K-State study shows seeing scary movie on a date reinforces traditional gender roles

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Source: Richard Harris, 785-532-0610, rjharris@k-state.edu
http://www.mediarelations.k-state.edu/WEB/News/MediaGuide/harrisbio.html
News release prepared by: Megan Wilson, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

K-STATE STUDY SHOWS SEEING SCARY MOVIE ON A DATE REINFORCES TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES

MANHATTAN -- Planning to see a scary movie with that special someone this Halloween? Go ahead guys; act brave. And ladies? Feel free to grab your date if you become frightened.

These reactions aren't just stereotypes, they are expected behaviors, according to a study by Kansas State University psychology professor Richard Harris. Reacting in a different way could even risk your relationship.

Harris' research showed gender roles were used in the dating context in very specific, yet different ways for men and women.

"Guys tended to act very unafraid, very cool. They might even laugh at the movie to show how much it wasn't scaring them," Harris said. "Women, on the other hand, were socially free to express emotion. They could grab on to their date or cover their eyes. It allowed them an excuse to be physically closer to their dates."

Harris said both men and women reported they were not impressed when the other gender didn't live up to their social roles.

"Guys didn't like it when their date was unafraid, and girls didn't like it when their dates were scared," he said.

According to Harris, although the expected gender roles may seem old-fashioned, they are actually supported by research.

"We thought that students with nontraditional gender role attitudes would report differently, but they didn't. Even those students followed traditional gender roles. We discovered that it's not the attitude that is important, but that the only thing that matters is whether you are a male or female," Harris said. "The social situation of a date forces men and women to follow traditional gender role attitudes.

"By using the dating context, we were able to look at how the movie plays into advancing the relationship," he said. "We were able to examine gender roles and socialization."

The study on dating and scary movies was brought on by another study, this one on memories of being scared by violent films as a child or teenager. Harris said many people vividly remember their reactions and fears years later.

Harris is part of the cognitive and human factors psychology program at K-State. His areas of research interest include autobiographical memory for media experiences, comprehension and memory for figurative language, lexical processing, and studies of language processing in languages other than English and in bilinguals.