Studied by 3 people
Aim of Williams (1986)
To investigate children's behaviour before and after TV had been introduced to the town & compare their behaviour with towns that have TV.
Procedure of Williams (1986)
1. The researchers carried out a natural experiment, not manipulating an independent variable, in a remote region of Canada.
2. The researchers assessed children's gender stereotyping just before television was introduced and then repeated this assessment two years later.
Results of Williams (1986)
They found that children had developed more traditional thinking about gender roles. It appears that the children may have learned their gender roles by watching the behavior of the people on television through social cognitive theory (observational learning).
Strengths of Williams (1986)
1. high ecological validity: because the researcher was simply measuring an effect that was naturally occurring in a natural experiment where no IV is manipulated.
Limitations of Williams (1986)
1. low internal validity: As there were no controls during the two year period, confounding variables could have affected children's stereotyping rather than just watching television. For example, it is possible that direct tuition from their peer groups or adults in their lives may have played a role in their enculturation into Canadian culture.
2. Demand characteristics may have been subject in the children's self-reported data and may have not represented the sample's actual behavior. In addition, it's unclear how many hours the children actually watched television and what they watched.
What is the name of study 1
Williams (1986)
What is study 2
Fagot (1978)
aim of Fagot (1978)
The aim of this study was to observe parental reactions to behaviour that wasn't deemed appropriate for the child's gender, at least according to American culture at the time.
procedure of of Fagot (1978)
24 families, 12 families with boys and 12 with girls. Observers used an observation checklist of 46 child behaviours and 19 reactions by parents. There were five 60-minute observations completed for each family over a five-week period. The observer used time sampling, making note of the child's behaviour every 60 seconds and then noting the parents' response. Two observers were used to establish inter-coder reliability. The agreement between the two observers on the child's behavior was 0.93 and for parents' reaction 0.83.
results of of Fagot (1978)
Parents reacted significantly more favorably to the child when the child was engaged in gender-appropriate behavior and were more likely to give negative responses to "gender inappropriate" behaviors
conclusion of of Fagot (1978)
In the follow up interviews with the parents, it was found that the parents perceptions of their interactions with their children did not correlate with what was observed by the researchers, indicating that this is not a conscious behaviour.
This study demonstrates enculturation as it shows parents directly teaching and instructing children about what is and isn't appropriate behaviour according to their culture's gender norms.
strength of Fagot (1978)
Uses method triangulation, interviews & observations. Increases the credibility of the findings.
weakness of of Fagot (1978)
Limited to a single culture. Difficult to generalise.
Evaluation of Both Studies
Strengths of both studies:
Both emphasize the role of enculturation in gender role development.
Complementary focus: Fagot on direct tuition, Williams on observational learning.
Limitations of both studies:
Both lack generalizability due to cultural and situational contexts.
Low internal validity due to the absence of controlled variables.
Overall contribution: Together, the studies provide a fuller understanding of how enculturation occurs through both direct and indirect mechanisms.
