gender stereotypes of scientist characters in television programs
TRANSCRIPT
Gender Stereotypes of Scientist Characters in Television Programs Popular Among Middle School-Aged Children
Jocelyn Steinke1, Marilee Long2, Marne J. Johnson1, Sayani Ghosh1
1Western Michigan University, 2Colorado State University
Paper presented to the Science Communication Interest Group (SCIGroup) for theAnnual Meeting of the Association for Education in
Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)
Chicago, ILAugust 2008
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Gender Stereotypes of Scientist Characters in Television Programs Popular Among Middle School-Aged Children
Abstract
This study examined gender stereotyping in portrayals of scientist characters in television programs popular among or likely to be viewed by middle school-aged children. The following 14 television programs were analyzed: Bill Nye the Science Guy, CSI, CSI- Miami, CSI-New York, Danny Phantom, Dexter's Laboratory, DragonflyTV, Friends, Kim Possible, MythBusters, Strange Days at Blake Holsey High, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, The Simpsons, and The X Files. Across all programs, male scientist characters were found to be both more prevalent than female scientist characters and also found to be present in more scenes; within program genres, male scientist characters also outnumbered female scientist characters for cartoons and drama programs, but not for educational programs. Male scientist characters were more likely to be shown with the masculine attributes of independence and dominance, but not athleticism. Female scientist characters were not more likely than male scientist characters to be shown with the feminine attributes of dependence, caring, and romantic. No differences were found in the portrayals of male and female characters’ scientific professional roles, marital status, and parental status. The implications of the findings on middle school-aged children’s perceptions of scientists and in cultivating girls’ future interest in science careers are discussed.
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Gender Stereotypes of Scientist Characters in Television Programs Popular Among Middle School-Aged Children1
Introduction
Greater participation of women and other underrepresented groups in science,
engineering, and technology (SET) is needed to ensure a diverse and abundant workforce in
these areas in the future. Developing the SET workforce will be increasingly more important in
the next decade in the United States as advances in research and technology create additional
demands for professionals in these areas and as more scientists and engineers retire from the SET
workforce (National Science Board 2006). Despite increases in the number of women receiving
degrees in SET, the percentage of women in the SET workforce remains below their proportion
in the U.S. population; women are still particularly underrepresented in several SET disciplines
including physics, engineering, and computer science (Congressional Commission on the
Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science Engineering and Technology Development,
2000; National Science Board, 2003, 2006). In addition, developing girls’ interest in SET is
essential for promoting scientific literacy and knowledge among all in order to increase public
understanding of important social issues related to SET such as global warming, AIDS,
nanotechnology, cancer, biotechnology, and renewal energy.
Increasing the representation of women in SET requires substantial efforts to cultivate
and support girls’ interest in science and engineering during their childhood and adolescent years
in order to develop a desire to pursue SET careers in the future. Research indicates that by the
1 The authors gratefully acknowledge support provided by the National Science Foundation (HRD-0624583). Any opinions and recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Science Foundation. The authors also acknowledge Nikki Crocker, Emily Crespin, Megan Stewart, and Dana Strongin for their assistance with this research.
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age of 12 many girls have already lost interest in SET (American Association of University
Women, 1998, 2000), and during the middle and high school years both girls’ and boys’ attitudes
toward science decline (George, 2000). Promoting girls’ interest in science is important not only
for strengthening the SET workforce, but also for promoting equity in society to ensure that all
children have opportunities to fully develop their abilities in SET.
Media images of science and scientists in U.S. popular culture influence public attitudes
toward science and scientists (National Science Board 2006). For many adults and children,
television is the primary source of information about science and a purveyor of both fictional and
real-life images of scientists. Research shows that adults are most likely to obtain information
about science and scientists from television (National Science Board 2006). Research also
indicates that television is a major source of information about scientists for middle school-aged
children (Steinke et al., 2007), and adolescent girls report spending most of their leisure time
watching television, an average of 1.67 hours a day (Cherney & London, 2006). In addition,
middle-school students have reported that television programs are among the factors that have
positively influenced their attitudes toward and interest in science (Gibson & Chase, 2002). The
influence of popular television images of scientists on children’s perceptions of scientists may
also then have a considerable impact on their future interest in SET careers.
While some studies have documented positive effects of media images of scientists on
children’s attitudes toward science, other studies have noted negative effects of these images.
One study found that although images from a popular science fiction film were more memorable
to middle school students than hands-on science experiences, the information provided by these
popular images was a source of students’ misconceptions of scientific concepts (Barnett et al.,
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2006). Another study found that images of scientists on popular children’s television programs
promoted gender stereotypes of scientists and reinforced the view of science as a masculine
domain (Steinke & Long, 1996). Another study found that middle school-aged boys who
reported the media as being important in their lives had more negative views towards women in
science (Steinke et al., 2007). As these studies suggest, research on the portrayals of scientist
characters on television merits closer examination because it can help researchers better
understand how these images may shape children’s and adolescents’ attitudes toward science and
interest in science careers.
Presenting positive televised images of women scientists may be a particularly effective
strategy for providing role models to promote girls’ interest in science, particularly when direct
interaction with human role models is not possible. The popularity of television provides an
opportunity to present children with access to media models of women scientists through
“vicarious contact” (A. Bandura, 2002; Fujioka, 1999) when interaction with actual adult
scientists is not possible because of limitations related to access and resources. Recent research
has examined the potential influence of media models on adolescents’ perceptions of gender
roles and of scientists. One study found that middle-school students who participated in a media
literacy program that included watching video clips of stereotyped and counter-stereotyped
portrayals of women SET professionals as well as getting instruction on the stereotyped
portrayals of women and women SET professionals in the media were less likely to agree that
women are accurately portrayed in the media than students who did not watch the video clips or
receive the instruction, although specific changes in attitudes toward SET were not found
(Steinke et al., 2007). Research on the influence of virtual models on young women’s science-
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related beliefs (Baylor, 2004; Baylor & Plant, 2005) found that college-aged women were more
likely to identify with female pedagogical agents that were rated as attractive, young, and cool
and were more likely to perceive agents rated as older and “uncool” to be most like engineers
(Baylor & Plant, 2005). A study of images of scientists in multimedia software found that
college-aged students’ exposure to counter-stereotypical images of scientists was effective in
promoting less negative stereotypical perceptions about who becomes a scientist (Edwards,
1999).
Historically, images of male scientists and engineers have dominated the U.S. media.
Male scientists have appeared more frequently in primetime dramas, where researchers have
found three male scientists for every female scientist (Signorielli, 1993). In films, researchers
have found fewer than one-fifth of scientists were female (Weingart, Muhl, & Pansegrau, 2003).
In science educational programming for children, researchers have found that male characters
outnumbered female characters both in number and in screen time (e.g., Leaper, Breed,
Hoffman, & Perlman, 2002; Long, Boiarsky, & Thayer, 2001; Steinke & Long, 1996). When
women engineers and scientists do appear in popular U.S. media programs, these images often
perpetuate gender stereotypes that show science as an inappropriate career for most “ordinary”
women (LaFollette, 1988, 1990). Media portrayals typically reinforce gender stereotypes
through images that downplay women scientists’ expertise (Corbett, 2001; LaFollette, 1981,
1988, 1990; Nelkin, 1987; Steinke & Long, 1996), focus on the conflicts involved in balancing
women’s professional and personal lives (LaFollette, 1988, 1990; Nelkin, 1987), show women as
younger and more attractive than men (Weingart et al., 2003), highlight women’s lack of
masculine traits and skills needed to conduct scientific research (LaFollette, 1988), emphasize
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women as potential distractions to their male colleagues (LaFollette, 1990), and feature women
and men interacting in ways that reveal both overt and subtle forms of stereotyping and
discrimination against women (Steinke, 2005).
The purpose of this study is to add to our understanding of the portrayals of scientists in
the mass media by examining portrayals in television programs popular among or likely to have
been seen by middle school-aged students. The focus of this research on middle school-aged
children, ages 12 to 14 years old, is important because research indicates that this is the age when
many girls report losing interest in SET (American Association of University Women, 1998,
2000) and children’s attitudes toward science decline during the middle and high school years
(George, 2000). This study examined demographics and lifestyle characteristics of the scientist
characters as well as the prevalence of several traditional gender-stereotyped attributes or traits.
One of the goals of this study was to investigate whether the program genre of the television
programs in which the scientist characters appeared affected the portrayals of these characters
related to the depictions of gender stereotypes and gender roles. Specifically, this study
investigated portrayals of male and female scientist characters in four television program genres:
dramas, cartoons, situation comedies, and science educational programs.
Theoretical Framework and Literature Review
Gender Schema Theory, Media Models, and Developing Identities
Throughout childhood and into adolescence, children develop specific views about
gender roles as defined by the culture and society in which they live (Bem, 1981). Children
learn about gender roles not only from media sources, like televised role models, but also from
an array of other socializing agents like parents, teachers, and peers (Bandura, 2002; Bussey &
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Bandura, 1999). According to Gender Schema Theory, children have a tendency and readiness
to process information they learn based on gender or sex-linked associations that are part of their
gender schemas (Bem, 1981). Bem describes a schema as “a cognitive structure, a network of
associations that organizes and guides an individual’s perceptions” (Bem, 1981) p. 355.
Children use gender schemas to develop their self-concepts (Bem, 1981) that then lead them to
define gender roles and conceive specific perceptions of themselves, including views of their
future personal and professional roles.
The media are important sources of information about gender roles and are important
influences during the development of gender schemas. During identity formation, as adolescent
girls develop “possible selves” (Ruvolo & Markus, 1992) that represent who they “could
become, would like to become, and are afraid of becoming” (p. 96), media models can shape
their conceptions of self. Adolescence marks a critical time for girls when the “possible selves”
they envision for themselves have great potential to influence their future behavior (Markus &
Nurius, 1986). The socializing influence of media images of women may be especially strong
for some adolescent girls, who during the transition from childhood to adulthood, lose self-
confidence and become preoccupied with being popular, fitting in, looking thin and attractive,
and finding romance (Brown & Gilligan, 1992; Orenstein, 1994). Many adolescent girls find
that acting feminine is a way to gain approval, acceptance, and popularity, and to avoid conflict
(Brown & Gilligan, 1992). Strong female media models can provide positive self-schemas that
serve as “enabling self-images” (Arnold 1993) for adolescent girls. Positive portrayals of
televised images of women in non-traditional roles can be effective role models for changing
girls’ perceptions of gender roles. However, media models that overemphasize women’s
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physical appearance and focus on stereotypes of women provide negative self-schemas that
convey “constraining self-images” that can limit girls’ future potential (Arnold, 1993).
A number of studies have documented the resistance of gender schemas to change
(Durkin, 1985; Durkin & Nugent, 1998; Martin & Charles F. Halverson, 1983; Nihlen & Bailey,
1988; Renn & Calvert, 1993; Signorella & Liben, 1984). However, research also indicates that
interventions can alter existing gender schemas and current views of gender roles. For example,
one study found that pre-adolescent and adolescent girls who identified originally with
traditional feminine gender roles also later identified with televised images of women in counter-
stereotypical gender roles (Eisenstock, 1984). Another study found that elementary school-aged
girls reported interpersonal attraction to female characters who did not exhibit traditional gender
stereotyped or feminine stereotyped behavior (Aubrey & Harrison, 2004). Images of scientists
that present counterstereotypes or dispel traditional views of science as masculine may be critical
for implementing changes in girls’ perceptions of scientists as well as their perceptions of self as
a scientist in the future.
The media are important sources of information about gender roles for boys as well as for
girls. Media content that primarily shows men in dominant roles may negatively influence boys’
perceptions of the role of women in society. A study of middle school-aged children found that
boys who indicated the media were very important had more negative attitudes toward women in
science than those who indicated the media were less important (Steinke et al., 2007). These
findings are important because 1) boys’ expectations of how girls should act can influence girls’
behavior during their childhood and adolescent years, and 2) boys’ perceptions of women’s roles
developed during childhood influences their adult views of women’s professional roles in the
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workforce and their perceptions of women’s personal roles within family structures. Images of
scientists that show women as SET professionals as well as both men and women scientists
working together are needed in programs viewed by children and adolescents in order to enable
them to see the culture of science as inclusive of all people.
Social Learning Theory, Observational Learning, and Identification
Social learning theory (later called social cognitive theory; Albert Bandura, 1986)
provides an explanation for how children learn specific attitudes and behaviors from the images
and characters they encounter in the media. According to this theory, children learn cultural
patterns of behavior through repeated observations of both actual models in their social
environments, like parents and teachers, as well as symbolic models in their social environments
like those depicted in the media (Albert Bandura, 1969). This theory describes how children
learn to imitate the behavior of others in their environments through a process known as
“identificatory learning” (Albert Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1963a), 533).
Early studies on identification with television characters and observational learning
documented children’s ability to learn from and model the behavior of characters they saw in
films (Albert Bandura et al., 1963a; Albert Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1963b; Maccoby & Wilson,
1957). In these studies, researchers noted that seventh-graders were most likely to identify with
characters most like them and that children were more likely to learn from characters whom they
perceived as similar to themselves and with whom they identified, particularly characters of the
same sex (Maccoby & Wilson, 1957). For example, boys were most likely to identify with male
characters, especially those who represented their “aspired social class,” and more likely to
remember aggressive content (Maccoby & Wilson, 1957). Girls were most likely to identify
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with female characters, especially those who represented their “aspired social class,” (p.86), and
were more likely to remember girl-boy interactive content (Maccoby & Wilson, 1957).
More recent studies of children’s observational learning from television have investigated
children’s and young adults’ wishful identification and identification with televised characters.
Wishful identification is “the desire to be like or behave in ways similar to the
character”(Feilitzen & Linne, 1975) p. 390. These studies have found that children show wishful
identification with same–sex characters and characters who children perceive to share their own
attitudes and attributes (Hoffner, 1996; Hoffner & Buchanan, 2005). Identification is “a
mechanism through which audience members experience reception and interpretation of the text
from the inside, as if the events were happening to them” (Cohen, 2001) p. 245. Other studies
have noticed the tendency for identification with same-sex characters (Calvert, Kotler, Zehnder,
& Shockey, 2003; Calvert, Murray, & Conger, 2004; Reeves & Miller, 1978), particularly for
preadolescent girls (Calvert et al., 2003).
Like early studies on observational learning, more recent research on wishful
identification and identification also has examined the specific attributes or features of televised
characters that leads children to identify with them. Research found elementary and middle
school-aged boys were more likely to identify with characters who were humorous, and girls
were more likely to identify with characters who they perceived as less like real-life people
(Reeves & Miller, 1978). A study of children ages 7 to 12 found both boys and girls were likely
to express wishful identification for male characters who were intelligent, and only girls
expressed wishful identification for male characters who were humorous and for female
characters who were attractive (Hoffner, 1996). In another study, researchers found older
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children identified with characters that exhibited prosocial conduct and noted that these
characters may possibly serve as positive role models (Calvert et al., 2004). A study of young
adults found young men were more likely to identify with male characters they perceived as
successful, intelligent, attractive, and admired, while young women were more likely to identify
with female characters they perceived as successful, intelligent, attractive, and admired (Hoffner
& Buchanan, 2005).
Wishful identification and identification may play a critical role in determining the
efficacy of using televised characters as role models to promote girls’ interest in SET and SET
careers. Understanding the specific attributes of televised portrayals of scientists, both male and
female, is important for determining how children respond to these media portrayals as role
models. In addition, understanding the specific gender stereotyped attributes of televised
portrayals of scientists is important for understanding how children view gender and science.
Research indicates that adolescents’ attitudes toward science is linked to their “acceptance of the
stereotyped view of male dominance in science” (Handley & Morse, 1984), and their interest in
SET is linked not only to gender and their self-concept, but also to their perceptions of scientists
(Lee, 1998a). One researcher posits that “students’ internalized meanings about self and others
in science help to explain gendered patterns in scientific and technological interests”(Lee,
1998b), p. 214, and these views then lead many girls to see themselves more as members of the
female sex rather than as science students, whom they perceive to be male (Lee, 1998a). Images
of female scientists that counter or dispel views of science as exclusively masculine are critical
for implementing changes in girls’ and boys’ perceptions of scientists and perceptions of self.
Hypotheses and Research Questions
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This study examined the portrayals of scientist characters in currently or recently
broadcast television programs that are popular among or likely to be watched by middle school-
aged children. Specifically, this research examined the frequency of male and female scientist
characters as well as the demographics, lifestyle, and gender stereotyped attributes in portrayals
of these characters. Based on a review of the literature, the following hypotheses and research
questions were posed:
H1: Portrayals of male scientist characters will be more frequent than portrayals of female scientist characters.
RQ1: Within program genre, does the proportion of male scientist characters differ from the proportion of female scientist characters?
H2: Male scientist characters will be more likely than female scientist characters to be portrayed in high-status scientific positions.
RQ2: Do program genre and biological sex of the character interact to predict the professional status of scientist characters?
H3: Female scientist characters will be more likely than male scientist characters to be portrayed as being married.
RQ3: Do program genre and biological sex of the character interact to predict the marital status of scientist characters?
H4: Female scientist characters will be more likely than male scientist characters to be portrayed as being a parent.
RQ4: Do program genre and the biological sex of the character interact to predict the parental status of scientist characters?
H5: The portrayals of the scientist characters will be gender stereotyped.
H5a: Female scientist characters will be more likely than male scientist characters to be portrayed with female gender stereotyped attributes.
H5b: Male scientist characters will be more likely than female scientist characters to be portrayed with male gender stereotyped attributes.
RQ5: Will the gender stereotyped attributes of male and female scientist characters vary by program genre?
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Method
Program Sample
The sample consisted of television programs that featured scientist characters and were
determined to be popular among or likely to be seen by middle school-aged children. In an effort
to compile as comprehensive a list as possible, the researchers examined previous research that
identified television programs with scientist characters reported to be popular among middle
school-aged children (Steinke et al., 2007), data from Nielsen ratings listing the top television
programs watched by children ages 12 to17 (Nielsen Media Research, 2004), and a list of
television science programs sponsored by the National Science Foundation (National Science
Board, 2006). Based on this information, the following 14 television programs were identified
as those most likely to be popular among or seen by middle school-aged children: Bill Nye the
Science Guy, CSI, CSI- Miami, CSI-New York, Danny Phantom, Dexter's Laboratory,
DragonflyTV, Friends, Kim Possible, MythBusters, Strange Days at Blake Holsey High, The
Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, The Simpsons, and The X Files.
To obtain the episodes for analysis, eight episodes of each program broadcast during
April and May 2006 were randomly selected. Twelve of the 14 programs were on air during
this time, and all but one program, CSI-New York2, aired multiple times a week during the two-
month sampling period. DragonflyTV was not aired in the local market during the sampling
period; however, copies were obtained from the program’s producer for all episodes for the year
and a half that the program had been in production, and eight episodes were randomly chosen.
Bill Nye the Science Guy was no longer being broadcast at the time of the study. However, all
2 At the time of this study, CSI-New York was only running one episode per week in the local TV market.
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episodes of this program are available for purchase, so eight episodes were randomly selected
from the program’s entire run. In all, 112 episodes were analyzed.
Scientist Character Coding
To be coded as a scientist character, a character had to be human, appear on screen and
speak, and the character had to meet one of the following criteria: (1) self-identify as a scientist3
or be identified by another character as a scientist, (2) wear a laboratory coat, or (3) perform at
least two of the following scientific activities—conduct an experiment, collect scientific samples
for analysis, or discuss scientific phenomena.
Intercoder reliability for identifying scientist characters was assessed using two trained
coders who independently coded one randomly selected episode of each program. Intercoder
reliability using Cohen’s kappa was .81. In all, 196 scientist characters were identified in the
sample.
Demographics and Lifestyle Characteristics Coding
Each scientist character was coded for the following demographics and lifestyle
characteristics: biological sex, race/ethnicity, age, professional status in the scientific workforce,
marital status, and parental status. These characteristics were selected to assess the portrayals of
scientist characters in television programs that are currently popular among or likely to be seen
by middle school-aged children and to compare these portrayals with earlier research on
portrayals of scientist characters on educational science programs (Long et al., 2001; Steinke,
1997, 1999, 2005; Steinke & Long, 1996).
3 For this study, we defined a scientist broadly to include scientists, engineers, research assistants, and teachers of science and engineering.
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Biological Sex—Characters were coded as either a male or a female.
Race/Ethnicity—Characters were coded as belonging to one of the following groups: (1) White/Caucasian, (2) African-American/Black, (3) Hispanic/Latino, (4) Asian or Pacific Islander, (5) Native American, or (6) cannot determine.
Age—Characters were identified as either an (1) adult, (2) teenager or young adult, or (3) child. Adult characters were defined as in their mid-to-late 20s or older; teenage or young adult characters were defined as in their teens or early 20s; children were defined as younger than 13 years of age.
Professional Status in Scientific Workforce—Characters were identified as (1) a scientist or researcher; (2) student, research assistant, or technician; or (3) administrator. These portrayals were adapted from previous research on images of scientists (Steinke & Long 1996; Steinke 2005).
Marital Status—Characters were identified by their current marital status. Characters were identified as either married or not married if another character mentioned that character’s marital status.
Parental Status—Characters were identified as being a parent or not being a parent. Characters were identified as either a parent or not a parent if another character mentioned that character’parental status.
Two trained coders worked independently to code one episode of each program in order
to assess the intercoder reliability for the demographic variables. Reliability, as assessed using
Cohen’s kappa, was as follows: biological sex = .91, race/ethnicity = .77, age = .77, professional
status in scientific workforce = 1.0, marital status = .65, and parental status = .63. According to
(Landis & Koch, 1977), kappas in the .61 to .80 range indicate good agreement, and kappas
above .80 indicate very good agreement.
Gender Stereotype Attributes of Scientist Characters
The attributes or traits of each scientist character were coded on a per-scene basis to
determine whether the character exhibited six gender stereotypical attributes or behaviors. The
six traditional gender stereotyped attributes selected for this analysis were derived from previous
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research on gender stereotyping on television (Calvert et al., 2003), which had adapted these
attributes from the Bem Sex-Role Inventory scale (Bem, 1974).
Calvert et al. 2003 listed the following attributes as feminine: deferent-yielding-
dependent; affectionate-warm-gentle-compassionate; romantic; body conscious; harm avoidant;
shy. For this study, the attribute labels were modified slightly and the following attributes were
coded as feminine: dependence, caring, and romantic. The feminine attributes body conscious,
harm avoidant, and shy were not included for the study because few instances of these attributes
were found in preliminary viewing of the television programs or because of low intercoder
reliability.
Calvert et al. 2003listed the following attributes as masculine: dominant-aggressive;
autonomous-independent; analytic; competitive-ambitious; athletic; and heroic. For this study,
the attribute labels were modified slightly and the following attributes were coded as masculine:
independence, athletic, and dominance. The masculine attributes analytic, competitive-
ambitious, and heroic were not included in this study because few instances of these attributes
were found in preliminary viewing of the television programs or because of low intercoder
reliability.
Definitions were developed for the three feminine gender stereotyped attributes selected
for this study. Characters exhibited dependence when they were shown relying on others for
assistance (e.g., asked other characters for help completing a task, were shown physically unable
to accomplish a task and other characters came to their aid). Characters demonstrated caring
when they exhibited behaviors or made statements designed to comfort or help others in need
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(e.g., fed a character who was hungry, expressed sympathy or empathy for another character’s
plight, offered to help another character accomplish a task). Characters were coded as romantic
when they expressed feelings of intimate attraction to other characters (e.g., stated that they
loved another character) or demonstrated feelings of intimate attraction to another character
through their actions (e.g., kissed or held hands with another character).
Definitions were developed for the three masculine gender stereotyped attributes selected
for this study. Characters exhibited independence when they made statements or performed
actions indicating that they were not relying on others for assistance or advice, or when they
made statements or performed actions that showed they refused to do what another character had
told them to do. Characters exhibited dominance when they exerted authority or influence over
other characters (e.g., told or showed other characters what to do; told other characters that they
were wrong). Characters exhibited athleticism when they participated in a physical activity that
demonstrated strength and/or stamina, talked about participating in such an activity, or were
shown wearing athletic garb (e.g., football uniform, workout clothing).
For the above gender stereotyped attributes, the extent to which a scientist character
exhibited the attribute was determined by coding the number of scenes in which the character
demonstrated the attribute. For this study, a scene was defined as the environment in which
action was set. In other words, a scene was the location of the action in both space (e.g., a
kitchen, a car, an office) and time (e.g., morning, evening). A scene, therefore, ended when there
was a change in the location of the action or a change in time. To assess intercoder reliability for
scene identification, trained coders worked independently to identify scenes in one randomly
selected episode of each program. Because scene changes might manifest themselves differently
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across the variety of programs in our sample, intercoder reliability for scenes was assessed in
three groups: for live-action, narrative drama programs (CSI, CSI-New York, CSI-Miami, X
Files, Strange Days at Blake Holsey High, and Friends); for animated cartoon programs
(Dexter’s Laboratory, The Simpsons, Kim Possible, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy
Genius, and Danny Phantom); and for science educational and demonstration programs
(MythBusters, DragonflyTV, and Bill Nye the Science Guy). Intercoder reliability statistics, as
assessed using Cohen’s kappa and Scott’s pi, indicated good reliability for scene identification
(live action, narrative programs = .82 to .87; animated programs = .72; and science
demonstration programs = .90).4 Scott’s pi is based on the same principles as kappa,
subsequently, the ranges provided by Landis and Koch (1977) also apply to this statistic.
To assess intercoder reliability for the scientists exhibiting gender stereotyped attributes
within scenes, trained coders coded all scientists who appeared within a randomly selected 15-
minute portion of a randomly selected episode of each program. Intercoder reliability statistics,
as assessed using Cohen’s kappa and Scott’s pi, were as follows: dependence = .66, caring = .
72, romantic = .80, independence = .54, dominance = .59, and athleticism = .62. In addition to
the kappa ranges discussed earlier in this paper, kappa and pi statistics in the .41 to .60 range
indicate adequate agreement (Landis & Koch, 1977).
Results
Descriptive Statistics for Scientist Characters
4 Reliability ranges are provided for some variables because multiple coding pairs participated in the reliability work. In some cases, the calculated statistics for all pairs were identical; in other cases, they were not.
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Across the 112 episodes of the 14 programs in this study, 196 scientist characters were
identified. Of these, 113 (58%) were male and 83 (42%) were female. The race/ethnicity of the
scientist characters was as follows: White/Caucasian (72%), Black/African American (13%),
Hispanic Latino (7%), Asian/Pacific Islander (6%), Native American (1%), Cannot determine
(1%). In the programs analyzed, 56% of the scientist characters were adults, 25% were young
adults/college-aged, and 19% were children.
Hypotheses and Research Question Testing
Hypothesis 1 predicted that there would be more portrayals of male scientists than of
female scientists. This hypothesis was supported. There were significantly more male scientist
characters (n = 113) than female scientist characters (n = 83), χ2 (1) = 4.59, p < .05). Because
Hypothesis 1 essentially predicts that male scientists will have a larger presence on programs
than will female scientists, this hypothesis was tested by determining whether male scientists
were in more scenes than were female scientists. Results of this second test also support
Hypothesis 1. Male scientists were in significantly more scenes (M = 23.7 scenes) than female
scientists (M = 15.1 scenes), t (184.94) = 8.68, p < .05.5
To test research questions posed about program genre, the 14 programs were grouped
into four program genres, as shown in Table 1. However, situation comedies were removed from
the research question analyses because this program genre contained only five scientists. The
number of scientists in the other program genres was as follows: cartoon = 16, drama = 62, and
educational = 113.
5 The degrees of freedom for this hypothesis test were adjusted because the Levene’s test for equality of variances indicated that the variances in the two samples were not equal.
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Insert Table 1 here
Research Question 1 asked whether, within program genre, the proportion of male
scientist characters differed from the proportion of female scientist characters. The proportion of
male and female scientist characters differed for cartoon and drama programs, but not for
educational programs (cartoons, χ2 (1) = 4.00, p < .05; dramas, χ2 (1) = 4.13, p < .05; educational,
χ2 (1) = 0.08, p = .78).
Hypothesis 2 predicted that male scientist characters would be more likely than female
scientist characters to be portrayed in high-status scientific roles. This hypothesis was not
supported. Male scientists were no more likely than female scientists to be portrayed in high-
status scientific positions, χ2 (1) = 1.04, p =0.31. For males, 80.5% were in high-status scientific
positions, and 74.4% of females were in high-status scientific positions.
Research Question 2 asked whether the program genre and the biological sex of the
character interact to predict the professional status of the scientist characters. A binary logistic
regression was used to test this research question. Results indicate that program genre and
gender did not interact to predict the professional status of the scientist characters, χ2 (1) = 0.61, p
= 0.44.
Hypothesis 3 predicted that female scientists would be more likely than male scientists to
be portrayed as married. This hypothesis was not supported. In fact, for the 42 adult and young
adult scientist characters for which marital status could be determined, more males (n = 12) were
portrayed as married than females (n = 8), though this difference was not significant (χ2 (1) =
0.31, p = 0.58.
21
Research Question 3 asked whether the program genre and the biological sex of the
character interact to predict the marital status of the scientist characters. A binary logistic
regression was used to test this research question. Program genre and gender did not interact to
predict the marital status of the scientist characters, χ2 (1) = 0.44, p = 0.51.
Hypothesis 4 predicted that female scientist characters would be more likely to be parents
than would male scientist characters. Counter to our prediction, more adult and young adult
male scientist characters (n = 8) were portrayed as parents than were adult and young adult
female scientist characters (n = 5), though, again, this difference was not significant (χ2 (1) =
0.16, p = 0.69).
Research Question 4 asked whether the program genre and the biological sex of the
character interact to predict the parental status of the scientist characters. A binary logistic
regression was used to test this research question. Program genre and gender did not interact to
predict the parental status of the scientist characters, χ2 (1) = 1.53, p = 0.22.
Hypotheses 5a and 5b investigated the extent to which female and male scientist
characters exhibited selected gender stereotypical behaviors. To test these hypotheses, the fact
that males were in more scenes than were females was controlled by using the mean percent of
scenes in which an attribute was present as the dependent variable. Each of the attributes was
tested individually because scales for the three female gender stereotypical behaviors (i.e.,
dependence, caring, and romantic) and the three male gender stereotypical behaviors (i.e.,
dominance, independence, and athleticism) were not reliable.
22
The nonparametric Mann-Whitney U statistical test was used for Hypotheses 5a and 5b
because the data for the gender-stereotyped variables were not normally distributed. Hypothesis
5a, which predicted that female scientists would be more likely than male scientists to exhibit
female gender stereotyped behaviors, was not supported (See Table 2). Female scientist
characters did not exhibit caring, dependence, or romantic attributes in significantly higher mean
percentages of scenes than did male scientists. Hypothesis 5b, which predicted that male
scientists would be more likely than female scientists to exhibit male stereotyped behaviors, was
largely supported (See Table 2). Male scientist characters exhibited independence and
dominance in significantly higher mean percentages of scenes than did female scientist
characters; however, this did not hold for athleticism.
Insert Table 2 here
Research Question 5 investigated whether gender stereotypical behaviors varied by
television program genre. Because, as has been mentioned previously, the gender-stereotyped
behavior data were not normally distributed, a Scheire-Ray-Hare two-way ANOVA of ranks was
performed to test this research question. This test is more powerful than standard t-tests for non-
normally distributed data (Scheirer, Ray, & Hare, 1976). As Table 3 shows, gender stereotypical
behavior did not differ by program genre.
Insert Table 3 here
Discussion
This study examined gender-stereotyping in portrayals of scientist characters in television
programs popular among or likely to be viewed by middle school students. Male scientist
23
characters outnumbered female scientist characters and were also found to be present in more
scenes than were female scientist characters. Earlier studies of children’s educational television
programs had found more male than female scientist characters (Long et al., 2001; Steinke &
Long, 1996) and had found male scientists shown more frequently on screen than female
scientists (Long et al., 2001). However, within program genre comparisons revealed a different
pattern -- cartoons and dramas had significantly more male scientist characters than female
scientist characters, while educational programs did not favor one gender over the other. These
findings that take the program genre into account appear to indicate that progress has been made
in ensuring equitable representation of male and female scientists, specifically for educational
programs; however, there was notable variance by individual program. For example, in Bill Nye
the Science Guy there were 18 females and 10 males; in Mythbusters there were 3 females and
16 males; and in DragonflyTV there were 55 females and 58 males. It is interesting to note that
the educational science programs where female scientist characters were equally represented or
represented in higher numbers than male scientist characters were programs that receive funding
from the National Science Foundation.
In addition to analyzing the distribution of the biological sex of the scientist characters,
this study also analyzed the characterization of television scientist characters. The analysis of
the scientist characters’ professional status, which serves as an indication of the importance of
characters’ role within the scientific community, found that across all programs female and male
scientist characters were just as likely to be portrayed in high-status occupational positions in the
scientific workforce. This finding differed from those of earlier studies of children’s educational
24
television programs that showed female scientists were often more likely to be portrayed in
secondary roles such as research assistants and students (Steinke & Long, 1996).
The equity in scientific community status for female and male characters found in the
current study is encouraging and suggests greater breadth in the roles for female scientist
characters in current television programming. Although not formally coded in this study, the
following observations of interactions of male and female scientist characters in some of the
scenes analyzed in this study were indicative of this change in roles for female scientist
characters. In cartoon programs, for example, male scientist characters were shown being
challenged by female scientist characters like Dee Dee, Dexter’s sister in Dexter’s Laboratory,
or were shown being assigned to work with equally competent female classmates like Cindy in
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. In drama programs, research pairs or teams of
male and female scientists were often shown being directed by female lead forensics
investigators in programs like CSI, CSI-Miami, CSI-New York. Similarly, educational programs
also showed research pairs or teams of females and males in Mythbusters or teams of female and
male child-age collaborators working on science projects or experiments in programs like
DragonflyTV or Bill Nye the Science Guy.
In examining variables related to the personal lifestyles of the scientist characters, male
and female scientist characters were portrayed similarly, indicating that traditional gender
stereotyping was not found. In fact, contrary to our predictions, more adult and young adult
male scientist characters were portrayed as married and as parents than adult and young adult
female scientist characters. Research on television dramas from the 1990s found that married
women on these programs were portrayed with fewer options, “for they can rarely successfully
25
combine marriage and employment (Signorielli & Kahlenberg, 2001). While the findings of this
study may initially suggest greater sensitivity in televised portrayals of male scientists related to
work and family life issues, these results should be interpreted with caution because of the
relatively small number of any references at all to the scientist characters’ marital and parental
status in these television programs. The overall lack of attention and focus on work and family
life issues for scientist characters, male or female, reinforces traditional stereotypes of scientists
as individuals who devote their entire lives to their professional work at the expense of their
personal lives. It is possible that characterizations of scientists as not having personal
relationships and family may unintentionally keep adolescent girls, who are already thinking
about how to balance future professional and family roles, from seeing science as a viable career
for women.
The analysis of the gender stereotyped attributes found in portrayals of the scientist
characters featured in these 14 television programs showed gender stereotyping of male scientist
characters, but not of female scientist characters. Male scientist characters were more likely than
female characters to be shown with the masculine attributes or traits of independence and
dominance, but not athleticism. However, female scientist characters were not more likely than
male scientist characters to be portrayed with the traditional feminine attributes of dependence,
caring, and romantic. No differences were detected in female and male scientist characters for
the gender stereotyped attributes by program genre. Previous research on children’s programs
that included several different program genres in the analysis and examined a couple attributes
similar to those coded in this study found that female characters were more likely than male
characters across all genres to be shown as acting romantic and acting supportive(Leaper et al.,
26
2002). Although not all traditional gender stereotyped-attributes could be coded in this analysis,
the findings for the gender stereotyped-attributes that were coded suggest that portrayals of
scientist characters with even just a couple traditionally masculine stereotyped traits along with
the absence of traditionally feminine stereotyped traits may serve to reinforce existing gender
schemas (Bem, 1981). Given the resilient nature of gender schemas (Durkin, 1985; Durkin &
Nugent, 1998; Martin & Charles F. Halverson, 1983; Nihlen & Bailey, 1988; Renn & Calvert,
1993; Signorella & Liben, 1984), direct and strong interventions that include
counterstereotypical portrayals of scientists may be needed in order to change perceptions of
gender roles and perceptions of gender and science.
While it was beyond the scope of this paper to assess the specific influence of viewing
images of scientists on middle school-aged children’s perceptions of scientists and their interest
in future SET careers, repeated viewing of images of scientists that predominantly show male
scientists and that include traditionally male attributes, even though small in number, reinforce
gender stereotypes of science as a masculine domain. Researchers have stated that “given that
film and television images are visually appealing, easily understood, and appear to be supported
by scientific authorities (e.g., NASA) through the use of science consultants, they have a high
potential to achieve high status in the minds of students” (Barnett et al., 2006, p. 189). In
addition, the gender and race of characters has been found to be particularly important in
assessing the effects of characters on adolescents (J. D. Brown & Pardun, 2004). Researchers
have noted that “race and gender are basic motivators for choice of television content, and that
adolescents may, indeed, be seeking models with whom they can identify as they develop a sense
of themselves in the larger culture” (J. D. Brown & Pardun, 2004, p. 275). This study examined
27
only six different gender stereotyped attributes (three traditionally masculine and three
traditionally feminine) and found some evidence for a greater prevalence of the traditionally
masculine attributes of independence and dominance over the other attributes analyzed.
Additional research is needed to assess whether televised images of scientist characters with
masculine attributes rather than scientist characters with feminine attributes influences girls’
perceptions of the attributes and traits embodied by scientists and whether girls think women
scientists need to adopt these masculine attributes in order to succeed in science, engineering and
technological professions. Pre-adolescent and adolescent girls, who often are experiencing a
heightened sense of awareness of social roles and femininity during this time and who tend to
identify with feminine ways, may see this world of science as closed to them unless they are
willing to conform to masculine behaviors and traits.
Increasing the number of female scientist role models on the television programs most
often watched by pre-adolescent and adolescent girls may be one important factor for increasing
the number of girls interested in science and engineering careers. Television programming needs
to present positive portrayals of female scientists to promote observational learning and
identification in children as a way to promote interest in SET. As one researcher writes:
“Closing the gaps between girls and boys in SME interests probably entails closing the gaps
between gendered self-concepts and perceptions of SME disciplines” (Lee, 1998a), p. 214.
Limitations of the Study
One of the limitations of the study was the fact that only six gender-stereotyped attributes
were coded. The selection of these gender-stereotyped attributes was carefully determined based
28
on which ones were most likely to be shown in the programs selected for analysis, but ideally, all
gender-stereotyped attributes would have been coded. Future research should include the use of
other measures of gender stereotyping in televised content. This study attempted to develop a
gender-stereotyped scale or index for ascertaining the relative degree of gender stereotyping in
the portrayals of scientist characters. However, each attribute had to be tested individually
because scales for the three female gender stereotypical behaviors (i.e., dependence, caring, and
romanticism) and the three male gender stereotypical behaviors (i.e., dominance, independence,
and athleticism) were not reliable. Further research is needed to explore other ways of
measuring gender-stereotyped behaviors and traits in television characters.
It is important to note that the gender stereotyped attributes found were present in very
low amounts in the programs studied. This could be a function of how these variables were
operationalized (i.e., we may have missed some major ways that these variables would manifest
themselves in the programs we studied) or it could be a function of them just not being there. In
the latter case, it is important to note that even when a significant difference between male and
female scientists was found for the gender-stereotyped attributes, the attributes are present in
such small amounts that the likelihood of them affecting a viewer may be low.
One point to note about the second test of Hypothesis 1 (i.e., where the mean number
of scenes for male and female scientists was compared) is that this test may have a bias. That is,
neither the scenes in the programs nor the programs themselves were of uniform length. Thus, it
is possible that a scientist who was in a longer program that had many scenes would be present in
a higher number of scenes than a scientist who was in a shorter program that had fewer scenes.
However, there is no reason to expect that the number of scenes in a program or the length of
29
those scenes would vary as a function of whether male or female scientists are present.
Consequently, the comparison of the mean number of scenes that male and female scientists
appear in is a reasonable test of Hypothesis 1.
Directions for Future Research
One of the unique contributions of this research was the focus on television programs
currently found to be popular among or likely to be viewed by middle school-aged students.
Continuous replication and extension of earlier research on televised images of scientists is
needed given changes in media content and the potential influence of these images on children’s
perceptions of science and scientists.
Another unique contribution of this research was the focus on different television
program genres. Future research on images of scientists on television should continue to take
program genre into account given differences in viewer preferences by program genre, portrayals
of characters, and program content. Future research with this focus also is important because
studies indicate gender differences in children’s preference for television programs with boys
reporting liking cartoons, situation comedies, and entertainment, and more action-oriented shows
and girls reporting liking cartoons, entertainment shows, and teenage drama and people-oriented
shows (Cherney & London, 2006).
Future research needs to carefully examine the impact of viewing television scientist
characters with gender-stereotyped attributes not only on middle school-aged children’s
perceptions of gender roles, but also on their attitudes toward science, interest in future SET
careers, and perceptions of women in SET. A number of theoretical perspectives in the field of
30
communication, such as social learning theory (Albert Bandura, 1986), cultivation theory
(Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, & Signorielli, 1994), wishful identification (Hoffner, 1996; Hoffner &
Buchanan, 2005), identification (Calvert et al., 2003), and parasocial interaction (Hoffner, 1996),
all suggest the potential influence of televised images on children’s learning and perceptions.
Carefully designed studies are needed to tease out the specific influence of an array of gender-
stereotyped attributes of scientist characters in order to determine the specific impact of these
images on middle school-aged children’s perceptions of scientists and their views of themselves
as potential scientists in the future.
31
Table 1. Television Programs Selected for Analysis by Program Genre
Cartoons Dramas Educational Situational Comedy
Danny Phantom CSI Bill Nye the Science Guy
Friends
Dexter’s Laboratory CSI-Miami DragonflyTV The Simpsons
Kim Possible CSI- New York Mythbusters
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
Strange Days at Blake Holsey High
The X Files
32
Table 2. Gender Stereotyped Attributes for Male and Female Scientists
Attributes Male Scientists (n = 113) Female Scientists (n =83) Mann-Whitney U
Mean % of Scenes
Stand. Dev. Mean % of Scenes Stand. Dev.
Caring .02 .05 .04 .16 4466.50
Dependence .01 .06 .01 .05 4337
Romantic .02 .07 .04 .14 4465.50
Athleticism .08 .23 .09 .26 4573
Dominance .20 .23 .15 .25 3867.50*
Independence .03 .08 .03 .13 3921*
*p < .05.
33
Table 3. Gender Stereotypical Behavior by Program Genre
Gender Stereotype Attribute
Mean % of Scenes for Cartoons
Mean % of Scenes for Dramas
Mean % of Scenes for Educational Programs
Scheire-Ray-Hare Test of Ranks
Female (n = 4)
Male(n = 12)
Female (n = 23)
Male(n = 39)
Female (n = 55)
Male(n = 58)
Dependent .05 .04 .02 .01 .00 .00 .03
Caring .04 .03 .09 .04 .02 .00 .21
Romantic .03 .06 .12 .01 .00 .00 .47
Athletic .00 .05 .00 .00 .14 .14 .18
Dominant .30 .30 .35 .28 .06 .13 .59
Independent .14 .12 .08 .05 .00 .00 .08
34
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