Are you Toxic?
How does exposure to content on social media influence levels of toxic masculinity?
Presenter(s)
Cristina Dudziak
Abstract or Description
This experiment studied whether exposure to certain Instagram content influences men's levels of toxic masculinity. It was hypothesized that participants who were exposed to toxic masculinity messages on Instagram would report higher levels of toxic masculinity than those exposed to anti-toxic masculinity or neutral messages. Participants were exposed to one of three conditions- an anti-toxic masculinity condition, a toxic masculinity condition, or a neutral condition. Each group viewed a series of Instagram posts portraying each respective condition. After viewing the images, participants filled out a scale to measure their toxic masculinity. The results showed no significant difference in toxic masculinity between groups. Limitations of this study included the length of exposure to the Instagram posts, the strength of the toxic masculinity messages, and the sample size. Additionally, the sample consisted of only BSU cisgender male undergraduate students. Future research should expand the sample to include other populations, lengthen the exposure to social media messages, and study the potential impact of such exposures on other genders.
Mentor
Laura Ramsey
Comments
Dr. Hansen-Brown4 years ago
Interesting findings! What kind of questions are in the CMNI variable? Do you think a different measurement might have produced different results?
• • 1 comment
Laura Ramsey4 years ago
Thank you for these questions! Our class discussed them, and we believe that the limitation in the study is more about the strength of the manipulation, rather than the measurement of the dependent variable, so we don't believe a different result would have occurred with a different measure. The CMNI is the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory, and it includes questions such as, "I like to talk about my feelings" (reverse scored), "I would get angry if people thought I was gay," and "The women in my life should obey me."