C103 1nd Edition T317 Final Exam Study Guide Why are teens more susceptible to sex and the media They are more interested in it the media tailors messages to them about sex they are in a sensitive life stage because of cognitive development and risk evaluation less life experience Cultivation theory The fact that we are exposure to consistent pervasive messages over a long period of time and it influences our attitudes and beliefs Sex on TV There is little mention of risk responsibility contraception and negative consequences We assume that if it s on a children s channel then its safe Mona showed pictures how teen characters dress and act that sexual depictions are there but we don t look for them because we assume these programs are safe more than what parents realize How are new media different from traditional media Interface the physical characteristics Interactivity The relationship with the media product video games you ARE the player rather than just simply going to a movie Democratization Users now have the ability to create and distribute their own media New media allows the user to have more control over media processes equal contributors to what others are seeing Ex YouTube is user generated content Content Analysis New Media Looked at online safety and what are advertisers doing with children s private information It is impossible to regulate internet but guidelines were wanted for information by third party vendors Little incentive for websites to use these guildlines not protecting children at all there are no consequences Parents need to take initiative over internet usage These guidelines did not have much impact on what companies were doing online Why do boys play more video games than girls Two video games marketed towards girls the rest boys There are no games for girls target audience is male dominated Games made for boys that they would want to play Men are designing these games for boys they play them when they re young leading them to go into the video game making field The only way we can change this is that women must get into the field and start making games for girls unless that happens it wont change Television and Legislation Communications Act of 1934 Created the FCC so that there was some type of government body that was overseeing telephone telegraph communication at the time Family Viewing Hour 1975 TV was gathering place for families to watch shows shows were becoming more violent sexual in nature safe hour of TV no controversial content Telecom Act of 1996 Allowed for conglomeration of media companies V chip Result of 1996 telecom policy Required that v chips must be installed in all TVs A device that parents can use to filter what their children watch parental blocker In order for it to work the industry has to come up with a rating system to give parents something to regulate Gov made them create the rating system and put it in place doesn t work because parents don t understand it and it is a mess of letters that don t make sense o Parents don t like it because it is not content based it is age based just like motion picture rating system o Not consistent across all media because it is voluntary 3 types of Parental Mediation Restrictive mediation rules in place in home about media usage no matter how simple or complex Co viewing watch what your child is experiencing watching TV or going to see a movie you are not talking about it it does not provide any information but there is no attempt to explain interpret or teach Active mediation providing some type of evaluation of the content positive mediation when you are trying to teach children something education negative mediation used to discourage o Drawbacks children can be distracted from the content of the show their brains get overloaded from the parent and the media so they do not retain any information provide comments and instruction once the show is over Gender is learned Sex is biological instinctive biological sex doesn t determine gender tend to coincide but isn t set Gender is cultural learned why are girls associated with pink and boys with blue It is cultural culturally signifies gender but not biological cultural norms that were socialized to Gender doesn t happen we learn it o Gender socialization the way we learn about our culture The Process of Learning Gender Age 0 1 Can tell the difference between men and women Age 1 2 Show preferences for toys based on gender Around 2 Gender identity Label themselves and others according to gender able to verbally and nonverbally identify themselves Around 3 Gender Stability understand that boys grow up to be men and girls grow up to be women meaning their identity remains stable Age 3 6 Understand complex stereotypes like social rules social rules and personality issues breadwinner homemaker doesn t click for young kids but they become more complex Age 6 7 Gender Constancy Understand that gender identity doesn t change even if a person alters the way they dress act etc Age 7 and up Attitudes about gender roles become more flexible Gender Stereotypes Simple generalizations or assumptions that we use to make sense of the world Benefits cognitive tools for easy categorization allow children to figure out how to categorize things when applied to people it might be harmful You can be a female and have a stereotypical male job doesn t take place until early adolescence Effects of Media on Gender Children s exposure to media correlates with stereotypical attitudes about o Chores occupational roles and recreational activities Heavy viewing of media can o Increase stenotype acceptance over time o Lead girls to devalue their gender identity o Heavy viewers 4 year old girls thought that boys were better than girls light viewers believed their gender group was better Gender of characters in toy commercials impact who can play with the toy Some studies show that television has a direct effect on gender stereotype acceptance Williams 1986 town study showed children from 2 towns with little to no TV became more accepting of gender stereotypes after TV was introduced similar to towns that always had TV o Being exposed to one commercial can change their responses immediately following it