AMB Dissertation for Grad Div 3-24-17
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GENDER STEREOTYPES WITHIN TV SHOWS FOR PRESCHOOLERS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON CHILDREN’S STEREOTYPES A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISON OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI`I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN PSYCHOLOGY MAY 2017 By Ashley Morris Biddle Dissertation Committee: Ashley Maynard, Co-chairperson Kristin Pauker, Co-chairperson Yiyuan Xu Charlene Baker Cheryl Albright Keywords: gender stereotypes, children’s media i DEDICATION My dissertation is dedicated to Madison, Jordan, Abby, Hannah, Mica, Kari, Kai, Kimo, Charlie, Reid, Cade, Chappell, Hina, Sebastian, Cody, Livia, Havana, Jazz, Ellie, Kūaolama, Miliopuna, Avary, Thea, Liam, and the countless other young children who have invited me to participate in their worlds throughout the years. Your willingness to share your observations and ideas has fueled my fascination with this topic. Your hugs, smiles, and insights have buoyed me in rough waters. And to Edith, whose ever-stronger kicks motivated me during the writing of this dissertation, whose birth was the greatest post-defense gift, and whose newborn snuggles helped with the edits. You promise to be my most meaningful adventure in child development. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I thank the members of my dissertation committee. They have not only provided substantive feedback at every step in this project, but have pushed me to think deeper about my findings and how they can be applied to the field as a whole. A special thank you to my two advisors, Ashley Maynard and Kristin Pauker, who have invested a considerable amount of time into making me the scholar I am today. I also thank my past academic advisors, especially Emily Cleveland and Brandy Frazier. Emily introduced me to the world of research with young children and guided me with an enormous amount of autonomy support. Brandy thoughtfully and thoroughly guided me through my first two years of graduate work and made significant contributions to my scholarly growth. I would be remiss if I failed to thank everyone who has helped me with this project from finding episodes to coding behaviors to running children through the experiment on the floor of a preschool classroom. Special thanks to Cara Bellwood, Celina Herrera, Claire Conley, Nicole Nielsen-Bowles, Aubrey Bento, Jayne Ko, Katie Searles, Mariah Acosta, Michelle Marchant, and Caleb Short. Thank you to my family- both biological and chosen- for always being eager to hear about my work and celebrating my successes, even when I had already set my sights on the next thing. Last, but certainly not least, thank you to the teachers who welcomed me into their classrooms, the parents who welcomed me into their homes, and the children who eagerly shared their thoughts on television shows and gender. This project could definitely not have happened without you. iii ABSTRACT This project investigates gender representations and stereotypes in television shows specifically designed for preschool aged children. Importantly, it includes both a content analysis of the most popular 22 shows (Study 1) as well as an experimental investigation of how children’s stereotyped beliefs may be affected by these stereotype depictions on television (Study 2). Study 1 found that male characters are over-represented and speak more in children’s shows; additionally, there are more gender stereotypes depicted than counter-stereotypes. However, there are differences depending on the gender of the main character of the shows: specifically, shows with female main characters showed less gender bias compared to shows with male main characters or ensemble casts. Study 2 found that, when children (ages 3.5- to 6-years-old) were exposed to a series of counter-stereotype depictions from these shows, they expressed stronger gender stereotypes compared to when they were exposed to a series of stereotype depictions or a combination (control); these effects were especially strong in girls. Results offer important contributions to current theories of children’s gender stereotype development as well as practical suggestions for the creation of more gender egalitarian children’s media. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………………...ii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………...iii List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………………..ix Chapter 1: General Introduction…………………………………………………………………..1 Three Major Theories of Gender Stereotype Development…………………………….…2 Gender Schema Theory…………………………………………………………....2 Social-Cognitive Theory of Gender Development………………………………..4 Developmental Intergroup Theory…………………………………………….…..5 How Do Children Acquire Knowledge About Gender and Stereotypes?............................5 Labeling…………………………………………………………………………...6 Assigning Meaning to Labels by Learning Gender Stereotypes………………….8 Learning from Parents……………………………………………………10 Learning from Media…………………………………………………….12 Gender Constancy and Gender Essentialism………………………………….…15 How Do Children Use Knowledge About Gender and Stereotypes?................................17 Toy Choice……………………………………………………………………….18 Motivation for Difficult Tasks and Occupations………………………………...19 The Current Study………………………………………………………………………..21 Chapter 2: Content Analysis of Children’s Television (Study 1)……………………………..…22 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………....22 Research Questions………………………………………………………………………24 Method…………………………………………………………………………………...25 v Survey…………………………………………………………………………....25 Participants…………………………………………………………….....25 Show Descriptions and Main Characters………………………………………...25 Content Analysis………………………………………………………………....27 Male and female representation on screen…………………………….....27 Words spoken and questions asked……………………………………....28 Gender stereotypes and counter-stereotypes……………………………..28 Results……………………………………………………………………………………29 Which shows are most popular for preschool-aged children?...............................29 Differences based on main character gender…………………………….29 Viewer differences by focus of show…………………………….………30 How do popular children’s shows portray male and female characters?...............30 Representation on screen…………………………………………….......30 Settings…………………………………………………………………...31 Words spoken…………………………………………………………….31 Asking questions…………………………………………………………31 Gender stereotypical and counter-stereotypical depictions……………...33 Differences by main character and topical focus……………………...…35 Discussion………………………………………………………………………………..38 Chapter 3: The Effects of Gender Portrayals on Children’s Stereotyped Beliefs (Study 2)…..…45 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………45 Research Questions………………………………………………………………………47 Methods……………………………………………………………………………….….47 vi Participants…………………………………………………………………..…...47 Parent Survey……………………………………………………………..……...48 Child Tasks………………………………………………………………..……..48 Child dress……………………………………………………………….48 Child pre-video interview………………………………………….…….48 Coding for pre-video interview…………………………………..49 Television sample………………………………………………………..49 Sticker choice task……………………………………………………….51 Coding for sticker choice task……………………………………51 Gender Accessibility Measure (GAM)…………………………………..51 Coding for GAM…………………………………………………51 Preschool Occupation Activity and Trait Measure (POAT)……………..52 Coding the POAT………………………………………………..52 Gender essentialism/constancy task……………………………………...53 Coding the gender essentialism/constancy task………………….53 Persistence in a difficult task…………………………………………….54 Coding the puzzle task…………………………………………...55 Results……………………………………………………………………………………55 Descriptive Results……………………………………………………………....55 Pre-video interview………………………………………………..……..55 Sticker choice…………………………………………………………….56 Gender Accessibility Measure (GAM)……………………………......…56 Preschool Occupation Activity and Traits (POAT)……………………...57 vii Gender essentialism/constancy…………………………………………..58 Puzzle task……………………………………………………………….59 Main Analyses…………………………………………………………………...59 Effects of video condition………………………………………………..59 Favorite character………………………………………………...59 Stereotype measure: POAT………………………………………60 Stereotype measure: Sticker choice……………………………...62 Stereotype measure: GAM……………………………………….62 Gender constancy/essentialism…………………………………..62 Motivation task: Puzzle choice…………………………………..63 Relations between variables……………………………………………...63 Stereotype measures……………………………………………...63 Gender constancy/essentialism…………………………………..64 Child age & other demographics………………………………...66 Does age play a factor in the effects seen?....................................66 Discussion………………………………………………………………………………..67 Effects of videos on children’s gender stereotypes………………………………68 Developmental Trends…………………………………………………………...73 Descriptions of Males and Females……………………………………………...73 Explicit v. Implicit Gender Stereotype Measures………………………………..75 Chapter 4: General Discussion………………………………………………………………..….77 Why did gender stereotypes increase after watching the counter-stereotyped video?......79 Contributions to current theories………………………………………………………...81 viii Gender Schema Theory…………………………………………………………..81 Social-Cognitive Theory………………………………………………………....82 Developmental Intergroup Theory (DIT)………………………………………..82 Suggestions for future children’s television……………………………………………..83 Design more shows with female main characters………………………………..84 Create characters who consistently have counter-stereotypical roles……………85 Final Thoughts…………………………………………………………………………...86 Appendix 1: Parent Survey………………………………………………………………………88 Appendix 2: Show Descriptions for Coding……………………………………………………..91 Appendix 3: Episodes used