Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Summer 1-1-2015
Mentor
Aimee Meader, PhD
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to further understand the relationship of family background and how it affects self-esteem and the perception of gender roles in online imagery. This study focuses on why our history makes us see gender roles the way we do. The schema theory, created by Robert Axelrod, is a model suggesting that people have a “pre-existing assumption about the way the world is organized” (Axelford, 1974). Furthering this theory is Bem's (1981) Gender Schema Theory, which proposes that one's sexual self-concept affects how one structures items in memory. These theories, applied to the understood roles and activities that we see our parents perform, should relate to how we see models take on certain roles and activities in online advertisements. The method for collecting data is a survey broken down into questions of demographics, family history, self-esteem, and ten randomized advertisements portraying traditional, decorative, and non-traditional gender roles for both men and women. If we can begin to understand the relationship between family background and advertisement effectiveness, then advertisers can see the real cultural values and changing gender-role identities in consumers.
Recommended Citation
Crowe, Cera, "How Do Family Background and Self-Esteem Affect an Individual's Perception of Gender-Role Portrayal in Online Advertising?" (2015). Summer Research Experience Poster Presentations. 1.
https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/mcnair_sre/1
