SexIER Symbols Examining the Effects of a Content Analysis of Gendered Visual Imagery in Cross Cultural Road Signs
Abstract
The symbols and images projected through mass media shape and constrain an individual’s understanding of and interaction with their environment. Across cultures, road signs employ seemingly universal, generic, human symbols. Cross-cultural variance does occur, however, in the degree to which such icons include characteristically masculine, feminine, and gender neutral features. This investigation, a full scale study of an earlier pilot, proposes the human symbol communicates culturally-relevant information. Specifically, this study consists of a content analysis, further refinement of a fluid visual gender scale, and correlation with social effects using a semiotic, social cognitive, and code theory theoretical framework.
Full text article
References
AICPA (1972). Consistency of Application of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Retrieved from http:// www.aicpa.org. (accessed March 2015).
Arciniega, G. M., Anderson, T. C., Tovar-Blank, Z. G., & Tracey, T. G. (2008). Toward a fuller conception of Machismo: Development of a traditional Machismo and Caballerismo Scale. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55(1), 19-33. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.55.1.19
Arnaiz, C. (2006). Politeness in the portrayal of workplace relationships: Second person address forms in Peninsular Spanish and the translation of humour. Journal of Politeness Research, 2, 123-141. Doi: 10.1515/pr.2006.007
Banda, F. (2008). Project on a mechanism to address laws that discriminate against women. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights –Women’s Rights and Gender Unit. Retrieved from: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/laws_that_discriminate_against_women.pdf
Bandura, A. (2002). Social cognitive theory in cultural context. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 51(2), 269-290. Doi:10.1111/1464-0597.00092
Bandura, A. (1996). Social cognitive theory of human development. In T. Husen & T. N. Postlethwaite (Eds.), International encyclopedia of education (2nd ed., pp. 5513-5518) Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Bandura, A. (1994). Social cognitive theory of mass communication. In J. Bryant & D. Zillman (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 121-153). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice- Hall, Inc.
Bandura, A. (1971). Social learning theory. New York: General Learning Press.
Berger, A. (2014). Semiotics and Society. Society, 51(1), 22-26.
Bernstein, B. (1972). A sociolinguistic approach to socialization; with some reference to educability. In J.J. Gumperz and D. Hymes (Eds.), Directions in sociolinguistics (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston), 465-497.
Bussey K, & Bandura, A. (1999). Social cognitive theory of gender development and differentiation. Psychological Review [serial online], October 1999;106(4), 676-713. Doi: 10.1037/0033-295x.106.4.676.
Callow, J. (2005). Literacy and the visual: Broadening our vision. English Teaching: Practice & Critique, 4(1), 6-19.
Collins, R. (2011). Content Analysis of Gender Roles in Media: Where Are We Now and Where Should We Go? Sex Roles, 64(3), 290-298. Doi: 10.1007/s11199-010-9929-5.
Dahl, S. (2003). An Overview of Intercultural Research, Society for Intercultural Training and Research UK I/10. (2/2003).
Eckert P. (2014) The problem with binaries: Coding for gender and sexuality, Language and Linguistics Compass, 8, 529–535. doi: 10.1111/lnc3.12113.
Eisend, M. (2010). A meta-analysis of gender roles in advertising. Journal of The Academy of Marketing Science, 38(4), 418-440. Doi:10.1007/s11747-009-0181-x
Ellsberg, M., & Heise, L. (2005). Researching violence against women: A practical guide for researchers and activists. (Washington, D.C.: The World Health Organization, PATH).
Fitzpatrick, M. J., & McPherson, B. J. (2010). Coloring Within the Lines: Gender Stereotypes in Contemporary Coloring Books. Sex Roles, 62(1/2), 127-137. Doi: 10.1007/s11199-009-9703-8.
Guthrie, S. (2007). Bottles are men, glasses are women: religion, gender, and secular objects. Material Religion, 3(1), 14-33. Doi: 10.2752/174322007780095799.
Hall, E. T. (1969). The Hidden Dimension. New York: Doubleday & Co
Hall, E.T. (1973). The Silent Language. New York: Anchor Books.
House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Ruiz-Quintanilla, S. A., Dorfman, P. W., Javidan, M., Dickson, M., & Gupta, V. (1999). Cultural influences on leadership and organizations: Project GLOBE. Advances in global leadership, 1(2), 171-233, Retrieved from: http://www.vnseameo.org/zakir/process.pdf
Jasna, K. & Dževad, S. (2015). The pursuit of a remedy for gender inequality in wider Europe: Comparison of policies and indices in the EU, Nordic countries, and south east Europe. Economic Annals, 60, 127 – 156. Doi: 10.2298/eka1504127k
Krippendorff, K. (2011). Computing Krippendorff's Alpha-Reliability. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/43
Liddicoat, A.J. (2006). Learning the culture of interpersonal relationships: Students’ understandings of personal address forms in French. Intercultural Pragmatics, 3, 55–80. DOI: 10.1515/IP.2006.003,
Lippmann, W. (1922). Public opinion. New York: Harcourt, Brace.
Lombard, M., Snyder-Duch, J., & Bracken, C. (2002). Content analysis in mass communication: Assessment and reporting of intercoder reliability. Human Communication Research, 28, 587 – 604. Doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2002.tb00826.x.
Lorber, J. & Farrell, S. A. (1991). The Social construction of gender. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Markus, H, & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224-53. Doi: 10.1037/0033-295x.98.2.224
Matud, M., Rodríguez, C., & Espinosa, I. (2011). Gender in Spanish daily newspapers. Sex Roles, 64(3/4), 253-264. Doi: 10.1007/s11199-010-9874-3.
Neuendorf, K. (2011). Content analysis—A methodological primer for gender research. Sex Roles, 64(3), 276-289. Doi: 10.1007/s11199-010-9893-0.
Nuessel, F. (2012). The semiotics of communication. Semiotica, 189, 271-285. doi:10.1515/sem-2012-0035
Ogiermann, E. (2009). Politeness and in-directness across cultures: A comparison of English, German, Polish and Russian requests. Journal of Politeness Research, 5, 189-216. Doi: 10.1515/jplr.2009.011
Peirce, C. (1998). The Essential Peirce, Selected Philosophical Writings, Volume 2, eds. Peirce Edition Project, Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.
Ricciardelli, R., Clow, K. A., & White, P. (2010). Investigating hegemonic masculinity: Portrayals of masculinity in men's lifestyle magazines. Sex Roles, 63(1/2), 64-78. doi: 10.1007/s11199-010-9764-8.
Rudy, R., Popova, M., & Linz, L. (2010). The context of current content analysis of gender roles: An introduction to a special issue. Sex Roles, 62(11), 705-720. Doi: 10.1007/s11199-010-9807-1.
Scott, L. M. (1994). Images in Advertising: The need for a theory of visual rhetoric. Journal of Consumer Research, 21(2), 252-273. Doi: 10.1086/209396.
Tavakol, M., & Dennick, R. (2011). Making sense of Cronbach's alpha. International Journal of Medical Education, 2, 53-55. doi: 10.5116/ijme.4dfb.8dfd.
United Nations. (2010). Commission on the status of women. Economic and Social Council, Official Records 2010, Supplement no. 7. Retrieved from: http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N10/305/76/PDF/N1030576.pdf?OpenElement
United Nations Development Programme. (2013). Gender inequality index: Human development reports. Retrieved from: http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/table-4-gender-inequality-index
United Nations Treaty Collection (1985). Protocol on road markings, additional to the European agreement supplementing the convention on road signs and signals. Retrieved from: https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XI-B-25&chapter=11&lang=en
van Leeuwen, T. & Jewitt, C. (Eds.). (2001). The Handbook of Visual Analysis. London, England: SAGE Publications Ltd. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9780857020062
van Teijlingen ER & Hundley V (2001) The Importance of pilot studies. Social Research Update, 35, 289 – 295. Doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2648.2001.01757.x.
Yasin, M., Hamid, B., Othman, Z.,Bakar, K., Hashim, F., Mohti, A. (2012). A Visual analysis of a Malaysian English school textbook: Gender matters. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 69, 1871 – 1880. Doi: 10.5539/ass.v8n12p154.
Yu, M. (2005). Sociolinguistic Competence in the complimenting act of native Chinese and American English speakers: A Mirror of cultural value. Language and Speech, 48, 91-119. Doi: 10.1177/00238309050480010501.
Authors
Copyright (c) 2018 Laura Motel, Brittnie Peck
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This journal provides immediate and free open access to all its content and is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This means readers are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, as long as proper attribution is given. This policy is consistent with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition of open access.
Article Details
How to Cite
Most read articles by the same author(s)
- Laura Motel, Sex Symbols - A Pilot Study Examining the Effects of a Content Analysis of Gendered Visual Imagery in Cross Cultural Road Signs , Journal of Intercultural Communication: Vol. 16 No. 2 (2016)