psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk

What does this picture tell us about gender roles?

psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk

Today’s session

You will learn how to... You will learn about...

Describe and apply psychological approaches & theoriesUse and evaluate the content analysis methodInterpret research data

Social learning theoryGender development

psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk

Gender

• How would social learning theory explain the acquisition of gender role & identity?

psyc

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uk

Social learning & gender

Attention

Encoding

Imitation

Motivation

Child attends to a gender role model

They learn gender-relevant behaviour

They practice the behaviour themselvesThey may imitate if reinforcement is available

psyc

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Social learning & gender

• Where will the child find suitable people to act as gender role models?

• What types of vicarious reinforcement and punishment may motivate the child (not) to imitate?

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Gender role models

• Parents/carers• Siblings• Peers• TV, films, magazines, Internet• Educational materials

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A research question

• Are women and men represented differently in children’s educational materials?– Why is this important for SLT?– Do you think they are?– How could we investigate?

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Content Analysis

• A research method for producing quantitative data from qualitative material

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Decisions

• Sample• Coding units• Coding categories

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• ‘Ladybird’ books from 1970s• Pictorial representations of adults• Occupation:– Homemaker– Manual– Clerical– Professional

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• Suggest an alternative hypothesis for this research

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Coding sheetGender H’maker Manual Clerical Prof’l OtherMale

Female

Female

•Each adult figure should be coded•Adult figures must be coded only once•Use ‘other’ as infrequently as possible

psyc

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uk

Content analysis

• Did you have any problems coding the pictures?

• Do you think our data will be a valid representation of what is in the books?

psyc

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Report & discuss the results

• Explain what was found• Comment on whether the results are

consistent with our hypothesis• Assess the validity of the data– External: representativeness of sample– Internal: validity of coding