Influence of television commercials on women's self-confidence and independent judgment.

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of television commercials on women's selfconfidence and independence of judgment. Two matched series of commercials served as stimuli. One series consisted of four replicas of current network commercials. The other series consisted of the same four commercials, identical in every respect except that each of the roles in the scenario was portrayed by a person of the opposite sex. Subjects (N = 52 college women) viewed either the traditional or reversed-role series. Those exposed to the nontraditional versions showed more independence of judgment in an Asch-type conformity test and displayed greater self-confidence when delivering a speech, thus supporting the hypothesis that commercials function as social cues to trigger and reinforce sex role stereotypes. The findings suggest that repeated exposure to nonstereotypic commercials might help produce positive and lasting behavioral changes in women.The greater power of the male to control his own destiny is part of the cultural stereotype of maleness and is inherent in the images of the two sexes portrayed on television and in print. (Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974, p. 157) Requests for reprints should be sent to Joyce

Latent Sexism in Print Ads Increases Acceptance of Sexual Assault

“…Although this seems unlikely, given that even obvious sexism is not always recognized (Hansen & Hansen, 1988;Jennings-Walstedt et al, 1980;L. A. Rudman & Borgida, 1995;Schwarz et al, 1987), research employing different priming techniques and outcome measures is necessary to establish what is being activated by the latent content and whether it is indeed occurring unconsciously.…”

“…In its review of the literature, the APA (2007) identified implicit, automatic, unconscious processes as mechanisms by which sexist media may have its effects. Similarly, in several studies where stimuli were overtly sexist and demonstrably affected participants, researchers concluded that their participants nevertheless did not recognize the sexism (Hansen & Hansen, 1988;Jennings-Walstedt, Geis, & Brown, 1980;Lavine et al, 1999;L. A. Rudman & Borgida, 1995;Schwarz et al, 1987).…”

Female/male portrayals on U.S. postage stamps of the twentieth century

“…Geis and colleagues (Geis, Brown, Jennings, & Porter, 1984) reported that participants who watched reversed-role commericals, compared to women who watched traditional commercials, were more likely to emphasize achievement rather than homemaking in essays speculating about their lives in ten years. Nontraditional commercials, compared to more stereotypical commercials, were also found to increase women's self-confidence and independence of judgment (Jennings, Geis, & Brown, 1980). Similarly, Kilbourne (1990) found that nonstereotypical advertisements affected men's ratings of a female photograph on traits such as leadership and aggressiveness.…”

Effects of sex and attitudes toward women on the processing of television commercials

“…Several researchers have been interested in the effects of television programs and commercials on sex-role development in children (e.g., Atkin & Miller, 1975;Flerx, Fidler, and Rogers, 1976;Miller and Reeves, 1976;Pingree, 1978). Other researchers have been concerned with the effects of television commercials on women's achievement aspirations, selfconfidence, and independence of judgment (Geis, Brown, Jennings, and Porter, 1984;Jennings, Geis, and Brown, 1980). Generally, these studies have found that when commercials portrayed women as egalitarian sex role models, children changed their attitudes toward women and accepted them in nonstereotypic job roles.…”