LOOKING THROUGH GENDERED LENSES - FEMALE STEREOTYPING IN ADVERTISEMENTS AND GENDER-ROLE EXPECTATIONS

This study applied cognitive heuristics theory to the study of gender role stereotyping. Seventy-five high school students viewed magazine a dvertisements with stereotypical images of women, while fifty others v iewed nonstereotypical images. Both groups then responded to statement s concerning a woman in a ''neutral'' photograph. Differences in gende r role expectations were found for six of the twelve questionnaire sta tements, although differences were not consistently related to either gender or experimental treatment. While the effects documented in this experiment were not dramatic, the results provide further evidence th at even brief exposure to stereotypical advertisements plays a role in reinforcing stereotypes about gender roles and that what Sandra Bem h as described as the lenses of gender lead to differences in the ways m ales and females cognitively process visual advertising images.