Lads’ mags, sexism, and research in psychology: an interview with Dr. Peter Hegarty (part 1)

Scientific American:

Back in December, there was a study that appeared in The British Journal of Psychology that got a fair amount of buzz. The paper looked at the influence that magazines aimed at young men (“lads’ mags”) might have on how the young people who read them perceive their social reality.

Among other things, the researchers found that the subjects in the study found the descriptions of women given by convicted sex offenders and lads’ mags are well nigh indistinguishable, and that when a quote was identified as from a lads’ mag (no matter what its actual source), subjects were more likely to say that they identified with the view it expressed than if the same quote was identified as coming from a rapist.

Read the whole story: Scientific American