Index to Volume 52, 2008

This study explored responses to Monk, a television series about a detective with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), from the perspective of parasocial relationships and the influence of presumed influence model. Series fans completed an online survey. A stronger parasocial relationship to Monk was associated with lower OCD stereotypes and less desired social distance from people with OCD. Perceived influence of Monk on respondents' own and others' attitudes toward OCD was related to behavioral and psychological outcomes, including willingness to seek and disclose mental health treatment and perceived self-esteem benefits. Different patterns were observed based on experience with mental illness and with OCD specifically.     

Stereotyped Identification: How Identifying with Fictional Latina Characters Increases Acceptance and Stereotyping

This article applies the concept of stereotyped identification—the idea that cognitively and emotionally identifying with fictional minority characters can simultaneously increase acceptance of minorities while reinforcing stereotypes about how they look, act, and talk—to the context of Latina television characters. Specifically, we employed a national survey measuring participants’ exposure to Latina TV characters; levels of identification with TV characters; and attitudes toward, and stereotypes about, Latinas. Results are consistent with the prediction that through identification, exposure to Latina TV characters is related to more favorable feelings toward Latinas, as well as higher levels of stereotyped views of Latinas as sexualized and melodramatic.     

Sex role stereotypes on children's TV in Asia a content analysis of gender role portrayals in children's cartoons in Hong Kong

This is a content analysis of 31 randomly‐selected children's television cartoons in Hong Kong, where all such programs are imported from foreign countries. No such programs are produced in Hong Kong. The study analyzes personality and appearance attributes of 277 cartoon characters. As expected, male characters outnumbered female characters by a ratio of 2:1; however, contrary to expectations, female characters enjoyed far greater representation in cartoons produced in Japan than they did in cartoons produced in the U.S. and Great Britain. On other measures, characters tended to conform to hypothesized gender‐related stereotypes, with males being more aggressive, rough, sloppy, and strong, and females being more beautiful and feminine.     

Players and Whiners? Perceptions of Sex Stereotyping in Animé in Japan and the US

This study examined cognitive and affective responses of Japanese (N=199) and American participants (N=194) to the depiction of gender in a Japanese animé popular in both countries. As expected, Japanese respondents indicated more familiarity with the animation and also reported that they were fans to a greater extent than Americans. Japanese participants and males showed greater agreement with sex stereotyping in the depiction of characters. Males also showed greater liking for characters and expressed the belief that they were positive role models. American females disliked the characters, especially the female character, significantly more than all other participants. Finally, participants, regardless of country, who held conventional views of gender perceived fewer stereotypes in the depiction of the characters. Given the current interest in animé, implications of findings from viewing sex-stereotypical images and directions for future research are discussed.     

Cox,American radio networks: A history

Most previous research into gender role stereotypes in the mass media has concentrated on television or print. Using content analysis, gender role stereotyping in radio commercials was examined. The goals of the study were to: (1) provide current data on level and content of gender stereotyping in Portuguese radio advertising; (2) compare levels of stereotyping in three countries. One hundred and sixty six advertisements were content analyzed into nine categories referring to the central figure, credibility, role, location, argument, reward, product, accent, and narrator. As previously found, male and female characters were portrayed in different ways particularly on credibility (males as authorities, females as users), role (males as celebrities/narrator, females as dependent), location (males in occupational setting more than females), and narrators (females as characters more than males). The patterns of bias in Portuguese radio commercials are consistent with, though less marked than, those in television commercials. Concerning the cross- national analysis, results showed more similarities than differences.     

Depictions of Gender on Primetime Television: A Quantitative Content Analysis

To document current portrayals of women and men on primetime television, a quantitative content analysis was conducted. A 1-week composite of primetime television programming across 9 broadcast and cable networks was randomly sampled, yielding 89 programs and 1,254 characters. Consistent with prior findings, women were significantly underrepresented on primetime TV when compared with men. Analyses examined representations of gender in the realms of occupation, aggression, sexualization, and stereotypically masculine and feminine attributes, with comparisons drawn across different age groups. Contrary to popular belief, these findings suggest that the current state of primetime television does not represent a “golden age” for women. Although it appears that some gender stereotypes have declined when compared to previous decades, others (e.g., dominant men, sexually provocative women) have persisted. Implications are discussed in terms of cultivation and social cognitive theories.     

The Influence of Female Lead Characters in Political TV Shows: Links to Political Engagement

This study examined political television dramas with lead female characters, proposing a model that links viewing of these shows with political engagement. A survey revealed that regular viewers of Madam Secretary, The Good Wife, or Scandal reported feeling transported by these programs’ narratives and parasocial relationships with the main characters (i.e., women in positions of political leadership). These responses were also related to increases in political interest and self-efficacy, with interest predicting real-world political participation. The findings illustrate that these political dramas have prosocial implications, including the non-stereotypical representation of women as well as increased political engagement among viewers.     

The thrust of the mob and the media

Children from ages 4 to 9 watched segments from Sesame Street and answered questions about television reality. Factor analysis produced three reality dimensions: (a) Sesame Street really exists, (b) television characters can see and hear us, and (c) what you see is inside the television set. For preschoolers, age was the most important variable in regard to television reality. There were other background variables for older children: Children from working‐class backgrounds were more apt to believe that television characters can see and hear us and that they reside inside the television set than their middle‐ and upper‐class age peers.     

Television Viewing,Racial Attitudes,and Policy Preferences: Exploring the Role of Social Identity and Intergroup Emotions in Influencing Support for Affirmative Action

This paper explores how White viewers' perceived portrayals of African-Americans and Latino-Americans on TV influence their real-world feelings and beliefs about these outgroups, which in turn affect their support for race-targeted policies. A computer-based survey (N=323) included measures relating to perceptions about racial/ethnic groups on television, real-world stereotypical beliefs, prejudicial feelings, and support for affirmative action policies. The affective-cognitive model of policy reasoning presented in this paper extends and improves upon prior research in several ways. It considers intergroup emotions as an important mediator by including prejudicial feelings toward racial/ethnic outgroups in the path analyses. Unlike past research that typically grouped all negative stereotypes into one global measure, this study explores how specific types of stereotypes such as criminality and laziness work independently and simultaneously to influence policy preferences. Finally, this integrated cognitive-affective model of policy reasoning is applied to both perceptions of African-Americans and of Latino-Americans, which provides greater confidence in the applicability of the model. Implications of the results and directions for future research are discussed.     

Television images of mental illness: Results of a metropolitan Washington media watch

One third of prime‐time television programs involved information about mental illness. Negative stereotyping of mentally ill persons was found to be prevalent in these programs.     

Portrayals of Women in Transnational Arab Television Drama Series

This content analysis of 15 Arabic and 3 Turkish drama serials on transnational Arab television examined the gender portrayals of characters. The analysis of 743 characters found that women were underrepresented, less likely to have recognizable jobs, and more likely than men to be portrayed in sex-typed occupations, activities, and settings. The analysis also revealed that programs with female writers were significantly less gender stereotypical. Moreover, differences were found among the producing Arab countries in terms of the portrayals of women; conservative countries had more sex-typed portrayals than the more liberal Arab countries, whereas Turkish programs had similar portrayals to Arabic programs produced in the liberal Arab states. The general findings are discussed in comparison to U.S. programming, and in relation to selective exposure, identification with characters, and potential effects on Arab viewers' gender role beliefs.     

Gender and Emotion Stereotypes in Children’s Television

The purpose of the present study was to assess the prevalence of emotion stereotypes in children’s television programming, in both educational and non-educational programming. It was hypothesized that gender stereotypes of emotion would still be prevalent in both entertainment and educational programming, with females showing more fear and sadness and males showing more anger, and that all shows would have more male than female characters. A total of 8 children’s programs were included for analysis: 4 entertainment programs and 4 educational programs. Programs were coded for the total number of males and females and for the emotions displayed by each character: happiness, sadness, anger, and fear. Overall, the analyses revealed that the majority of shows still have more male than female characters. Males were found to portray more of all emotions than females. Educational programming did not differ much in the amount of stereotypical versus counter-stereotypical emotion portrayed. Entertainment programming showed a trend toward more counter-stereotyped emotions. Future research should explore the influence of viewing specific shows on young children’s current gender stereotypes to assess the immediate impact of such viewing.     

Feeling Connected via Television Viewing: Exploring the Scale and Its Correlates

Contextualized in television program viewing, the current study seeks to develop a new scale that captures individuals' feelings of being connected to others via media consumption. Literature on general human motivation and media consumption motivation sheds light on social relatedness in television experiences. Data suggest a three-factor structure of the focal concept of feeling connected via television viewing (FCTV): (1) a perception of shared viewing among one's immediate social circle and anticipation of subsequent communication as aided by television programs, (2) a sense of global community enhanced by shared television experiences, and (3) communication with distant unknown others. A stronger sense of FCTV predicts a greater tendency for an individual to watch a program when it is first released, and to watch it together with one's friends, as well as a higher level of general involvement with television. Further, we differentiate the focal concept of feeling connected to other television viewers via television viewing from the related concept of parasocial interaction with television characters. Relative to parasocial interaction, FCTV better predicts collective viewing and first-run viewing.     

Measuring Extremes: A Quantitative Content Analysis of Prime Time TV Depictions of Body Type

The current content analysis examined representations of body type on prime time television. A composite week of U.S. television was randomly sampled, yielding 1,254 characters in 89 programs. Character attributes also were evaluated. Results suggest that women have become increasingly thin on TV. Thinner characters were more attractive than overweight characters. The few obese and overweight characters presented were less articulate, less intelligent, and more likely to be ridiculed than thinner characters. Black characters on prime time were heavier than other racial/ethnic groups and these characters were seen as more likeable. Implications are discussed from social cognitive theory and cultivation theory perspectives.     

A Model for Quantitatively Analyzing Representations of Social Class in Screen Media

Content analyses of prime-time television provide a picture of predominant cultural stereotypes and social trends. The present research is a quantitative content analysis of social class in popular broadcast and cable television in the United States. This research advances scholarship by systematically analyzing character class in addition to more commonly examined variables such as race and gender. A model for the operationalization of class for quantitative content analyses of mediated texts is offered. This proof of concept study demonstrates the viability of studying media representations of class quantitatively to systematically document patterns of portrayal.     

Prosocial effects of entertainment television in India

The study examines the prosocial effects of Hum Log (We People), India's first long‐running television soap opera. Hum Log was a prosocial television programme that was designed to promote women's status in Indian society. Regression analysis was used to measure the degree to which exposure to Hum Log affected viewers' (1) awareness of certain prosocial beliefs promoted by the series, (2) level of television dependency, (3) involvement with the characters of Hum Log, and (4) adherence to three prosocial beliefs promoted by Hum Log. Exposure to Hum Log was positively associated with viewers' awareness of the programme's prosocial messages, television dependency, and involvement with television characters in the series. Viewers who were more exposed to Hum Log were also more likely to believe in women's equality and women's freedom of choice, but not in family planning. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of present and future research on the use of prosocial television programmes for development in Asia.     

Looking at the Male Librarian Stereotype

Summary

The library profession is haunted by stereotypes. Perpetually raising its infamous head is the portrayal of librarians as drab spinsters peering over the rim of their glasses and ready to “shush” a library patron for the offense of talking too loudly. It is an image that was born at the beginning of the twentieth century, and persists, albeit considerably diluted, to this day. On the other hand, positive and negative images of male librarians are to a large extent either ignored or treated very lightly in popular culture, especially in motion pictures and television. Once the exclusive domain of men, American librarianship evolved over the centuries to not just incorporate women, but to embrace and become almost completely associated with them. Stereotypes of male librarians have existed since colonial times; yet, the stereotypes have undergone considerable transformation as a result of professional and societal changes. This article attempts to understand some of the older stereotypes surrounding male librarianship in the United States by examining the position of the early librarian and the environment in which he worked. Current portrayals of male librarians in motion pictures and television are then discussed. The focus of this article is on academic male librarians; however, general male librarian stereotypes and issues are also discussed.     

Sex and Sexuality in Entertainment Media Popular With Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Adolescents

Media may serve as important sexual socialization agents for lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) adolescents who often have limited interpersonal resources from which to garner sexual information. A content analysis was conducted on a sample of television programs, films, magazines, and music popular with LGB youth to quantify the sexual messages LGB youth encounter in the media. Results suggest that heterosexuality is overrepresented and LGB sexualities are underrepresented in media popular with LGB adolescents. When depicted, LGB sexual talk was often talk about stereotypes or insults/jokes related to sexuality and rarely about relationships or sex. LGB sexual behaviors were nearly nonexistent. LGB sexual talk seems to be increasing in entertainment television, but LGB sexual behaviors have remained relatively rare over time. Findings are discussed in terms of the possible effects of exposure on LGB youth relying on media for information about sex and sexuality during sexual socialization.     

The Violence Profile: Five Decades of Cultural Indicators Research

This study examines violence in prime-time broadcast network television programs aired between 1967 and 2015. The data show that violence has been a consistent and central part of programming, although levels vary by genre. Violence decreased in the 1990s, due mostly to the greater prominence of sitcoms and crime-related procedurals (such as Law & Order and CSI), which feature fewer explicit acts of violence. However, violence is making a serious comeback on prime time, with four of the five measures we examined reaching historically high levels in the 2010s. The percentage of characters involved in violence remains lower than in earlier years. Despite some ebbs and flows over the years, and dramatic institutional and technological changes, even at its lowest points violence on television is never far from the scene and remains difficult for the heavy viewer to avoid.     

Gendered Relationships on Television: Portrayals of Same-Sex and Heterosexual Couples

Although intimate heterosexual couples often exhibit power imbalances in gender role behaviors, with one partner more dominant and the other more submissive, it is unclear whether the same is true for homosexual relationships. Anecdotal evidence, however, suggests that television portrays both heterosexual and homosexual couples as gendered. This content analysis of intimate relationships on television examined whether heterosexual and homosexual couples are portrayed as gendered, finding evidence of gendering for both homosexual couples and heterosexual couples. Possible implications of these gendered portrayals for viewers' perceptions and behaviors include cultivation of negative stereotypes and modeling of gender-typed behaviors.