Research Article The Correlates and Consequences of Newspaper Reports of Research on Sex Differences

ABSTRACT—Correlates and consequences of newspaper accounts of research on sex differences were examined. In Study 1, ar-ticles from high-circulation newspapers were coded for the de-gree to which biological factors were used to explain sex differ-ences. Results showed that political conservatism and traditional attitudes toward gender roles coded from other newspaper sections predicted greater use of biological explanations than did political liberalism and less traditional attitudes toward gender roles. In Studies 2 and 3, participants read a fictional newspaper article reporting research on a gender difference that cited either biological or sociocultural factors as explaining the difference. Results showed that exposure to biological explana-tions significantly increased participants ’ endorsement of gender stereotypes. Moreover, exposure to social explanations signifi-cantly increased participants ’ belief in the mutability of human behavior. Together, these studies show that political ideology influences how the popular press reports research findings and that such reporting in turn affects readers ’ beliefs and attitudes. For several decades, psychologists have been urged to ‘‘give psy-chology away’ ’ (Miller, 1969). But psychologists have frequently countered that it is not psychologists but the media who give psy-chology away (Zimbardo, 2002). Recognizing this, the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Psychological Society (APS) have established programs to effectively communicate psychological research to the mass media. For example, APS sponsors a Media Fellowship Program, and APA maintains a Web site that provides daily updates on ‘‘news from the world of psychology’’ (www.psycport.com). These efforts acknowledge the media’s role as key conduit of psychological research to both the general public an