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Gender Stereotypes in a Children's Television Program: Effects on Girls' and Boys' Stereotype Endorsement, Math Performance, Motivational Dispositions, and Attitudes.

ABSTRACT: Television programs are a central part of children's everyday lives. These programs often transmit stereotypes about gender roles such as "math is for boys and not for girls." So far, however, it is unclear whether stereotypes that are embedded in television programs affect girls' and boys' performance, motivational dispositions, or attitudes. On the basis of research on expectancy-value theory and stereotype threat, we conducted a randomized study with a total of 335 fifth-grade students to address this question. As the experimental material, we used a television program that had originally been produced for a national TV channel. The program was designed to show children that math could be interesting and fun. In the experimental condition, the program included a gender stereotyped segment in which two girls who were frustrated with math copied their math homework from a male classmate. In the control condition, participants watched an equally long, neutral summary of the first part of the video. We investigated effects on boys' and girls' stereotype endorsement, math performance, and different motivational constructs to gain insights into differential effects. On the basis of prior research, we expected negative effects of watching the stereotypes on girls' performance, motivational dispositions, and attitudes. Effects on the same outcomes for boys as well as children's stereotype endorsement were explored as open questions. We pre-registered our research predictions and analyses before conducting the experiment. Our results provide partial support for short-term effects of gender stereotypes embedded in television programs: Watching the stereotypes embedded in the video increased boys' and girls' stereotype endorsement. Boys reported a higher sense of belonging but lower utility value after watching the video with the stereotypes. Boys' other outcome variables were not affected, and there were also no effects on girl's performance, motivational dispositions, or attitudes. Results offer initial insights into how even short segments involving gender stereotypes in television shows can influence girls' and boys' stereotype endorsement and how such stereotypes may constitute one factor that contributes to gender differences in the STEM fields.

SUBMITTER: Wille E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6288401 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Gender Stereotypes in a Children's Television Program: Effects on Girls' and Boys' Stereotype Endorsement, Math Performance, Motivational Dispositions, and Attitudes.

Wille Eike E Gaspard Hanna H Trautwein Ulrich U Oschatz Kerstin K Scheiter Katharina K Nagengast Benjamin B

Frontiers in psychology 20181204

Television programs are a central part of children's everyday lives. These programs often transmit stereotypes about gender roles such as "math is for boys and not for girls." So far, however, it is unclear whether stereotypes that are embedded in television programs affect girls' and boys' performance, motivational dispositions, or attitudes. On the basis of research on expectancy-value theory and stereotype threat, we conducted a randomized study with a total of 335 fifth-grade students to add ...[more]

PMID: 30564179

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Project description:The stereotype content model (SCM), originating in the United States and generalized across nearly 50 countries, has yet to address ethnic relations in one of the world's most influential nations. Russia and the United States are somewhat alike (large, powerful, immigrant-receiving), but differ in other ways relevant to intergroup images (culture, religions, ideology, and history). Russian ethnic stereotypes are understudied, but significant for theoretical breadth and practical politics. This research tested the SCM on ethnic stereotypes in a Russian sample (N = 1115). Study 1 (N = 438) produced an SCM map of the sixty most numerous domestic ethnic groups (both ethnic minorities and immigrants). Four clusters occupied the SCM warmth-by-competence space. Study 2 (N = 677) compared approaches to ethnic stereotypes in terms of status and competition, cultural distance, perceived region, and four intergroup threats. Using the same Study 1 groups, the Russian SCM map showed correlated warmth and competence, with few ambivalent stereotypes. As the SCM predicts, status predicted competence, and competition negatively predicted warmth. Beyond the SCM, status and property threat both were robust antecedents for both competence and warmth for all groups. Besides competition, cultural distance also negatively predicted warmth for all groups. The role of the other antecedents, as expected, varied from group to group. To examine relative impact, a network analysis demonstrated that status, competition, and property threat centrally influence many other variables in the networks. The SCM, along with antecedents from other models, describes Russian ethnic-group images. This research contributes: (1) a comparison of established approaches to ethnic stereotypes (from acculturation and intergroup relations) showing the stability of the main SCM predictions; (2) network structures of the multivariate dependencies of the considered variables; (3) systematically cataloged images of ethnic groups in Russia for further comparisons, illuminating the Russian historical, societal, and interethnic context.

Dataset Information

Gender Stereotypes in a Children's Television Program: Effects on Girls' and Boys' Stereotype Endorsement, Math Performance, Motivational Dispositions, and Attitudes.

Publications

Gender Stereotypes in a Children's Television Program: Effects on Girls' and Boys' Stereotype Endorsement, Math Performance, Motivational Dispositions, and Attitudes.

Similar Datasets

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