David Clipp
Communication Research 460-01
YOUNG ADULT’S PERCEPTIONS OF FRATERNITIES AND SORORITIES BASED ON
COLLEGE-LIFE FILM
Introduction
A young adult has a curious and hopeful mind when it comes to thinking about their
could-be collegiate life. According to Portlock (2012) Students tend to somewhat believe or
hope college life will be like what they see in the media. The media industry’s first
successful portrayal of college life was in the film, National Lampoon’s Animal House. “Since
the film’s release in 1978, higher education films have distorted college images, which may
influence societal perceptions of higher education” (Tucciarone, 2007).
The Media Munching Generation
Young adults are some of the heaviest consumers of media, and with the popularity
of college-life movies, young adults now have perceived beliefs of what life is like in college.
According to CBSNews.com (2010), “teens spend almost as much time on a computer,
watching television, using their cell phones, playing video games or listening to music as an
adult spends during a full day at work.” Since teens and young adults are such huge
consumers of media, it is interesting to look at what they are watching and how their
viewing habits affect their personal ideologies. College-life movies are extremely popular in
box offices around the US and these movies can be found in the homes of several young
adults in America. The primary viewers of these movies are predominantly white, come
from the middle to upper socioeconomic class, and are between the ages of 14 and 22.
I will be studying the perceptions that young adult viewers of college-life movies
have on Greek-life. These perceptions are important because many young adults have the
idea that Greek students function only in acts of sex, drugs, and partying; this is based on
what they see in the ideologies placed in movies. Many young adults are oblivious to the
other components of Greek life. I will study the perceptions that young adults form on
Greek-lettered organizations, based on their viewing habits of popular college-based
movies. The purpose of this study will be to describe the perception of Greek life through
film for young adults.
Theoretical Grounding
Rosenberry & Vicker (2008) explain George Gerbner’s theory of cultivation.
Cultivation theory is the phenomenon that heavy viewers of a medium (in this case college
based movies) are more likely to identify and form a perception based on what they are
seeing. Heavy movie viewers literally cultivate a common view of the world. “Gerbner
discovered that heavy viewers of television were more likely to drastically overestimate
the likelihood that they would be victims of a violent crime, safety of their own
neighborhoods, and overall increase of crime in society,” (Rosenberry & Vicker, 2008). In
terms relevant to this study, heavy viewers of college-based movies would believe they
would be subject to partying, hooking up, and drinking upon visiting a college campus.
This component of cultivation theory is known as Mean World Syndrome where those who
watch a lot of television inhabit a world that they perceive as meaner and more dangerous
than those who watch less TV. In terms for this study, heavy viewers of college-based films
would perceive Greek students as sex craved creatures with one ultimate goal of getting
intoxicated.
Rosenberry & Vicker state that the cultivation process is composed of two parts,
mainstreaming and resonance (2008).
The first component is mainstreaming. This idea states that people who watch or
consume a lot share the same perceptions. Basically, heavy viewing blurs the boundaries of
age, race, sex, or socioeconomic status because each person is seeing the same message.
The second portion of the process is resonance. In resonance, those who can directly
relate their real life to a situation in their channel of media, get a double-dose of the
message, and become more susceptible to the message. Hanson (2010) states, “When the
consumer can relate to the product, the product becomes at least twice as powerful.”
In looking at the process of cultivation in terms for my study, the views and
perceptions of Greek life could be universal because of mainstreaming. If a young adult is
drinking and watching a movie in which characters his or her age are consuming copious
amounts of alcohol and hooking up with random strangers, he or she is likely to cultivate
the thought that all young adults are acting the same way they are.
Resonance plays a powerful role in my research. With the viewers of the movies I
am studying being young adults, they can directly relate to the movies they watch because
they will either be coming into contact with Greek organizations in their near future, or
already have experienced interactions with fraternities and sororities.
In my research, I will look at how many college-life movies young adults who are
interviewed watch and compare their viewings to the perceptions they have of Greeklettered organizations.
“Reel” College vs. Real College
Tucciarone (2007) conducted a qualitative study on what students found to be three
central themes of the movie National Lampoon’s Animal House. The three themes agreed
upon by male and female students were destruction, male and female relations, and
campus pranks. Tucciarone argues that when movies are filmed on college campuses,
audiences are offered a direct view of what the college experience entails.
“Students learn how to make meaning about college life through the pervasive
medium of films” (Tucciarone, 2007). Portlock (2012) interviewed college students after
watching clips of two college-based films and upon interviewing them found that the
students acquired more of an influence of what college life would be like through friends
and family. She notes that the students felt that the experiences of sex, partying, and no
academics were highly exaggerated and not relatable to their college experience.
It was also found that the students interviewed had hoped and had a small inkling that
their college experience would be somewhat relevant to what they viewed in movies
previous to their admission to college.
Tucciarone (2007) argues that the silver screen blurs the boundaries of what is fact
and fiction in film. The films provoke audiences to believe certain aspects about the college
experience that have nothing to do with academics. She argues, “Whether we are students,
teachers, administrators, policy makers, parents, or those living in the community, we are
affected by the messages communicated on the silver screen which magnifies acts of
socialization.”
This research tells us that viewers of college-based films are affected by the
messages communicated in the movies and they perceive college is most importantly
socially based. However Portlock’s (2012) recent study shows that young adults draw their
beliefs of college life from other places other than media they consume.
Doing This Stuff Is Normal for People My Age, Right?
Hooking up
Chia & Lee (2008) conducted a survey in which they polled students about their
thoughts on sexual relations on a personal level and how they thought their peers felt. The
researchers found that college students mistakenly believed their fellow students on
campus to be more sexually permissive that they actually were. The findings from this
research suggest that the students’ consumption of sex-related media was significantly and
directly associated with how they overestimated the sexual norms of their peers.
In relevance to Chia & Lee’s (2008) research on sexual relations, Marron & Collins
(2009) conducted a study on the sexual ideologies of college students after watching sexy
media. College students were split into three different timed viewing groups and then
surveyed on their sexual opinions after their viewing period. The researchers found that
the students that viewed a sexually themed television show for a longer time had more
willingness to sexual activity than the students who viewed the show for a short time
period. “The males who were high viewers expressed interest in sexual scenarios that
were portrayed in the programs they watched” (Marron & Collins, 2009).
Booze, Bongs, and Bacco
In looking at drinking and smoking, Stern (2005) conducted a content analysis of
teens being portrayed in a wide variety of films smoking, drinking, and doing drugs. She
found that in the long term, negative consequences from the teen’s habits in the films were
less visible than positive events happening during the movie, due to their substance use.
This article suggests that teen films indicate that substance use is relatively common and
mostly risk-free.
To accompany Stern’s (2005) research, it is fact that the young adult age
demographic makes up the largest drug using (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs) percentage of
people in the US. According to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 21.5% of
young adults ages 18-25 are some kind of substance users. The cause of this percentage
being so high could have a direct relationship to the media that young adult’s see; this goes
to show how moldable a young adult’s mind is.
Gathering from all of this research, it is suggested that young adults base their
perception of what is normal off of the media they consume. The ideas of more or less
invincibility are prevalent in many forms of media that have young adults as characters.
When the characters are the same age as the consumer, the consumer can relate to them
and picture themselves in the situations presented. This is important when looking at the
depictions of fraternity and sorority members on the big screen.
Research Gap
There is evidence of young adults using college movies to form their perception of
how their college experience will be, and there is evidence to show what young adults
believe is normal in terms of sex and drug use. There is a study gap of how these films
influence the perception young adults have towards Greek-affiliated students and
organizations. I plan to explore this gap and determine how the depictions of college
fraternity and sorority members in film influence young adult viewers in their perceptions
of these people in reality.
Thanks to this research, I have gained an important understanding of how young
adults makes perceptions of college life and the apparent normal college life behaviors.
Methodology
This study will be conducted using a quantitative approach to my research. I am
looking to explain how viewing college movies effect a viewer’s perceptions of fraternity
and sorority life. I plan to generalize how an audience reacts when they see a fraternity or
sorority in a film, and the perception they have of real fraternity and sorority members off
screen. I plan to predict the perceptions viewers make from watching the movie and
describe the perception constructed. A quantitative approach will help me do so because I
will be able to see hard evidence of the relationship between the amount of movies viewed
and the harshness of the perception a viewer has.
H1: Perceptions from young adults who view a lot of college-based films will be that
fraternities and sororities party, have sex, and don’t care about academics.
This hypothesis will help me bridge the gap between finding out if heavy viewers of
college-life movies have perceptions of Greek students based on the way they are depicted
in film.
H2: As a viewer of a college film’s age is younger, they are more likely to believe that
college in real life resembles what they see in movies.
This hypothesis is usual for my research because it predicts that not only is the level
of viewing important for my case, but that age is important to. This will help me determine
if younger minds are easier to convince when it comes to college life because they are less
familiar with it than viewers that are older and more knowledgeable about college life.
H3: When a viewer of college film has a friend in a fraternity or sorority, they will be
less perceived by the depictions shown in a college-based film.
When a viewer can personally relate to the material, they are likely to know how
fraternity or sorority members function in real life. They will be able to distinguish
between what is exaggerated and what is accurate in the depiction of Greek life in movies.
Participants
The specific group I plan on studying is students that are young adults. I plan on
studying high school students from the local high school around the Farmville, VA area and
students that are currently enrolled at Longwood University. I will focus on young adults
ages 16-24. Since I will be studying such a broad group of people, I will focus on other
aspects of each individual like whether they have friends in a Greek organization, race, sex,
age, and the number of college based movies they have seen. This group of people has been
chosen in conducting this research because this age group is the most effected by the
depictions of college fraternities and sororities. Because of the participants age, they will be
most likely to encounter fraternities and sororities in their near future or will have already
been exposed to Greek life in school now.
Procedure
In completing this research, I will conduct an online survey. A survey is a
questionnaire that shows identity self-reported behaviors and practices (N. T. Johnson,
personal communication, October 26,2012). Surveys help the researcher identify attitudes
and beliefs and collect data that can be used to describe, compare, or explain knowledge,
attitudes, or behavior. The purpose of asking questions in survey form is to produce
comparable information across many people so that data gathered can be generalized
(Keyton, 2011).
For my survey, the questions will be focused around the perceptions and views that
a viewer of college-life movie has on fraternities and sororities (see appendix A). My topic
areas will be belief that “reel” college matches real college, perception of fraternities and
sororities, and the movies the young adults view.
In analyzing H1, perceptions from young adults who view a lot of college-based films
will be that fraternities and sororities party, have sex, and don’t care about academics, the
independent variable will be the amount of college-based films. The dependent variable is
the perception that fraternities and sororities just party, have sex, and don’t care about
academics. The independent variable will be generalized by specifying that viewing a lot of
college-based films deem the participant to be a heavy viewer, which will count as having
seen five college-life movies from the list provided.
I plan to use the correlation statistical test. According to Keyton (2011), correlation
is, “a statistical test that describes the type of relationship between two continuous
variables.” Correlation tests are used to determine if there is a relationship between two
variables. In my test, I am predicting that as the amount of college-life movies viewed
increases, the belief that the Greek organizations function on the themes of sex and
partying will also increase.
The correlation test will help to identify the accuracy of my hypothesis because it
compares variables and determines whether or not they are related. Since I am
investigating whether viewing college-life movies directly relates or influences perceptions
of Greek organizations, correlation is appropriate.
Conclusion
This study will determine if the themes and ideologies of Greek students in collegebased movies influence the perceptions that young adults have of Greek students in reality.
This study will use quantitative research with correlation tests to determine if a
relationship exists between the films and the perceptions that viewers form. This research
will benefit the Greek community because it will help determine where the stereotypes that
often define people’s perceptions of fraternities and sororities originate and could lead to
further research on how to counter such perceptions. I plan to determine if the ideologies
depicted in film can effect a viewer’s perception on a particular group of people.
Bibliography
CBSNews. (2010, January 20). Youths spend 7 hours/day consuming media. Retrieved from
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500398_162-6120342.html
Chia, S. C., & Lee, W. (2008). Pluralistic ignorance about sex: the direct and the indirect
effects of media consumption on college students’ misperception of sex-related peer norms.
International Journal Of Public Opinion Research, 20(1), 52-73. doi:10.1093/ijpor/edn005
Keyton, J. (2011). Communication research: Asking questions, finding answers (3rd ed.).
Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Marron, H., & Collins, S. (2009). Mass media consumption and the sexual attitudes and
behaviors of young. Florida Communication Journal, 37(2), 55-70.
Portlock, L. (2012). Real college vs. reel college: The Influence Media Has on Students’
Perceptions of College Life
Ralph E. Hanson. (2010) Mass Communication: Living in a Media World, third edition. CQ
Press; ISBN 978-1-60426-600-9
Rosenberry, J., & Vicker, L. (2008). Applied Mass Communication Theory: A Guide for Media
Practitioners. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Stern, S. R. (2005). Messages from teens on the big screen: smoking, drinking, and drug use
in teen-centered films. Journal Of Health Communication, 10(4), 331-346.
doi:10.1080/10810730590950057
Tucciarone, K. M. (2007). Cinematic college: “National Lampoon's Animal House” teaches
theories of student development. College Student Journal, 41(4), 843-858.
US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration. (2011). Results from the 2010 national survey on drug use and health:
Summary of national findings. Retrieved from website:
http://www.samhsa.gov/data/nsduh/2k10nsduh/2k10results.htm
Appendix A
The questions contained in the survey will be focused around the perceptions and views
that a viewer of college-life movie has on fraternities and sororities.
1. I believe that fraternities and sororities function mainly on a social basis.
Strongly Agree__ Agree__ Neutral__ Disagree__ Strongly Disagree__
This question will help me operationalize the dependent variable by gauging what the
survey taker believes
to be the purpose of fraternities and sororities.
2. I believe that college-based movies show accurate depictions of real fraternities
and sororities.
Strongly Agree__ Agree__ Neutral__ Disagree__ Strongly Disagree__
This question operationalizes the dependent variable by giving me evidence of how “real”
the college life movies appear to be to their viewers.