in body image that were detectable 2 years later

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Research by Daniel Agliata Stacey Tantleff-Dunn

• 158 males
• Neutral TV commercials / with male ideal body
  images
• Findings
• Group that watched ideal body images gt
  significantly gt levels of depression muscle
  dissatisfaction

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300

• All the d?ks in the show had at least a six
  pec. If I had a body like that I would be walking
  around in my underwear too, man! F!
  
• 
  (Fernandez, M., 2007)

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On the Runway

• Sept 2006 Madrid Fashion Week bannes models
  with BMI lt18
• Uruyguayan model sisters died of malnutrition
• Underweight models still walk the runways of
  shows in London Paris

• (Source The Straits Times, 26 Mar 2007)

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Singapore Fashion Festival

• Average BMI of 3 female models 16
• (Healthy 18.5 - 22.9)
• 2 male models
• healthy BMI (23 27.5)
• Sheila Sim There is added pressure for me to be
  thin. There are so few spots for Asians in a
  show, I have to be at least as thin as the other
  non-Asian girls.

(Source The Straits Times, 26 Mar 2007)
http//www.newfaces.com/magazine/imagesx/skinny.jp
eg
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Research Summary

• Media images of females are stereotypical in that
  they tend to represent females with idealized,
  overly thin bodies
• Negative effects on both males females
• Females internalize ideal image strive to attain
  it despite eating disorders
• Males reinforce ideal image gt create additional
  social pressure on females

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I WANT a FAMOUS FACE
http//www.mtv.com/onair/i_want_a_famous_face/pic_
index_main.jpg
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What can be done?

• Critical media consumption
• Sensitive to media stereotypes possible
  effects of media exposure on attitudes behavior
  
• School curricula designed to expose sexual
  stereotypes in media to reduce extent to which
  young girls embrace idealized, overly thin body
  standard

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RACIAL STEREOTYPES Problems

• Problems related to the use of stereotypes
• often leads to misunderstanding
• hurt feelings
• Reasons behind the problems
• Representation of groups are either
• untrue generalizations,
• unflattering generalizations,
• or truthful generalizations about a group which
  are untrue of any given member of a group

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Racial Stereotypes

• Still present in todays television
• dramas, sitcoms, and movies
• Can also be known as Ethnic stereotype
• a generalized representation of an ethnic group,
  composed of what are thought to be typical
  characteristics of members of the group
• Use of such stereotypes is usually demeaning even
  when the characteristics might be considered
  positive because it tends to discount the
  importance and uniqueness of the individual
  (Ethnic stereotype, 2007)

Ethnic stereotype. (2007) From In Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia. Retrieved March 9, 2007, from
http//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?titleEthnic_s
tereotypeoldid118090118
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Frito-Lay Example

• Example Frito-Lay Company
• Used cartoon character to convey
• the message that Fritos corn chips
• are delicious
• Character was known as Frito-bandito
• Because of his appearance and Mexican accent, he
  as clearly identified as a Mexican
• The Mexican community protested because
• The image of Frito-bandito depicts an undesirable
  stereotype
• Image associates the ethnic group with crime and
  thievery

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Study Overrepresentation of African American

• Research Study by Travis Dixon and Daniel Linz
• Content study designed to reveal information
  about how TV newscasts in major U.S. city
  represented African Americans and Latinos in
  stories about crime
• Sample
• 116 news broadcasts,
• Including examples from virtually every news
  program broadcast in the Los Angeles area

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Results

• Intergroup comparison
• Comparison of the percentage of one group to the
  percentage of another group
• Found that the news coverage in their sample
  included 129 perpetrators of criminal offenses
• 69 were Black perpetrators
• 40 were White perpetrators

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Results

• Interrole comparison
• Used to compare the distribution of the same
  group of people according to particular roles
• Coded the race of the police officers depicted in
  the news as well as that of the perpetrators
• 87 Blacks depicted in their sample of news
• 69 appeared as perpetrators of crime
• 18 appeared as officers
• 133 Whites depicted in their sample of news
• 40 appeared as perpetrators
• 93 appeared as officers

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Results

• Interreality comparison
• Comparing the percentages of Blacks, Whites, and
  Latinos who appeared in TV crime stories with the
  percentages that showed up in actual crime
  statistics
• Actual crime data
• 21 Blacks accounted for criminal arrests
• 28 Whites accounted for criminal arrests
• 47 Latinos accounted for criminal arrests
• Data shown on TV newscasts
• 37 of TV news perpetrators were Blacks
• 21 of TV news perpetrators were Whites
• 29 of TV news perpetrators were Latinos

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Local Context

• In a report on IPS Research Forum on Ethnic
  Relations in Singapore, showed how the media
  representation of ethnicity is like with regards
  to local television and film
• Stereotypes of the following ethnic categories
• Westernized, English-educated Chinese
• Bad attitude to Mandarin and Chinese culture
• Masculinity - feminine and homosexual,
  excessively macho, rational
• Femininity - calculative and career-minded
• Chinese-educated Singlish-speaking
• Singaporean identity
• Class (heartland) identity
• Chinese identity

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Local Context

• Chinese-educated dialect-speaking
• Obsessed with money
• Crude, insensitive, and sleazy
• Superstitious, hypocritical and cruel
• Violent and criminal
• Malays
• Buffoonery
• Masculinity - irrational and violent
• Femininity - submissive, objectified and
  instrumental

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Local Context

• Indians
• Comic effect absurdity, buffoonery
• Fear authority, violence and perversion
• Eurasians
• Cool, sexually attractive, but shallow,
  unintelligent, inauthentic
• Perverse
• Westerners
• Confrontational and anti-authority, rational and
  disrespectful
• Male chauvinist, opinionated
• Unfair competition from second-rate foreign talent

Tan, K. P. (2002, October 24) "Ethnic
representation on local film and television".
Institute of Policy Studies Research Forum on
Ethnic Relations in Singapore. Retrieved March 9,
2007, from www.ips.org.sg/reports/erp_2002/rp_erpf
orumreport.pdf
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Rise of Pan-Asians

• Modeling agencies

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Rise of Pan-Asians
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Local Brands but Non Local Models
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Is Eliminating Racial Stereotypes Possible?

• Racial stereotypes are unfair and degrading to a
  certain extent
• It is unrealistic to eliminate all ethnic
  stereotypes because
• Stereotypes are resilient and efficient images
  that help us to give order to a complex world
• In film and television programs, audiences
  connect more readily with characters and
  situations that are familiar and recognizable
• Many successful comedies are very dependent upon
  stereotypes

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Minimizing Racial Stereotypes

• How to minimize racial stereotypes
• eliminate negative stereotypes and promote
  positive ones (though it might be quite
  difficult)
• through positive social transformations, e.g.
  role modeling
• Creating alternative images and messages
• By creating new, more diverse, complex, and
  empowering representations

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FACE-ISM AN INTRIGUING UNDER-STUDIED MEDIA
DEPICTION

• What is the Face-ism Effect?
• Sparks DefinitionTendency to represent people
  in terms of their face or head as opposed to
  their body
• Characterized into 2 aspects (Costa Bitti,
  2000)
• Greater number of close-up shots, in comparison
  to distance shots that can be found in the media,
  for certain categories
• Attribution of positive qualities to people
  photographed in close shots instead of whole
  figure

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Face-ism Index

• Face-ism Index
• ratio of 2 linear measurements
• Numerator distance (mm) from top of head to
  lowest point of the chin
• Denominator distance (mm) from top of head to
  lowest visible part of the body
• Averages
• Male 0.65
• Female 0.45 (30 lesser than males)

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Research on Face-ism Five Studies of Sex
Differences in Facial Prominence

• By Archer, D., Iritani, B., Kimes, D. D.,
  Barrios, M. (1983)
• Purpose of Study
• Extent to which face-ism might be present
  in
• private and public representations
• Drawings of college students requested from both
  male and female
• FindingMale images have higher face-ism ratios

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Face-ism Five Studies of Sex Differences in
Facial Prominence

• Hypothesis Images reflect a real biological
  difference where male heads are larger than
  females
• Not supported
• Manipulation of face-ism ratios for photos of the
  same individual
• Finding People who were high on facial
  prominence in photos are perceived more
  intelligent, more ambitious, better-looking

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Faces in the News Gender Comparisons of Magazine
Photographs

• By Sparks, G.G., Fehlner, C.L. (1986)
• Presidential Campaign Photos
• Face-ism ratios of Ronald Reagan, George Bush,
  Walter Mondale, Geraldine Ferraro equivalent
• But in magazines, face-ism effect was found
• Males have higher levels of facial prominence

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Why Face-ism Ratios are the Same for Presidential
Candidates?

• Presented in photos that were framed identically
  and appeared as offsetting, competing
  representations
• In politics at the national level, press is
  constrained to represent candidates in a
  photographically similar manner, regardless of
  gender

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DOES FACE-ISM OCCURS in the SINGAPORE POLITICAL
SCENE?
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Members of ParliamentFemales
Mrs Yu-Foo Yee ShoonHolland-Bukit Timah GRC
Mrs Josephine Teo Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC
Face-ism Ratio 37/50 0.74
Face-ism Ratio 36/50 0.72
(Source http//www.parliament.gov.sg/AboutUs/Org-
MP currentMP.htm)
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Members of ParliamentMales
Dr Lee Boon YangJalan Besar GRC
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan Holland-Bukit Timah GRC
Face-ism Ratio 34 / 47 0.72
Face-ism Ratio 37/47 0.79
(Source http//www.parliament.gov.sg/AboutUs/Org-
MP-currentMP.htm)
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Face-ism in Singapores Political Scene

• Conclusion
• Proven that face-ism does not occur in
  Singapores Political Scene

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Interesting Aspect of Face-ism Effect

• High Facial Prominence More positive
• Head is where the brain is head, the center of
  an individuals intelligence
• Have negative implications for evaluation of
  women

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Awaiting Study

• Heavy media consumers who spend more time
  processing faces that are systematically
  different according to the sex-biased face-ism
  effect might more likely to show this effect in
  their own drawings

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Race Differences in Face-ism Does Facial
Prominence imply Dominance?

• By Zuckerman, M., Kieffer, S.C. (1994)
• Images of Black would have lower facial
  prominence than images of whites
• People represented in photos with higher facial
  prominence were perceived as being more dominant

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