Are Introverts invisible? A Textual Analysis of how the Disney and Nickelodeon Teen Sitcoms Reflect the Extrovert Ideal

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Are Introverts invisible? A Textual Analysis of how the Disney and Are Introverts invisible? A Textual Analysis of how the Disney and

Nickelodeon Teen Sitcoms Re=ect the Extrovert Ideal Nickelodeon Teen Sitcoms Re=ect the Extrovert Ideal

YUXI ZHOU

Syracuse University

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Abstract

In 2012, Susan Cain published a nonfiction book: Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That

Can’t Stop Talking, in which she claimed that the modern western society was dominated by the

Extrovert Ideal and it led to “a colossal waste of talent, energy, and happiness” (Cain, 2012,

p.12). The concept of Extrovert Idea, according to her, is the “omnipresent belief that the ideal

self is gregarious, alpha and comfortable in the spotlight” (Cain, 2012, p.4). Other psychologists

and cultural historians also mentioned this cultural ideal, stating that it changed how people

teach, how people work, how people interact with each other, and how people perceive

themselves. Cain noticed a change in the characters portrayed in teen sitcoms: they are not the

“children next door” of the 1980s; instead, they are rock stars and celebrities with extremely

extroverted personalities. Inspired by Cain’s observation, the researcher chose Disney and

Nickelodeon to explore how the teen sitcoms produced by “the big two” reflect the Extrovert

Ideal. Textual analysis of four popular teen sitcoms in the past ten years was conducted.

Representation of both extroverted characters and introverted characters and the power relation

between the two were analyzed.

Keywords: Personality, the Extrovert Ideal, representation, stereotypes, symbolic

annihilation, Teen sitcoms, Disney, Nickelodeon

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ARE INTROVERTS INVISIBLE? A TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF HOW THE DISNEY

AND NICKELODEON TEEN SITCOMS REFLECT THE EXTROVERT IDEAL

YuXi Zhou

BSSc(Hons)., Hong Kong Baptist University, 2010

Thesis

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master’s of Arts in Media Studies

Syracuse University

June 2017

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the faculties and my colleagues in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public

Communications, especially Prof. Anne Osborne, my advisor, who gave me enormous advice

and encouragement during my last year of study in the Media Studies program. I’d also like to

thank Prof. Carol Liebler, my defense chair, who helped me grow into a serious communication

researcher, and took care of all of us Chinese master’s students. You gave us so much love and I

wish I could treat my future students like you, if I ever become a professor. Thanks, too, to my

committee members, Prof. Robert Thompson, for his precious time and insight into the American

TV culture. Professor Charisse L’Pree, thank you for your guidance from a psychological

viewpoint. Moreover, thanks to every faculty and staff member in Newhouse, who offered me

help and support. I’m grateful that I got to know my dear friends here, Harry, Jane, Neil, Anne,

Ryan and Li, with whom I shared hot pot many times, lots of laughs, tears, hard work and

memories. Thanks to my family, whom I missed, and who didn’t really understand what I’m

studying, yet still gave me lots of support and love. Finally, thanks to my boyfriend, Tom

Underwood, who supported me on my worst days, and always encouraged me to achieve my

goals and dreams. I love all of you. And I know that I’ll miss the days studying in Syracuse.

Thanks.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

Chapter 2: Literature Review 6

Extroversion and Introversion 6

The Rise of the Extrovert Ideal 14

Media Representation, Symbolic Annihilation and Stereotypes 17

Teen Sitcoms in the World of Disney and Nickelodeon 23

Chapter 3: Methodology 29

Data Collection 29

Data Analysis 31

Researcher’s Role 37

Chapter 4: Results 40

Storyline of the Selected Teen Sitcoms 40

TV introversion 43

Introverts in an Extroverted World 51

The Nerd versus the Clown 59

Responsibility 68

Popularity 78

Chapter 5: Conclusion 91

Appendix: List of Episodes 103

Reference 104

Curriculum Vitae 122

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List of Tables

Table 1………………………………………………………………………………………….33

Table 2………………………………………………………………………………………….44

Table 3………………………………………………………………………………………….45

Table 4………………………………………………………………………………………….46

Table 5………………………………………………………………………………………….47

Chapter 1: Introduction

“…We watch TV shows whose protagonists are not the “children next door,” like the Cindy

Bradys and Beaver Cleavers of yesteryear, but rock stars and webcast hostesses with outsized

personalities, like Hannah Montana and Carly Shay of iCarly.”

(Cain, 2012, p. 6)

In 2012, Susan Cain published her book Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that

Can’t Stop Talking. In her book, she argued that there is a misunderstanding of the traits and

capabilities of introverted people in the U.S. Extroverts are perceived as smarter, more popular,

more interesting and more desirable as friends while introverts are perceived as shy, boring and

misanthropic. However, it would be reductionist to regard introversion as shy, reserved and

asocial. Introverts and extroverts differ in how they communicate, learn, and behave under

different situations (Ashton, Lee & Paunounen, 2002). There has been much misunderstanding

and casual labeling of individuals in terms of their personality. Both personality types have their

own advantages and disadvantages and it would be reductionist to judge which one is a better

personality.

Cain observed that there’s a preference for extroverted people over introverted people in

the workplace, school, family and relationships. Since at least one-third of Americans identify as

introverts, this tendency leads to “a colossal waste of talent, energy and happiness” (Cain, 2012,

p. 12). The American society, according to Cain, is promoting the Extrovert Ideal, which is “the

belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight” (Cain, 2012, p.4).

This culture ideal manifests itself on different levels. It changes how people interact with each

other and how people behave under different social circumstances such as the workplace, family,

school, job interviews, and romantic situations (Cain, 2012; Susman, 1984). Cain claims that this

ideology makes a lot of introverts feel pressure to pretend to be extroverts in order to succeed.

Cain decries that this has turned into an oppressive standard to which most people feel they must

conform (Cain, 2012, p.4).

From a social cognitive perspective, people learn from three aspects: personal,

environmental and behavioral (Bandura, 1989). Environmental influence is crucial in the

function of the personality system (McCrae & Costa, 1992). Individuals’ personalities, skills,

values, attitudes and identities evolve under a certain environment (McCrae, Costa, Ostendorf,

Angleitner & Smith, 2000). From a personality psychology perspective, genetic influence on

personality is in the range of 40% to 50 %, however, personality is also influenced by one’s

experience and environment (Bouchard & Loehlin, 2001; Bouchard, 2004; Emde & Hewitt,

2001). Since television can be considered as one of the environmental factors, the ideology or the

value it transmits plays a crucial role in individual’s personality development. Numerous studies

have stated that television, as a mass communication tool, has a large impact on children’s

development (Berry & Mitchell-Kernan, 1982; Bandura, 1989; Vittrup & Holden, 2010).

Children observe and imitate the role models presented by television (Bandura, 1963). Thus, it is

important to have characters with diverse personalities when creating media content and it is also

important to examine what role models we are offering to the young audiences.

Cain stated that in the past few decades, there has been a change in the type of characters

portrayed in teen programs. Most characters have overtly extroverted personalities that make

them popular and successful. On the other hand, introverted characters are sometimes portrayed

as socially awkward and undesirable. She pointed out this kind of representation has dominated

the teen programs for a while (Cain, 2012, p. 6).

Since teen sitcoms are an important aspect of teen programs and teen culture, moreover,

Disney and Nickelodeon are “the Big Two” when it comes to producing children’s and teens’

TV, the researcher chose teen sitcoms produced by Disney and Nickelodeon to examine Cain’s

statement (Greene, 2012). The teen sitcoms are situation comedies targeted exclusively toward

tweens and teens. The main characters are usually teenagers 12 to 18 years old and they routinely

deal with things happening between family, friends and school and are usually involved in a

coming-of-age situation, such as learning how to drive, first date and school dance, sometimes

the plotline centers on social issues such as peer pressure and bullying (Davis & Dickinson,

2004; Greene, 2012).

Teen sitcoms have not received much attention for discussion as a separate genre.

Nevertheless, they are subgenre of situation comedies. Thus they can inherit many characteristics

of the sitcom genre and receive similar criticism. American sitcom has been criticized for its

symbolic annihilation and stereotypical representation of people from the minority group

(Anderson & Jolly, 1977). Symbolic annihilation is defined as the media’s underrepresentation

or near total absent representation of certain groups of less powerful members of the society

(Gerbner, 1978; Tuchman, 1978). Representation in the media gives a group of people their

identity (Gerbner & Gross, 1976; Evans, Hall & Nixon, 2012). The absence of representation

serves as a form of gentle violence and often reflects the biases and interests of people who

define the social agenda (Bourdieu, 2001; Gross, 1994; Venzo & Hess, 2013). When minority

groups get represented in the media, however, their representation can be stereotypical.

Stereotypes reduce a group of people into a few traits and stereotypical representations of

minority groups are often exaggerated and distorted (Evans, Hall & Nixon, 2012). Both positive

and negative stereotypes can be harmful since they tend to reflect the social perception rather

than the truth, which in return influences how individuals from the minority group define

themselves or how people treat them (Jones, 1997; Mastro, 2009; Sue & Kitano, 1973).

According to Stuart Hall, representation of a certain population cues the audiences to take certain

ideological positions (Hall, 1988). Representation does not merely reflect the reality, but it

creates reality. As a result, symbolic annihilation or stereotypical representation could render

minority groups powerless and reinforce social hierarchy.

There have been observations and critics that introverted characters are symbolically

annihilated and stereotypically portrayed in media (Cain, 2012; Wolf, 2016). Cain observed that

the extroverts have dominated teen programs and the content of teen programs reflect Extrovert

Ideal. However, Cain’s statement is merely based on observation and there hasn’t been formal

research focusing on the representation of extroverts and introverts on media. Inspired by Cain’s

statement, the purpose of this study is to examine whether and how the Extrovert Ideal exists in

the American teen sitcoms by analyzing the representation of both extroverted and introverted

characters and examining the power relationship between the two using textual analysis.

In the exploration of the Extrovert Ideal in Disney and Nickelodeon teen sitcoms, this

thesis addresses the following research questions:

RQ1: how are the extroverted characters and introverted characters represented in the Disney

and Nickelodeon teen sitcoms?

RQ1a: Do representations of extroverts and introverts vary by race, gender and

ethnicity?

RQ2: Are the extroverted characters more preferable compared with introverted characters in the

Disney and Nickelodeon teen sitcoms? If so, how?

The following chapter delves further into the study of extroversion and introversion. It

helps us to better understand teen sitcoms and the Extrovert Ideal from a culture standpoint.

Chapter 3 will include a description of the methodology employed for this study.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

By analyzing the representation of extroverted and introverted characters, as well as the

power relations between the two, this study examines whether the Extrovert Ideal is promoted in

the Disney and Nickelodeon teen sitcoms and how it is reflected in these teen sitcoms. Moreover,

the researcher looks at how extroversion and introversion interplays with gender, race and

ethnicity in order give a deeper analysis of this culture phenomenon.

This chapter addresses the key concepts and literature for this study. First, the researcher

explains in detail the theory of personality and extroversion/introversion. Next, the rise of

Extrovert Ideal is discussed. Then the researcher discusses media representation, stereotypes and

symbolic annihilation, which is the theoretical foundation for this thesis. Last, this chapter

introduces teen television and teen sitcom, and explains why the researcher chose this specific

genre to explore the representation of extroverted and introverted characters.

Extroversion and Introversion

Carl Jung is the first person to define extroversion/introversion from a psychological

perspective (Boroujeni, Roohani & Hasanimanesh, 2015; Jung, 1921). According to Jung,

extroversion is defined as a personality type characterized by the concentration of interest on the

outside world. Introversion is defined as an attitude type characterized by focusing on one’s

inner psychic activity (Jung, 1995). Jung suggested that each person has two sides—an

extroverted side and introverted side—and one side is more dominant than the other side (Jung,

1995). The difference between Jung’s definition and the modern view is that Jungian extroverts

and introverts differ in their perspectives of the world, whereas contemporary researchers tend to

define extroversion and introversion from the trait approach. According to Burger, a trait is “a

dimension of personality used to categorize people according to the degree to which they

manifest a particular characteristic” (Burger, 2014, p.153). Thompson described extroverts as

outgoing, talkative, energetic, while introvert individuals have a more reserved manner

(Thompson, 2008). Burger defined extroverts as “very sociable people who also tend to be

energetic, optimistic, friendly and assertive” (Burger, 2014, p. 163).

Extroversion/introversion is an important dimension of personality, which will be

discussed in the later section. Personality is defined as the set of psychological traits and

intrapersonal processes that are organized and relatively consistent. It influences how the

individual interacts and adapts to the intrapsychic, physical and social environment (Burger,

2014; Larsen & Buss, 2014). Personality shows moderate genetic influence. Research shows that

the genetic influence on personality is in the range of 40% to 50% (Bouchard & Loehlin, 2001;

Bouchard, 2004). Previous studies show that personality is relatively consistent over situation

and enduring, especially after one reaches adulthood. Childhood personality at age three tends to

be a good predictor of adult personality at age 26 (Caspi, Harringon, et al., 2003; Burger, 2014;

Larsen & Buss, 2014). However, it can also be inconsistent under extreme circumstances when

the situation overpowers the expression of psychological traits (Burger, 2014).

The consistency of personality does not preclude the possibility that personality can

develop depending on the individual’s environment (Emde & Hewitt, 2001). Personality

development is defined as “the continuities, consistencies, and stabilities in people over time and

the ways in which people change over time” (Larson & Buss, 2012, p.126). Personality

researchers hypothesized there might be a law of universal personality development among

different cultures. Longitudinal studies that studied American teenagers found that as they

matured, the level of achievement (related to conscientiousness) increases, and the level of

sociability (related to extroversion) and absorption (related to openness to experiences) decreases

too (Mortimer, Finch & Kumka, 2982; Jessor 1983; McDue, Bacon & Lykken, 1993; McCrae et

al. 2000). The changes were seen as socially desirable. It indicates that personality development

is shaped by social environment, and people who live in different cultures might have different

ways of personality development.

Psychologists and researchers who studied adult personality also debated over various

taxonomies of personality traits. Today the five-factor model (FFM), or the Big Five, is widely

accepted (McCrae & Costa, 1997; Gurven, von Rueden, Massenkoff & Lero Vie, 2013). The

five-factor model outlines five “dimensions of individual differences in tendencies to show

consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings, and actions” (McCrae & Costa, 1990, p. 29).

Extroversion is one of the five dimensions of personality, the other four include Agreeableness,

Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience (Digman, 1990, 1996; Goldberg,

1990; McCrae & Costa, 1990, p.23; McCrae& John, 1992). These five factors of personality are

called “the Big Five”.

There has been an explosion of research on the five-factor model in the last 25 years. The

model has both advocates and critics (Larson & Buss, 2012). For example, there have been

debates over the definition of the five factors. It has been argued that these five factors may only

represent five dimensions built into English language (Burger, 2014). However, McCrae

examined the personality structure among people who speak languages other than English and

found that, although there were a few exceptions, the FFM appears to be universal (McCrae et

al., 2004, 2005a, 2005b). There were other critics in regards to the structure of the FFM or the

stability of the model over time. However, the researcher chose the Big Five Model despite these

criticisms based on two reasons. First of all, research results using the FFM are fruitful and the

FFM is stable, pervasive and universal (McCrae & John, 1992; McCrae & John, 1998, p. 177;

McCrae et al., 1990; McCrae et al., 2005; Gurven, von Rueden, Massenkoff & Lero Vie, 2013).

Secondly, the FFM has proven useful in both self-assessment and psychology research:

The FFM model could provide a common language for psychologists from

different traditions, a basic phenomenon for personality theorists to explain, a

natural framework for organizing research, and a guide to the comprehensive

assessment of individuals that should be of value to educational,

industrial/organizational, and clinical psychologists (McCrae & John, 1998, p.

177).

To better evaluate the FFM, McCrae and Costa developed the Neuroticism - Extraversion

- Openness Personality Inventory Revised (NEO-PI-R) in the 1980s to measure personality

(Costa & McCrae, 1989). The NEO-PI-R consists of 36 sentence-length items for each

dimension, 180 items altogether. The Neuroticism- Extraversion- Openness Five- Factor

Inventory-3 (NEO-FFI-3) is a shortened and updated version of the NEO PI-R proposed by

McCrae & Costa, which contains only 12 statements for a single dimension. It provides a quick

and accurate measure of the five dimensions of personality (Costa & McCrae, 1989). The two-

week retest reliability of NEO-FFI ranges from 0.86 to 0.90 for the five scales and internal

consistency ranges from 0.68 to 0.86 (McCrae & Costa, 2003; McCrae & Costa, 1992). The

dimension of extroversion contains 12 statements such as: “I laugh easily” or “I really enjoy

talking to people”. The instrument uses a five-point Likert scale. The NEO-FFI-3 has been

translated into different languages and shown consistency and validity in a number of different

cultures (McCrae & Costa, 1992). It is one of the most widely used measures of the Five-Factor

Model of personality (McCrae & Costa, 2003).

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The current research uses this NEO-FFI-3 to measure extroversion since this research

employs understanding of the Five - Factor model. This model is usually used in an academic

setting (Burger, 2014). In this model, extroversion consists of six dimensions: warmth,

gregariousness, assertiveness, activity, excitement-seeking, and positive emotions. Extroverts

display a higher degree of sociability, assertiveness and talkativeness (McCrae & Costa, 1992).

Extroverts and introverts differ in the way they react to social attention (Ashton, Lee &

Paunonen, 2002). As Cain puts it, introverts “feel at their most alive, their most switched-on and

their most capable when they’re in quieter, more low-key environments” while extroverts do not

(Cain, 2012, p.11). Extroverted people enjoy interacting with a big group, and are often

perceived as energetic. They are talkative, assertive, enthusiastic, risk-taking and action-oriented

individuals (Ashton, Lee & Paunonen, 2002; Lajunen, 2001). On the contrary, introverts

recharge when they are alone. They are less likely to engage in social situation and have lower

energy levels (McCrae & Costa, 1992). People perceive them as quiet, and they tend to prefer

thinking than acting. Moreover, extroverts have tendencies toward assertiveness and even

domination. They seek excitement and tend to experience positive emotions such as happiness,

cheerfulness and warmth more often (McCrae & John, 1998; Fleeson, Malanos, & Achille,

2002).

Previous studies tend to imply that extroversion is a better personality type and people

who are more extroverted are happier and wealthier (Ching, Church & Katigbak et al, 2014;

DiNardo, 2003; Fleeson, 2011; Keirsey Research Study, 2010; Trombley, 2013). Extroverts have

a greater impact on their social environment while introverts tend to be more reserved and more

like wallflowers (Jensen-Campbell & Graziano, 2001). In terms of romantic relationships,

extroverted men tend to be bolder with women they don’t know than introverted men (Berry &

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Miller, 2001). In regards to learning style, students who are extroverted tend to interact more

during class. Introverted students tend to hold back and think before speaking (Komarraju,

Karau, Schmeck & Avdic, 2011; Sternberg & Zhang, 2001; Zhang, 2003). Studies suggest that

introverted people can benefit from acting more extroverted, especially for introverts who are

depressed. Acting extroverted makes people feel happier and don’t experience cognitive

depletion. On the other hand, extroverted participants acting introverted leads to cognitive

depletion (Zelenski, Santoro & Whelan, 2012). Cross-cultural studies done using McCrae &

Costa’s inventory also have fruitful results (Ellis, Abrams & Abrams, 2009; Fleeson, Malanos &

Achille, 2002). American culture scores higher on Extroversion than Asian culture, which means

that people from American culture tend to be more extroverted than people from Asian culture

(Allik & McCrae, 2004; McCrae & Terracciano，2005).

Although extroversion and introversion are psychology terms, the concepts are often used

in daily life by casually labeling individuals based on observation of behavior. This can lead to

many misperceptions of extroversion and introversion. One common misperception is that

introversion equals shyness. However, the concept of shyness is different from introversion.

According to American Psychological Association, shyness is “the tendency to feel awkward,

worried, or tense during social encounters, especially with unfamiliar people and situation”

(American Psychological Association, 2009). Most people can experience shyness occasionally,

regardless of their level of extroversion (Briggs, 1988). Extroversion and introversion, on the

other hand, are higher-level personality traits (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1968; Eysenck & Eysenck,

1969; Briggs, 1984; Johnes, Biggs, & Smith, 1986; Briggs, 1988). Eysenck and Eysenck

advocated a hierarchical personality model in which there are three levels of personality traits.

Extroversion/introversion is on the highest and most complex level and it contains many

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subordinate traits. Shyness might be a lower level factor that contributes to

extroversion/introversion and neuroticism (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1968; Eysenck & Eysenck,

1969; Briggs, 1984; Johnes, Biggs, & Smith, 1986; Briggs, 1988). Yet when looking at the most

widely used measures for introversion or neuroticism, the FMM model for example, the

questions asked are not related to shyness directly (Briggs, 1988).

A second misperception of introverts is that they are often perceived as asocial (Gregoire,

2013). It is true that extroverts are more engaging and expressive, while introverts are more

retiring and reticent in social situation (McCrae & John, 1998; Nelson & Throne, 2012).

Moreover, extroverts tend to have larger social networks than introverts (Bolger & Eckenrode,

1992; Swickert, Rosentreter, Hitter & Mushrush, 2002; Roberts, Dunbar & Pollet, 2011). This

does not mean that introverts don’t need to socialize and don’t know how to social with other

people. Research has shown that extroverts and introverts simply have different ways to form

new relationships (Nelson & Throne, 2012). Introverts tend to make friends more slowly than

extroverts and extroverts tend to befriend others in a sudden and immediate manner. Nelson and

Throne stated: “Analogously, if friendship formation were like entering a swimming pool, entry

with an extroverted partner would feel like jumping in, whereas entry with an introverted partner

would feel like dipping one's toes into the water and slowly becoming immersed” (Nelson &

Throne, 2012). Even though extroverts form new friendships faster than introverts, there’s no

significant evidence that their networks have higher quality and emotional closeness than

introverts’ (Roberts, Dunbar & Pollet, 2011).

A third misperception is that extroversion is a better personality in the workplace

(Ancowitz, 2005; Garrison et al., 2006; Cain, 2012; Kello, 2012). Previous research found that

people tend to perceive extroverts as more competent and as having more ideas and better insight

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than introverts. Employers are likely to hire overconfident, vocal individuals as leaders (Paulhus

& Morgan, 1997; Taager & Hackew & Saha, 1999; Swann & Rentfrow, 2001; Anderson &

Kilduff, 2009; Premuzic, 2013). Creative jobs such as graphic design require the employee to

have an extroverted personality sometimes. “You have to be outgoing, fun, and jazzed up to

work here,” said one of Cain’s interviewee who worked in a major media company (Cain, 2012).

According to the Wharton Program for Working Professionals Report, it is better to be

extroverted than introverted to survive and have a successful career in the business world

(Zemke, 1992; Garrison et al., 2006). Despite these claims, there’s no direct connection between

someone’s personality and their performance (Judge, Bono, Ilies & Gerhardt, 2002). The truth is

that extroverts and introverts have different working and leadership style. Extroverts are more

verbal with their ideas and emotions, and enjoy working in a social workspace while introverts

might prefer spending time in a quiet workplace reflecting on decisions. Extroverts often enjoy

multi-tasking while introverts prefer to work on one task at a time (Garrison et al., 2006;

Huhman, 2014). As a leader, extroverts are more people oriented and may prefer to collaborate

with other people while introverts might struggle with extroverted activities such as small talk or

making a presentation, however, they are more aware of what is going on inside the team and

pay more attention to details. Introverted leaders can be reflective and analytical (Gosling, Jones

& Sutherland, 2012).

In a nutshell, even though according to Jung, McCrae and Costa’s definition there’s no

indication of which personality is better, studies tend to imply that extroversion is a better

personality type and people who are more extroverted are happier and wealthier (Ching, Church

& Katigbak et al, 2014; DiNardo, 2003; Fleeson, 2011; Keirsey Research Study, 2010;

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Trombley, 2013). People also tend to perceive extroversion as a better personality than

introversion. How did this happen?

The Rise of the Extrovert Ideal

In the book Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, Cain

argues that there’s a preference toward extroversion over introversion in the American society

(Cain, 2012). She defines this phenomenon as the Extrovert Ideal, which is the “omnipresent

belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha and comfortable in front of the spotlight” (Cain,

2012, p. 4). Although Susan Cain is the first person that defined the phenomenon, other scholars

from different areas of study have different observations on this matter as well. Jung notes that

there is a cultural preference for extroversion even though he resisted placing a value judgment

when defining extroversion and introversion (Garrison et al., 2006). Psychotherapist Laney finds

that modern dictionaries depict extroversion as the more favorable of the two personality types.

“Words used to describe extroverts include ‘friendly’ and ‘uninhibited,’ while introverts are

characterized by a ‘lack of sociability’ and ‘passiveness’” (Laney, 2002). Sloan states that

extroversion is a better personality for modern society: “An active, extroverted, gregarious

temperament inclines a person towards the exciting pace of modern lifestyle” (Sloan, 1996).

Cultural historian Warren Susman, alongside with other researchers, suggested that the

reason for the rise of Extrovert Ideal is the cultural shift from a Culture of Character to a Culture

of Personality starting from late 19

century and to the early 20

century in America (Bledstein,

1976; Susman, 1984; Coben, 1991; Nicholson, 1998). Character means “the nature of the

internal qualities of an individual”(Nicholson, 1998). Most cultural historians agreed that in the

Culture of Character, one should be serious, disciplined and honored (Susman, 1984; Nicholson,

1998). An ideal example would be missionaries who possess the traits of brave, virtuous, hard

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working, kind and self-sacrificing. In the Victorian American mind, they were the role models of

ideal selfhood (Nicholson, 1998). The concept of character is essential to maintain social order.

Susman claimed “it provided a method of presenting the self to society, offering a standard of

conduct that assured interrelationship between the social and the moral” (Susman, 1984).

Cultural products such as literature, popular music, art produced during the century also

reinforced the importance of character (Susman, 1984).

In the Culture of Personality, however, a new kind of selfhood dominated the American

social landscape. One should be confident, aggressive, unique and entertaining in order to

succeed in life (Susman, 1984; Nicholson, 1998). People started to concentrate on making unique

impressions because “the first clue to understanding others lies in the perception of their

uniqueness” (Allport, 1930, p.58). This indicated that being moral and virtuous is not enough

anymore. Instead, one needs to make oneself stand out in front of a crowd (Susman, 1984). The

Culture of Personality encourages people to be fascinating, attractive, magnetic, masterful,

creative, dominant and forceful, which is reflected in cultural products such as literature (Ceraldi,

2014). Postman pointed out that in the twentieth century, the whole nation has transformed into a

show business. In addition, as Postman put it: “American God favors all those who possess both

a talent and a format to amuse” (Postman, 1986). As a result, in this Culture of Personality, the

hard working, stable, morally grounded “man of character” disappeared in American culture, and

everybody became a performing self.

The cultural shift should not be seen as an isolated event but the outcome of a series of

historical events and thoughts. With the Reformation in the European world, the new capitalist

order, and the growing system of nation-states, people started to shift their “center of gravity of

consciousness from the cosmos around him into the personal human being himself” (Barfield,

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1954, p.171). It became more difficult to feel connected to the spiritual world as the rituals of the

external church grew feebler, and the inner self grew stronger. People became more

individualistic and self-conscious to control their own behavior and destiny (Fukuyama, 1999).

As a result, there was a growing interest in personality after World War I (Cohen, 1983; Susman,

1983; Nicholson, 1998). Another force behind this transformation of culture is the

industrialization of America (Nicholson, 1998; Cain, 2012). The whole nation developed quickly

from an agricultural society to an industrialized society. The economy increasingly moved

towards service and away from industry. People moved from the countryside to the city to pursue

a better life and they no longer lived and socialized with their neighbors as they used to, instead

they socialized with strangers (Susman, 1984). In the world of business, people no longer judged

others by the old family feuds but by the first impression they made (Marchand, 1985). Thus,

becoming charming, extroverted and knowing how to sell oneself became very crucial in order to

succeed in one’s career and life.

This cultural shift affects every aspect of Americans’ lives. According to Cain, it changes

who Americans admire, how they act in different situations such as job interviews, courting of

future spouse, and raising children (Cain, 2012). The increase in family mobility in the 20th

century led to increased extroversion in children and adolescents since they needed to learn how

to interact with different people (Whyte, 1956; Packard, 1972). Sending children to daycare

became more common which had a similar effect (Twenge, 2001). In addition, the philosophy of

raising children changed. Child raising became more permissive where children are allowed to

speak their minds. The idea that shyness could lead to dire outcomes and an outgoing personality

will lead to social and financial success was reinforced by everything from self-guidance books

to advertising to child guidance experts (Riesman, Gitlin, Denney & Glazer, 2001). Whyte

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argues that Baby Boom children were encouraged to be outgoing and extroverted by their parents

and teachers in order to prepare them for a new, service oriented economy (Whyte, 1956;

Twenge, 2001). However, in a recent article from the Atlantic, Michael Godsey criticized the

U.S school system again for praising “collaborative learning.” He pointed out that certain

instructional trends such as collaborative learning and project-based learning and flipped

classrooms are applied often and as a result the needs of introverts are neglected (Godsey, 2015).

This teaching method utilizes the power of communication and practice to enhance the learning

outcome of all students, yet the fact that it embraces extroverted behavior makes it one-sided. As

Cain concluded in her book, in a nation that has at least one-third of people as introverts, this

leads to a colossal of waste of talent (Cain, 2012).

Media Representation, Symbolic Annihilation and Stereotypes

Media provide a good forum to examine if and how the extrovert ideal through cultural

product since it often reflects social values (Anderson & Jolly, 1977). Cain, Wolf and Chow

observed and criticized about the underrepresentation and stereotypical representation of

introverted people across different TV series (Cain, 2012; Chow, 2015; Wolf, 2016). However,

there is no formal research about how exactly are extroverted and introverted characters are

represented.

Media have been accused of underrepresentation, negative or stereotypical representation

of many groups based on characteristics such as gender, age, race, ethnicity, body weight and

sexuality (Aubrey & Bryant & Oliver, 2009; Harrison, 2004; Harwood & Anderson, 2002; Stern,

2005; Coltraine & Messineo, 2000; Harwood & Anderson, 2002; Klein & Shiffman, 2005).

Gerbner, Tuchman and Bourdieu stated that people of the minority group are often rendered as

18!

invisible in media (Bazzini, McIntosh, Smith, Cook, & Harris, 1997; Bourdieu, 2001; Gerbner,

1978; Lauzen & Dozier, 2005; Tuchman, 1978).

The media’s underrepresentation or near total absent representation of certain groups of

less powerful members of the society is defined as symbolic annihilation (Gerbner, 1978;

Tuchman, 1978). According to Gerbner and Gross, “representation in the fiction world signifies

social existence; absence means symbolic annihilation” (Gerbner & Gross, 1976, p.183).

Representation gives a group of people their public identity. It shows that this group of people is

relevant and important to the society (Evans, Hall & Nixon, 2012). Bourdieu states that near total

absent media representation of a group could be a form of “gentle violence” which disregards

that group’s legitimacy of existence and identity (Bourdieu, 2001). Ultimately, this lack of

recognition and representation could render these groups powerless and reinforce social

hierarchy (Gerbner, 1978; Tuchman, 1978).

Tuchman used the theory to define the representation of women in mass media. They

claim that women are symbolically annihilated in media coverage though women consist of 51%

the population in the United States (Tuchman, 1978). The term was later extended to analyze

minority race, ethnicity, and sexuality in mediated representation (Gerbner, 1978). For example,

Klein and Shiffman studied socially disenfranchised groups in children’s animated cartoons from

the 1930s to 1990s. They found that as time passed by, the representation of African Americans,

Latinos, Native Americans and Asians decreased and stayed underrepresented from the 1960s

onward. African Americans were underrepresented, as they comprised 3.6% of the characters

while they comprised 10.8% of the American population; Latinos (1.8%), Asians and Native

Americans (1%) were also underrepresented, as they comprised 4.6%, 1.1% and 0.4% of the

population in America. In regards to age, older adult characters only comprised 3.1% of the

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characters in animated cartoons while they comprised 9.0% of the American population. They

are also more likely to be portrayed as good guys. In terms of sexual orientation, only 0.3% of

the characters were found to have sexual orientation other than heterosexual (Klein & Shiffman,

2009).

Tuchman divided symbolic annihilation into three aspects: omission, trivialization and

condemnation (Tuchman, 1978). This means that not only the quantity, but also the quality of

media representation is important as well (Osborne & Coombs, 2016). Tuchman argues that

when minority groups do obtain visibility in media, the manner of representation are often

trivialized and condemned, and reflects the interests of elites who define the public agenda

(Gross, 1992; Venzo & Hess, 2013). For example, even though women made up more than 40

percent of the workplace, representations of women in TV often condemned them for being

single or working outside of their home (Tuchman, 1978). Moreover, women are often

trivialized: they are often shown as more traditional (Bazzini et al., 1997; Bryant & Oliver,

2009). Their roles are restricted to the young, domestic, or sexual as well (Bryant & Oliver,

2009). Women are rendered as incompetent since they are depicted mostly as victims and not as

aggressors in violent scenes. Tuchman also studied the representation of women in print media

and he had similar findings: women are omitted and trivialized “through the banishment to

hearth and home” (Tuchman, 1981, p 183).

This trivialization and condemnation of minority groups in media lead to the concept of

stereotypes. The representation process that generalizes a group of people into a set of fixed,

essential, oversimplified characteristics is called stereotyping (Allport, 1979; Perse, 2001; Miller,

2011; Evans, Hall & Nixon, 2012). Stereotypes serve as a quick way for human beings to

understand the world (Lippmann, 1922; Dyer, 1984; Lee et al., 2008). They also serve as a way

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to justify the perpetuation of social dynamics (Crandall et al., 2011). By using stereotypes,

people are able to understand the world quickly, but this does not necessarily mean that this

understanding is correct or accurate. Since stereotypes reduce a group of people into a few traits,

simplifies and exaggerates them, the image of a group of people is distorted.

Most stereotypes reinforce negative perceptions such as that, African Americans have

low cognitive abilities or come from a low socioeconomic background (Mastro, 2009); Women

are bad at math (Spencer, Steele & Quinn, 1999). On the other hand, there are positive

stereotypes such as African American are athletic and musical as well as Asian Americans are

model minority can also be found in media (Cheryan & Monin, 2005). Positive stereotypes are

subjective beliefs favorable beliefs about social groups (Czopp, Kay & Cheryan, 2015).

Although they are intended or perceived as complementary, nevertheless, they can be harmful

since they tend to reflect the society’s perception rather than the truth (Mastro, 2009; Sue &

Kitano, 1973). Stereotypes become problematic when an individual treats other groups or other

individuals based on the stereotype these people have (Jones, 1997).

The consequence of stereotyping is two-fold. On a macro level, stereotypes can be used

to discriminate against people of the minority group and to maintain or reinforce social hierarchy

(Crandall et al., 2011; Hurh & Kim, 1989; Lippmann, 1922). Stereotyping deploys a strategy that

defines what is normal and acceptable (Evans, Hall & Nixon, 2012). It symbolically excludes

everything that is different from the norm. Thus, by constructing the “other”, stereotyping serves

to maintain social and symbolic order (Gerbner & Gross, 1976; Evans, Hall & Nixon, 2012).

Both positive and negative stereotypes are proven to be powerful to maintain and reinforce

inequality and social hierarchy. According to Czopp, Kay and Cheryan, positive stereotypes

offer a “still accepted means for members of dominant groups to funnel members of

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disadvantaged groups to domains they have traditionally occupied or to subtly communicate

what society expects of them” (Czopp, Kay & Cheryan, 2015，p.7). For example, positive

stereotypes of women as more pure, fragile and gentle than men are often used to direct women

to certain occupations and roles that “suit” women (Eagly & Mladinic, 1994). Stereotyping limits

women’s freedoms in terms of choice of career and their interests (Glick & Fiske, 2001).

Negative stereotypes such as women are not good in math or women are not as athletic as men

can impair women’s performance in academics and career and limit the potential women can

achieve (Spencer et al., 1999; Hively & El-Alayli, 2014). Thus, both positive and negative

stereotypes send out messages to their receiver about what is the norm and expectations the

society has, which limits individuals’ potential of achieving their own goals, and this in return

reinforced the status quo.

Stereotypes not only affect macro power dynamics, but individuals as well. According to

Lippmann, stereotypes inform attitudes and affect behavior. When someone views another

individual stereotypically, this perception informs the perceiver’s behavior and attitude towards

the other individual who is being stereotyped (Lippmann, 1922). Moreover, stereotypes can be

internalized and can have serious results on individuals. Research shows that when individuals

identify with a group with negative stereotypes, their level of cognitive/intellectual performance

decreased (Steele, 1997, Wicherts, Dolan, & Hessen, 2005). Thus, individuals who are exposed

to negative stereotypes tend to fail to reach their full potential (Steele et al., 2003).

When looking at how positive stereotypes affect individuals, the results of previous

studies are more complex. On one hand, endorsing positive stereotypes associated with one's

group can help an individual establish their value and identity, which can also be seen as a

coping strategy in response to the negative stereotypes associated with that group (Steele, James

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& Barnett, 2002). Positive stereotypes can also improve the negative effects of negative

stereotypes (Czopp, Kay & Cheryan, 2015). On the other hand, positive stereotypes can have

long-term negative consequences. Oyserman and Sakamoto found that the majority of Asian

American (52%) feel negative about being considered as “model minority” as they feel

marginalized while 26% of the Asian American endorsed positive stereotypes. However, the

Asian Americans who endorsed the stereotype were more likely to suffer from psychological

stress and negative attitudes in terms of seeking help from others (Gupta, Szymanski, & Leong,

2011 Oyserman & Sakamoto, 1997). Thus, although positive stereotypes can serve as an

immediate source of group pride and help individuals to define themselves, the consequence can

be harmful. People who consume both positive and negative stereotypes about themselves are

under the influence of stereotypes as they try to distant themselves from or live up to the

expectation, which in return, will reaffirm or reinforce the stereotypes and social hierarchy

(Merskin, 2009; Sinclair, Lowery & Hardin, 2006).

There are a few articles criticizing that introverts are stereotypically portrayed in the

media: the introverted characters are portrayed as extremely smart, which can be seen as a

positive portrayal, however, they are often mocked by other people because of their social

incompetence (Duca, 2013; Lais, 2013; Leon, 2014). Cain and Wolf also claim that introverted

characters are underrepresented in TV series (Cain, 2012; Wolf, 2016). Wolf comments that she

tried to find negative stereotypes about introverted characters but she had a hard time finding any

introverted characters. However, these are merely observations and there is no former research

done in this area. The concept of symbolic annihilation and stereotypes has the potential to be

applied to the representation of extroverted and introverted characters (Merskin, 2009; Sinclair,

Lowery & Hardin, 2006). If introverted 、ASDFGcharacters are being omitted, condemned and

23!

trivialized in the media, it could be problematic when in reality at least one-third of the

population in the United States identified themselves as introverts. This can potentially send out

a message to the audience that introverts are not as important and competent as extroverts and it

could render introversion as a second-class personality. Underrepresentation and stereotypical

representation of groups can potentially cultivate unrealistic beliefs about the groups. It can also

influence viewers’ identity and behavior, especially for young audiences (Bryant & Oliver, 2009;

Frueh & McGhee, 1975; McGhee & Frueh, 1980; Volgy & Schwarz, 1980).

Teenage years are a key time in one’s life to construct one’s identity and value (Garcia-

Munoz & Fedele, 2011). Teenagers usually turn to role models such as someone from family,

peers and school, but they can also turn to people found in media. Thus, it is important to

examine the role model provided in media consumed by the teenagers since media can

perpetuate beliefs, stereotypes and value among audiences (Gerbner et al., 2002). Teen sitcoms

are chosen for this research since they are an important part of teen programming, and an

important source of information for young audiences, which the researcher will discuss further in

the following section.

Teen Sitcoms in the World of Disney and Nickelodeon

One can understand the concept of teen sitcoms literally: teen sitcom is a subgenre of

situation comedy that is produced by adults and consumed by teens and tweens (Greene, 2012).

Though the package of teen TV is different, the common themes in these programs remain the

same, such as personal acceptance, love and friendship (Garcia-Munoz & Fedele, 2011). Even

though each teen sitcom has different settings and different characters, the primary plotline is

usually the same: a coming of age story about a teen dealing with family and friends, getting into

a complicated situation, and resolving the problem in the end. The issues of teen sitcoms involve

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friendship, family problems, sexuality, and impending adulthood, which provide an important

source of information for their viewers (Feasey, 2012; Moseley, 2002; Ross & Stein, 2008;). The

package of teen sitcoms changes constantly to keep the audience interested but the core doesn't

change too much.

The teen sitcom is an important aspect of teen TV and teen culture. Contemporary teen

sitcoms are mostly produced by the “Big Two”: Disney Channel and Nickelodeon (Bourdieu &

Johnson, 1993). Both networks produce teen oriented programs. Nickelodeon began producing

teen sitcoms in the late 1980s while Disney started producing teen dramas and sitcoms in the late

1990s. However, the difference between the two networks is that Nickelodeon branded itself as

“kids only network” while Disney Channel branded itself as “family network.” According to

Nickelodeon’s executive Bruce Friend, Disney is more family-oriented and was created with

parents in mind while Nickelodeon is a kids’ network created with only kids in mind and aims to

empower kids (Banet-Weiser, 2007).

Greene stated in her book Teens, TV and Tunes: the Manufacturing of American

Adolescent Culture, that the “Big Two” formed a rivalry relationship in the teen culture industry,

and they’ve been producing almost identical products (Greene, 2012). After the success of Drake

& Josh produced by Nickelodeon, Disney produced The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Both series

had two main characters as brothers and played with the Hip-Square binary (one boy being

carefree and impetuous, the other being reserved and uptight) within the stories (Greene, 2012).

Another example would be Disney’s Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers, followed by

Nickelodeon’s The Naked Brothers Band, Big Time Rush, and Victorious. All of them are about

music and teen rock bands. To further illustrate the point, a third example would be

Nickelodeon’s iCarly and Disney’s Sonny with a Chance, both involve teenage girls producing

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their own comedy web or TV shows (Greene, 2012).

Cross-marketing strategies between teen sitcoms and teen pop music are often used to

engage the audience and to form a long-term relationship with the audience. Pop music teen

sitcoms such as Hannah Montana, The Naked Brothers Band, and Big Time Rush produced pop

singers and groups like Miley Cyrus and Big Time Rush band. Actors who used to play in teen

sitcoms entered the pop music market as well, this includes Hilary Duff (Lizzie, McGuire), Drake

Bell (Drake and Josh), Miranda Cosgrove and Jennette McCurdy (iCarly), Selena Gomez

(Wizards of Waverly Place) etc. Each teen sitcom produces a large amount of merchandise like

DVDs, books, CDs, video games, clothing, toys, fan collectibles etc. With the help of technology

and new media, the relationship between teen sitcoms and advertising has never been so close

(Banet-Weiser, 2007; Greene, 2012).

When looking at teen culture and teen sitcoms in specific, teenagers after the 1990s have

grown up in a society driven by computers and consumption rather than factories and production

(Taffel, 2006; Greene, 2012). According to Taffel, most of the children are “buried under a crazy

quilt of digital connections” all day every day (Taffel, 2006). Their world is much more

integrated than it ever has been, with television as just part of their experience of living (Bryant,

2007). With the development of cable TV and the Internet, more children’s programs were

offered exclusively designed for these audiences (Banet-Weiser, 2007). Teens 12-17 today watch

almost four hours of television per day, and it’s still increasing at the rate of 2.5% every year

(Nielsen, 2009; Flint, 2012). Thus, it is important to examine what kind of content is presented to

the tweens and teens in the modern days.

There is research about representation in kids TV in general. For example, the most

common critique about gender representation is that male characters and male themes dominate

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the kids TV, while female characters are presented as hyper-feminine and sexual (Banet-Weiser,

2007). Regardless of the previous research on representation issue in kids TV, the issue of

representation in teen sitcom or discussion of teen sitcoms as a separate genre has not received as

much attention. Nevertheless, the teen sitcom is under the sitcom category, thus it inherited a lot

of characteristics of the sitcom genre, which might result in similar criticism.

One of the characteristics of the sitcom genre is its stable nature, which leads to criticism

of its stereotypical representation of minorities (Mills, 2004). The sitcom is stable in its form and

content. The American sitcoms usually involve regular characters and settings and utilize a

repeatable narrative (Mills, 2004). John Hartley claims that the American sitcom has made few

fundamental changes since the initial development (Hartley, 2001). According to Mills, sitcoms

fail to engage with social and political development using instead simplistic, stereotypical, and

outmoded representation of race, gender, class, etc. For example, the representation of families in

sitcoms has been criticized since it renders women passive and traditional, and it reinforces

heteronormativity (Mills, 2004; Porter, 1998). There have been series that offer progressive

representation, such as Ellen (ABC, 1994-98). These series attempted to reflect social changes.

However, due to the profit-driven nature of media, it was inevitable that these series were

repressed in the end (Hamamoto, 1989). Thus, the sitcom genre is also criticized as a

“conservative form,” which in return, contributes to the stable nature and its stereotypical

representation of the minority groups (Cook, 1982).

Another characteristic of the sitcom genre is the use of a laugh track. The laugh track is

usually used in multi-camera sitcoms. According to Bore, the laugh track has two major

functions. One of the functions is to offer a collective experience for the audiences and make

them feel that they are watching and laughing at the sitcom together (Bore, 2011). The second

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function is that it provides a safe space for the audience to laugh at people’s misfortunes or

transgressions (Neale & Krutnik, 1990; Bore, 2011). In this way, the audiences are reassured that

it is okay to laugh because everything they see is just a joke. Since sitcoms have been criticized

for presenting minority groups stereotypically, the laugh track might influence audiences’

perception of the minority group and their behavior towards them. When audiences laugh

together at racially insensitive comedy, the laughter implies audiences’ support of the joke and

its contents. Laugh track can reinforce negative stereotype, which influences audiences’

perception of what is socially acceptable and desirable (Ford & Ferguson, 2004; Yoshida, Peach,

Spencer & Zanna, 2012; Rhode & Ellithorpe, 2016). Moreover, stereotypes communicated

through the laugh tracks can affect audiences’ behavior since the message behind it is that it is

acceptable to trivialize the stereotype topic (Ford & Ferguson, 2004; Rhode & Ellithorpe, 2016).

If, as Cain suggests, a preference for the extroverted personality does exist in the

American society, then we can assume that it is manifested in different kinds of cultural products

including teen sitcoms. Cain claimed that she observed the Extrovert Ideal in teen sitcoms

produced by both commercial free channels and the “Big Two.” “We watch TV shows whose

protagonists are not the ‘children next door,’ like the Cindy Bradys and Beaver Cleavers of

Yesteryear, but rock stars and webcast hostesses with outsized personalities, like Hannah

Montana and Carly Shay of iCarly. Even Sid the Science Kids, a PBS-sponsored role model for

the preschool set, kicks off each school day by performing dance moves with his pals (Check out

my moves! I’m a rock star!)” (Cain, 2012, p.6). These characters she discussed are all highly

creative and active individuals who like to be involved in social life and are comfortable under

the spotlight. Hannah Montana is a teenage girl who has a double life as an idol. Carly is a girl

who has her own web show called iCarly. Both of them engage in activities that require people

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skills and charisma.

There is no formal research examining how the Extrovert Ideal is manifested in teen

sitcoms and the representation of extroverts and introverts in teen sitcoms as well as TV in

general, however, at first glance protagonists in contemporary teen sitcoms do seem to fit the

criteria of extroversion: they are energetic, social, confident go-getters that live a glamorous,

independent, exciting life style. Rather than focusing on exploring the media effects of teen

sitcoms, this thesis focuses more on the media content. It aims to explore how the Extrovert Ideal

is reflected in teen sitcoms by examining the representation of both extroverted and introverted

characters in teen sitcoms.

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Chapter 3: Methodology

By looking at the representation of both extroverted characters and introverted characters,

this thesis explored whether the American teen sitcoms reflect the Extrovert Ideal. To be more

specific, it examined how these two types of characters interact with people around them. The

researcher hoped to the answer the following research questions:

RQ1: how are the extroverted characters and introverted characters represented in the Disney

and Nickelodeon teen sitcoms?

RQ1a: Do representations of extroverts and introverts vary by race, gender and

ethnicity?

RQ2: Are the extroverted characters more preferable compared with introverted characters in the

Disney and Nickelodeon teen sitcoms? If so, how?

By answering these questions, the researcher can glimpse into the Extrovert Ideal in

American culture, the stereotypes of extrovert and introvert, and whether media perpetuate one

personality type as an ideal. This thesis aimed to explore and understand a culture phenomenon

by asking why and how questions (Creswell, 2014). Therefore, a qualitative research approach

was more suitable for this thesis.

Data Collection

Textual analysis is a key way of understanding the Extrovert Ideal reflected in teen

sitcoms. Textual analysis is “a way for the researcher to gather information about how other

human beings make sense of the world” (McKee, 2003, p.1). By analyzing texts (film, TV

programs, magazines and so on), we can understand how people, in particular cultures at

particular times, interpret the world around them. In this way, we can have a better understanding

of our own culture, and see the limitations and advantages of our own sense-making practices.

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McKee also pointed out that, when doing textual analysis, there is usually an aesthetic judgment

on the cultural product based on established criteria (McKee, 2003). However, all cultures and

subcultures have different ways of making sense of the world. Therefore researchers from

different backgrounds can interpret the same text in different ways. Thus one way we can

respond to this fact is a post-structuralist or cultural relativist approach, which means there is no

true good or bad in terms of the quality of the cultural product (McKee2003, p.29). The aim is to

understand how human beings in one culture make sense of the world by looking at the cultural

products they produced.

Four popular teen sitcoms produced and aired on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon in the

past 10 years were chosen for analysis: Wizards of Waverly Place (2007-2012) and Austin & Ally

(2011-2016) produced by Disney Channel; iCarly (2007-2012) and Drake and Josh (2004-2007)

produced by Nickelodeon. All four series are multi-camera sitcoms and make use of laugh

tracks. The reason why the researcher chose these two networks is that the Disney Channel and

Nickelodeon are the “Big Two” in terms of producing teen sitcoms and teen culture (Greene,

2012; Hendershot, 2004). Moreover, they are also brands that adults perceive as safe and

trustworthy for teens and tweens to watch (Hendershot, 2004). Thus, the themes and the content

of these shows are relatable to teens and tweens and also tend to be well received.

Among all the teen sitcoms Disney and Nickelodeon produced for the past 15 years, the

four chosen are among the most popular ones based on ratings and the awards they received.

Drake & Josh was produced from 2004 to 2007; Wizards of Waverly Place and iCarly were

produced between 2007 and 2012; Austin & Ally was produced between 2011 and 2015. From

these four series, we can get a basic idea of what kind of stories and characters are popular

among the audiences in the past 15 years. All four teen sitcoms have won either Teen Choice

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Awards or Kid’s Choice Awards of Favorite TV Show and have high ratings. Moreover, by

using a cross-marketing strategy, all of these shows are accompanied by merchandise such as

games and CDs. Drake who starred in Drake & Josh, Selena Gomez who played as Alex in

Wizards of the Waverly Place, Ross Lynch and Laura Marano who played in Austin & Ally

became teen idols and entered the music industry. iCarly also has its own website that contains

blogs, videos, photos of the main characters, which further blurred the line between reality and

fiction for its audiences.

The researcher accessed all four series by buying them from Amazon instant video. All

episodes were watched one time and then the researcher selected eight episodes of each series

(overall 32 episodes) for further data analysis. Since the beginning of the series usually

introduces the characters, and the last episode gives an end, the first two episodes of the first

season and the last two episodes of the last season for each series were chosen to see if there

were any development of personality. The researcher took notes about the plotline of each

episode while watching the whole series for the first time. After that, the researcher chose four

more episodes that were more related to this research topic to analyze. For example, if one

episode is about the introverted character trying to be more extroverted to overcome an obstacle,

the researcher would be more likely to choose this episode because it can help the researcher to

gain insight to how extroverts and introverts are treated under that circumstance and how

extroverts and introverts solve the problem in the end.

Data Analysis

Before going into deeper analysis based on the text of each episode, the researcher

tailored the NEO-FFI-3 into a new inventory and used it to categorize the teen characters in the

selected teen sitcoms as relative introverts, extroverts, or average. The researcher looked at all

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the children, teenagers and young adults, both main and supporting characters in the selected

teen sitcoms. Adult characters that serve as the parent, guardian and mentor are not included

because they are not the main focus of teen sitcoms. Teen sitcoms are about the daily lives and

struggles of young people. Thus the researcher focused on analyzing teen and pre-teen

characters. The researcher defined main characters as the characters who were the most

prominent, appeared in every episode and are able to move the story forward (Main Character,

2014). Supporting characters appeared occasionally and they are also involved in the story

(Supporting characters, 2014).

The NEO-FFI-3, as researcher introduced before, is one of the most widely used

measures of the Five-Factor Model of personality (McCrae & Costa, 2003). It consists of 12

statements for each dimension and uses a five-point Likert response format. The reason why the

researcher wanted to determine the extroversion (-introversion) levels of each character is that

one cannot discuss the Extrovert Ideal reflected in teen sitcoms without determining how

extroverted and introverted these characters are, and this cannot be done by just analyzing one or

two incidents in the episodes without the backup of personality theory and a personality

inventory. Only after knowing which characters represent extroversion and which represent

introversion can the researcher analyze the power relations between extroverted and introverted

characters.

The NEO-FFI-3 was provided online for free. The researcher changed all the statements

from first-person to third-person. There are three reverse coding statements in the inventory,

which the researcher reversed to avoid confusion in the future. The statements in NEO-FFI-3 and

the revised version is as follows:

Table 1:

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Old and Revised Instrument

Origin NEO-FFI-3

Revised Instrument

1. I like to have a lot of people around me

1. He/she likes to be around people

2. I laugh easily

2. He/she laughs easily

3. I prefer jobs that let me work alone

without being bothered by other people

3. He/she prefers jobs that let him/her work

in a group rather than work alone

4. I really enjoy talking to people

4. He/she really enjoys talking to people

5. I like to be where the action is

5. He/she likes to be where the action is

6. I shy away from crowds of people

6. He/she doesn’t shy away from crowds of

people

7. I often feel as if I’m bursting with energy

7. He/she is bursting with energy

8. I am a cheerful, high-spirited person

8. He/she is a cheerful, high-spirited person

9. I don’t get much pleasure from chatting

with people

9. He/she gets pleasure from chatting with

people

10. My life is fast-paced

10. His/her life is fast-paced

11. I am a very active person

11. He/she is a very active person

12. I would rather go my own way than

being a leader of others

12. He/she would rather go on his/her own

way than being a leader of others

For each item on the test, participants taking the NEO-FFI-3 would choose SD (Strongly

34!

Disagree), D (Disagree), N (Neutral), A (Agree), or SA (Strongly Agree). The researcher coded

the answer based on a 5-point scale from 0 to 4. In the end, a participant’s score can fall in the

range of 0, being a complete introvert, to 48, being a complete extrovert. Males and females tend

to have different standards when determining if they are extroverted or introverted. Male

participants who scored above 31 are considered extroverts while females who scored over 33

are considered extroverts. Male and female participants between the score of 24 to 30 and 26 to

32, respectively, are considered average. Male participants who scored lower than 24 and female

participants who scored lower than 26 are considered as introverts.

The researcher didn’t consider establishing intercoder reliability since the application of

the NEO-FFI-3 is not meant to provide a numerical basis of extroversion and introversion that

can then be used for statistical analysis, rather, it is meant to provide a benchmark for identifying

relative levels of introversion versus extroversion. For the purposes of this study, the researcher

assumed the position of the character and offered her best estimation based on observing each

character’s behavior, looking at the plotline, and analyzing information from the characters’

dialogues. Since this research is not a formal statistical analysis, the researcher borrowed the

scale from NEO-FFI-3 and simplified it into a 3-point scale. A character was marked 4 if the

researcher’s interpretation of the character agreed with the statement, 0 if the researcher

disagreed, 2 if the character’s behavior is neither. The researcher left the item blank when there

were no instances that allowed the researcher to assess how the character would likely respond to

the statement indicated. In the end, the score for each character is only relative compared to other

characters in the same show. It provides a ranking of the extroversion level for the characters,

which the analysis of the power relationship between relatively extroverted and introverted

characters is based on in the later sections.

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The researcher coded the character based on the character’s behavior or the tendencies

the character showed. There are two types of statements, the first type consists of statements that

the researcher has to judge based on a character’s behavior: “he/she is comfortable meeting new

people”, “he/she laughs easily” “he/she prefers group work”, “he/she enjoys talking to people”,

“he/she likes to be where the action is”, “he/she is comfortable in crowds of people”, “he/she is a

very active person”, “he/she likes to lead”, “he/she get pleasure from chatting with people”. For

the first type of statement, the researcher looked at if a character actually behaved according to

the statement in a particular episode. Take the statement “enjoys talking to people” as an

example, when a character avoids talking to people, meeting new people or acts nervous and

awkward while talking to people, the researcher would give him/her a 0 (Ex: Josh couldn’t think

straight and kept talking nonsense when talking to a girl he liked). When a character is really

talkative and energetic while talking to people or he/she initiates the conversation and keeps

asking questions to get the conversation going (Ex: Drake talks to random girls smoothly), the

researcher would give the character a 4. If the character can converse naturally with people,

he/she gets a 2 (Ex: Carly and Sam talked about their plans for the show). If in an episode there’s

no scene where the character needs to talk to other people, then the researcher left it blank. This

principle applies to other statements in this first type as well.

The second type is more focused on looking at a character’s tendency or state. For

example, for the statement “he/she is a cheerful, high-spirited person”, the researcher looked at if

the character always appears happy and optimistic. If a character tends to act very lazy, prone to

feeling upset, angry when something goes wrong, he/she gets a 0 (Ex: Carly was really upset

about her dad not being able to do the father-daughter dance with her. Nothing could cheer her

up). If a character is always smiling, happy and looking on the bright side, he/she gets a 4 (Ex:

36!

Harper always looks on the positive side even though her love interest never showed interest in

her. Her positive reaction to certain events can surprise Alex sometimes). A character who was

in between these two levels, who doesn’t particularly exhibit distinct extroverted or introverted

behavior, was coded 2. The researcher then looked at particular instances of introversion and

extroversion to see how these two personalities are commonly represented in teen sitcoms. For

further analysis, the researcher took notes of each character when they exhibit extroverted or

introverted behavior or attitudes and how other people treat them.

Once the researcher finished coding all the selected characters, the researcher added up

the scores of all statements for each character in each episode, divided it by the number of

statements that applied to the character, and got a raw score for each character in each episode.

The reason why the researcher chose to use averages instead of sums of all 12 statements is

because not all statements applied to every character for every episode. Thus it makes more

sense to use the average instead of the sum of all statements. Take Josh from Drake & Josh as an

example. The researcher didn’t give him a score on the statement “laughs easily” in season 1

episode 1 since there were no instances that were intended to make the character laugh. Thus, his

raw score for this episode is the total score he got divided by 11 statements instead of 12. To get

the final score, the raw scores for each character and each episode were added up and were

divided by the number of episodes in which the characters appeared on the screen. The

researcher chose to code characters for each of the selected episodes instead of scoring only one

time after watching all the episodes because this provided a more complete characterization of

each character based on situational differences in their behavior.

Since the researcher used the average of all 12 statements, the original criteria for

whether a character is extrovert, average or introvert had to be adjusted. The original scale from

37!

NEO-FFI-3 was divided by 12. The new standard is as follows: Male characters who scored

equal to or more than 2.58 are considered as extroverts while females who scored equal to or

more than 2.75 are considered as extroverts. Male and female characters between the score of 2

to 2.58 and 2.17 to 2.75 are considered average. Male characters who scored lower than 2 and

female participants who scored lower than 2.17 are considered as introverts.

After determining the characters’ levels of extroversion, the researcher went into each

episode and analyzed how characters with different extroversion/introversion levels go through

their daily lives and interact with each other. Qualitative software NVivo was used in this

process to help organizing notes and themes. The analysis relied on multiple viewing of the eight

episodes chosen for all four series. The researcher took field notes based on observations and

reflections. For each episode, the researcher first summarized and wrote down the main plotlines,

and then went into the twelve statements from the revised instrument and explained why she

gave a character one score instead of the others. She took notes on characters’ clothing, acting

styles, examples when characters demonstrated extroverted behavior, instances that illustrated a

relationship between extroverts and introverts, how other people treated both introverts and

extroverts and how the characters reacted to different social situations. Transcribing

conversations was needed in order for further discussion. Coding and analysis took place

throughout the data collection and data analysis process in order to get to theoretical saturation.

The researcher went through each episode several times to make sure no important detail was left

out for the analysis.

Researcher’s Role

As a well-educated young woman who was raised in Chinese culture, which is a more

introverted and collectivistic culture compared with American culture, the researcher noticed that

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Americans were very extroverted in the way they express their feelings and how they interact

with each other (Allik &McCrae, 2004; Twenge, 2001; McCrae, Terracciano & Personality

profiles of cultures project, 2005; Cain, 2012; Chen, 2015;). This cultural personality can be seen

in U.S romantic comedy: if the protagonist prefers to stay home and read instead of going on a

hot date on Saturday night, his/her friends would think he/she is pathetic. Similarly, when a boy

tries to get to know a girl, he better has a good pick up line to make him charming and

irresistible, if not, he will be considered a bit socially awkward. He better learn how to do it

before another guy steals the girl he wants. This type of story can be frequently seen in TV series

and in film, which is fascinating to the researcher. The first time the researcher started to take

this cultural phenomenon seriously was after viewing the release of Susan Cain’s Ted talk video

The Power of Introvert on YouTube in 2012. The researcher was inspired by the way Cain

analyzed how the extrovert personality became the ideal from a historical perspective. It

resonated with the researcher because being a somewhat introverted person (compared with

many Americans), the researcher found herself exposed to an extrovert culture while she was

studying in America, which can be intimidating sometimes. Susan Cain’s speech and book on the

whole extrovert culture led the researcher to reflect not only on American culture but Asian

culture as well.

The teen sitcom is a unique genre to the researcher’s point of view. These Disney and

Nickelodeon series had always given the researcher the impression of being too bright and too

loud just when channel surfing. Compared to Asian culture, in which being shy can be

considered cute and being reserved and speaking only when necessary can be seen as powerful,

Western culture is indeed different. It was a cultural shock, which made the researcher become

enthusiastic about this research topic.

39!

The researcher’s own culture background and personality could be a hindrance of this

research at certain point because, first of all, since the researcher was born and raised in China, it

took a longer time to be familiar with the history and branding of Disney and Nickelodeon, and

understand the production of teen sitcoms. It also took time to gain knowledge on American

history. However, this difficulty also brought a fresh perspective to this research, since the

researcher’s own culture background made her became more sensitive about the power dynamic

of extroverts and introverts in teen sitcoms. The researcher didn’t take the status quo for granted

and it helped greatly to find the hidden message behind such cultural production.

40!

Chapter 4: Results

Media can be seen as a channel through which ideology is communicated to a certain

culture (Evan, Hall & Nixon, 2012). Media representation is the meaning making process used

by the members of a certain culture to interpret the world around them. This chapter reveals how

the selected teen sitcoms in Disney and Nickelodeon communicated the Extrovert Ideal to

American culture, which gives us insight into how the people in American society understand

their culture.

Through detailed analysis of the representation of both extroverted and introverted

characters, the following sections examine how the Extrovert Ideal is reflected in teen sitcoms

and the social and cultural implication. First of all, an introduction of the primary storyline of the

selected teen sitcoms is provided. Five themes emerged during the analysis and these themes are

summarized and discussed. These themes are: TV introversion; Introverts in an extroverted

world; the Nerd Versus the Clown; Responsibility; and Popularity. Finally, a conclusion is drawn

based on the analysis.

Storyline of the Selected Teen Sitcoms

After watching all four series, the researcher observed that two among four of the teen

sitcoms (Austin & Ally, Drake & Josh) play with the personality contrast in the stories, and the

other two (iCarly, Wizards of Waverly Place) don’t show distinct difference of extroversion

levels between characters. The first two series are about the relationship between the two very

different main characters and the drama comes from the conflict they have due to their

differences in personality.

In Austin & Ally, Austin is outgoing and super talented, according to the character

introduction on the official website. He can sing, dance, and play all sorts of instruments, but he

41!

can’t write good lyrics or music. That’s where Ally comes in. Ally is an introverted songwriter.

She is smart, full of creativity, and can write songs that touch people’s hearts. However, she is

also very awkward and has terrible stage fright. In the beginning of the season, Austin uses

Ally’s song without her permission and becomes an instant hit over the Internet. Ally takes credit

for the song later and Austin convinces her to become his partner. Austin’s best friend Dez, who

is funny and quirky, directs their music videos. Ally’s best friend Trish becomes their manager.

She is very fun and unpredictable. She can adapt to different situations and she is able to change

her part time job in every episode, jumping from sales assistant or waitress in one shop to

another. The four make a great team together. Ally overcomes her stage fright in the second

season and signs a record deal (as well). Austin and Ally’s careers both take off as their

friendship grows. They find themselves falling in love with each other in the later seasons.

Although there are many ups and downs in their relationship, they still end up (being) together in

the last episode of the last season.

Drake & Josh takes place in a less exciting setting. Drake and Josh have opposite

personalities and they become stepbrothers when their parents remarry. Drake is popular, cool

and he seeks excitement. He gets into trouble from time to time. He is popular among girls. He

also plays guitar and sings well. In contrast, Josh is a good student and a good kid. He gets

awkward while talking to girls and he has trouble with popularity. Each episode of Drake & Josh

is about the relationship between the two and handling typical teenage situations happening in

school or in their family. Josh constantly tries to save Drake and keep him from making trouble,

while Drake tries to help Josh become more popular by making him less of a goody-goody. Over

the course of the series, both Drake and Josh change and thus their relationship develop. Josh

loses weight and becomes more popular while Drake becomes more mature and caring towards

42!

others. The two becomes closer and they admit that they need each other in their lives.

iCarly focuses on teenager, Carly, who creates her own web show with her friends, Sam

and Freddie. Carly lives in Seattle with her 26-year-old brother Spencer. She has a dad that

serves in the army, who is mostly absent in the show. In the beginning of the series, Carly and

her best friend Sam act funny at a school talent show audition, and their friend Freddie, who is

very tech savvy, records it and posts it online. They become an instant hit and soon have some

fans. So Carly, Sam and Freddie decide to produce their own webcast. The webcast consists of

segments like talent contests, dancing, and role-play etc. Carly’s brother, Spencer, and Carly’s

other friends also sometimes participate in their webcasts.

Wizards of Waverly Place is a fantasy teen sitcom that focuses on the adventures of the

Russo Family, which consists of the Italian father Jerry, the Mexican mother Theresa, and three

siblings: Alex, Justin and Max. The Russos live on Waverly Place in Manhattan. They own and

run a sandwich shop. However, they have a big secret that nobody else knows. The father, Jerry,

is a former family wizard, and the three siblings also have magical powers. When the Russo

siblings complete their training, they have to participate in a competition to decide which one of

them gets to be the family wizard. The family wizard can keep the magical powers forever and

the rest of the siblings lose their power and become mortal. Though Jerry tries to give his

children lessons in magic, he also teaches them how to survive without magic since not all of

them can keep their magical powers. By the end the series, both Alex and Justin keep their

magical power: Alex wins the family competition and becomes the family wizard, Justin is

declared as the new headmaster of WizTech, a school for the wizards and witches, leaving Max

to run the sandwich shop.

43!

TV introversion

All children, teenagers and young adults, both main and supporting characters, were

included for analysis. NEO-FFI-3 was used as a model to develop instrument to examine the

extroversion level of characters in the selected teen sitcoms. In the end, male characters who

scored equal to or more than 2.58 are considered as extroverts while females who scored equal to

or more than 2.75 are considered as extroverts. Male and female characters between the score of

2 to 2.58 and 2.17 to 2.75 are considered average. Male characters who scored lower than 2 and

female characters who scored lower than 2.17 are considered as introverts. Table 2 shows the

score, type and rank of each character. The application of NEO-FFI-3 is meant to provide a

benchmark for identifying relative levels of introversion versus extroversion. As the researcher

stated before, it is necessary to examine the extroversion level of each characters because only

after knowing this can the researcher analyze the power relations between relatively extroverted

and relatively introverted characters.

44!

Table 2

Rankings of Extroversion Level of All Characters in Each Series

Series

Name

Scor

Typ

Ran

Series

Name

Scor

Typ

Ran

Drake

Josh

Kathy

3.33

Wizards

of the

Waverly

Place

Dean

2.83

Drake*

3.27

Zeke

2.8

Emily

3.25

Fidel

2.67

Tiffany

3.2

Gigi

2.6

Mandy

2.86

Harper*

2.52

Susan

2.75

Alex*

2.31

Vlga

2.67

Max*

2.27

Mindy

2.55

Juliet

2.2

Josh*

2.12

Nancy

2.2

Trever

Mason

Megan

1.84

Justin*

1.93

Austin

& Ally

Megan

3.33

iCarly

Carly*

3.24

Austin*

3.16

Sam*

3.19

Dez*

3.16

Freddie*

2.83

Roxy

3.09

Spencer*

2.83

Trish*

3.02

Gibby

2.62

Buck

Guppy

2.25

Ally*

2.41

Malika

2.44

Lucy

1.83

Names with * refer to main characters

The researcher found that most of the characters in the selected teen sitcoms are

extroverted characters. Overall, the selected teen series have 37 characters, including 14 main

characters and 23 supporting characters. Based on the standard given by NEO-FFI-3, there are 22

45!

(60%) extroverted characters, 12 (32%) who are average and only 3 (8%) introverts among the

37 lead and supporting teen characters. When looking at all female characters, 12 (57%) female

characters are extroverts, two (10%) are introverts, and seven (33%) are average. Male characters

have a larger proportion of extroverted characters; 10 (63%) of all male characters are extroverts,

five (31%) are average, and only one (6%) is introverted.

Table 3

Extroversion and Introversion of All Characters By Gender

Female

Male

Total

Type

Extrovert

Introvert

Average

Total

100

When looking at main characters, there is a higher percentage of extroverted and

introverted males compared to extroverted and introverted females. Altogether there are 14 main

characters, eight are males and six are females. Five (62.5%) of the main male characters are

extroverts, one (12.5%) is introvert, and 2 (25%) are average. Three (50%) of the main female

characters are extroverts, three (50%) are average, and none of the main female characters are

considered to be introverts. In total, 8 (57.14%) of the main characters are extroverts, five

(35.71%) are average, and only one (7.14%) is introvert.

46!

Table 4

Extroversion and Introversion of Main Characters By Gender

Female

Male

Total

Type

Extrovert

62.5

Introvert

12.5

Average

Total

100

The cast of the selected teen sitcoms is not diverse enough to examine how

representations of extroversion and introversion relate to ethnicity and race. Among all 37

characters, three of them are Latinos, the other 34 characters are white. Among the Latino

characters, one (33%) was presented as an introvert, the other two (67%) were presented as

average, and none were categorized as extrovert. All of the Latino characters are from the show

Wizards of the Waverly Place, in which almost all of its characters are presented as average

besides one character who is an extrovert. There were no Asian or black teenage main characters

who are significant enough to push the development of the story in the selected teen sitcoms.

However, there is one Asian character in iCarly who is presented as somewhat introverted. The

researcher didn’t include this characters in coding because he was presented as not being able to

speak English and was only onscreen for two minutes without pushing the storyline, so there’s

no way that the researcher can code him based on his behavior and interaction with other people.

47!

Table 5

Extroversion and Introversion of All Characters By Series

Extrovert

Introvert

Average

Series

Drake & Josh

55%

36%

Austin & Ally

75%

13%

Wizards of the

Waverly Place

27%

64%

iCarly

71%

29%

As the researcher mentioned before, these four series are produced within the past 15

years. Drake & Josh was produced from 2004 to 2007; Wizards of Waverly Place and iCarly

were produced between 2007 and 2012; Austin & Ally was produced between 2011 and 2015.

The researcher didn’t find that there’s a pattern that suggests characters’ extroversion levels

change over the years. The overall extroversion level of all characters depends on the type of

plotline these shows have. When looking at the statistics based on the series reviewed, the

researcher found that characters from Wizards of the Waverly Place are presented as less

extroverted compared to characters in the other three series. The majority of the characters from

Wizards of the Waverly Place are average while the majority of the characters from the other

series are extroverts. While doing the analysis, the researcher observed that tension between

extroverted and introverted characters are a lot stronger in Drake & Josh and Austin & Ally than

the other two series. Both series based their narratives on the contrast between the two main

characters, which made the differences and conflicts between extroverts and introverts a lot more

obvious. When looking at the final scores of the main characters in iCarly and Wizards of the

Waverly Place, all of the main characters in iCarly are extroverts and main characters in Wizards

of the Waverly Place are average or introverts. Thus, there are not so many instances that reveal

the power relation between extroverts and introverts in these two series compared to Drake &

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Josh and Austin & Ally. However, the portrayal of TV extroverts in iCarly and TV introverts in

Wizards of the Waverly Place are still consistent with the themes found in the other series, which

contributes to the understanding of the representation of extroverts and introverts.

When choosing which episodes to analyze, the researcher stated in the method section

that eight episodes of each series were chosen for data analysis. The researcher chose the first

and last episodes, and six other episodes in between to see if there were any developments of

personality. During the analysis, the researcher found that in general, there were no significant

developments of personality among extroverted and introverted characters. The extroversion

level of each character is quite stable throughout the series. However, Josh from Drake & Josh

has slightly changed. Josh, in the end, is no longer afraid of talking to attractive girls. He’s not as

good as picking up girls like Drake either, but he is no longer nervous when talking to girls. The

researcher will discuss this further in the later sections.

It needs to be pointed out here that the television introversion presented in these selected

teen sitcoms cannot represent true introversion in real life. There are very few introverts in the

current teen sitcoms. The extroversion-introversion type of a character is relative to the other

characters in the same TV series. The less extroverted characters appear introverted in

comparison to other characters. The differences between introversion and extroversion usually

create the drama and drive the plot. Even though these relatively introverted characters are more

extroverted than one would expect to find in real life, since the series put emphasis on the

differences between introverts and extroverts, not being extroverted enough looks like

introversion. Take Drake & Josh as an example, Josh is classified as Average and he is relatively

introverted to Drake. Thus, in the following themes, the researcher focuses on comparing how

Josh, a relatively introverted character compared to Drake, and Drake, an extrovert, are treated

49!

under the same circumstance. This principle applies to other selected series as well. The

researcher will discuss how the power relationship between extroverts and introverts, and how

these introverted and extroverted characters are represented in the selected teen sitcoms.

Most of the characters extroversion level is quite high, compared to one would to find

expect in real life. One reason for this is that the instrument the researcher used is based on

NEO-FFI-3, which is a self-report personality test for real people, not for TV characters. This

requires participants to undertake a self-report personality test based on their perception of their

self. However, in this study, the researcher made judgments based on observing the characters’

behaviors and their dialogues. Thus, it is different from using a self-report method. Characters’

behavior is heavily influenced by the environment and their peers. Therefore, due to the story

focus, the researcher mentioned previously, all characters are skewed to the extroversion side for

entertainment purposes. This means that even though some characters got the score in the

introversion range or even the average range, they still can be more extroverted than the

introverts in real life. Take Ally as an example, her score is in the range of average, yet she

shows a clear tendency to be introvert: Ally likes solitude and enjoys writing songs on her own

and based on her reflection of her life; her hobbies include reading and cloud watching. In the

descriptions from the show’s official websites and fan website, Austin & Ally’s fan site describe

Ally as “an introverted songwriter” and someone who is “awkward, kind, and talented” while

Austin is described as an “extroverted singer and instrumentalist” (Ally Dawson, 2017; Austin &

Ally, 2016; Disney, 2016). This suggested that Ally’s personality is the opposite of Austin

However, due to the fact that the TV series is focused on Austin and Ally pursuing their music

dream, Ally is often in an environment that encourages her to be more extroverted. Thus her

behavior can be quite extroverted sometimes and her score is higher as a result.

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Another reason could be the comic nature of sitcom genre. The American sitcoms,

according to Mills, “offer pleasure in the presentation of verbal and physical comic skills” (Mills,

2004). Many American sitcoms’ acting is exaggerated, and many are “structured precisely

around a comedian’s performance, such as The Cosby Show” (Mills, 2004). The researcher

observed that the acting style in the selected teen sitcoms is also comic and exaggerated, which

can be one of the reasons why introverted characters are omitted in the teen sitcoms. The reason

why sitcoms need more comic and exaggerated acting is because of its comic intent. Humor

works more effectively when its comic intent is unambiguous (Mills, 2004). Since the acting

style is exaggerated, character behavior tends to be more extroverted than that of people in real

life. It can be hard to include and portray introverts in the selected teen sitcoms because of the

comic nature of the American sitcom genre.

Moreover, the researcher found that the majority of the series are about becoming

famous. For example, Austin & Ally is about personal growth and career development of two

musicians with the opposite personalities; iCarly is about a group of kids and their web shows;

Drake & Josh, although more family-oriented, still involves stories where Drake tries to become

a professional musician. The only show that is not about becoming famous is Wizards of the

Waverly Place, which is also the only show that doesn’t have an extrovert among the main

characters. The first three series focus on storylines that are more concerned with how to gain

popularity in the public space. Being a singer, musician and web celebrity requires public

exposure and certain charisma. In Austin & Ally, the location is mostly outside of school and at

home. Almost all the stories in Austin & Ally are about their music career. In iCarly, Carly and

the rest of her friends almost always produce an online show of their own each episode. In order

to produce their web show and maintain popularity, Carly and Sam have to go to new places,

51!

explore new topics, come up with new idea to promote their shows and maintain relationship

with their fans. Thus, the characters are often inevitably in a situation that they need to promote

themselves and make them standout from other people. This influences the overall personalities

of the characters and increases the extroversion level of characters, which the researcher will

discuss in the following section.

From the results above, it is clear that introverted characters are symbolically

underrepresented in the selected teen sitcoms. According to previous research, at least one-third

of the population in the U.S is introverted (Bayne, 1995; Center for Applications of

Psychological Type, 1996 & 2003; Twenge, 2001; Cain, 2012). However, only three (8%) of the

characters in these teen sitcoms are introverts, and only one (12.5%) of the main characters is

introvert. According to Gerbner and Gross, representation gives a group of people public identity

(Gerbner & Gross, 1976, p.183). Underrepresentation of introverts serves as a gentle violence

since it disregards their existence or contributes in the society (Bourdieu, 2001). Symbolic

annihilation of the introverted characters implies that introverted people are not important to the

society.

Introverts in an Extroverted World

The researcher found that the TV introverts live in a world that consists mostly of

extroverts and encourages extroverted behaviors. Thus, they are often put in situations where

they need to act more extroverted in order to be popular and successful. Popularity was

considered more important than working hard, being honest, smart, kind, understanding, and

responsible in the selected teen sitcom. They also suggest it is more important to know how to

present oneself in front of the others rather than just being an honorable man/woman. Thus,

acting cool, taking risks, being adventurous, having a certain charisma, being able to party and

52!

entertain people are crucial in the selected teen sitcoms, and relatively introverted behaviors are

often discouraged. Take Austin & Ally as an example, Ally, although classified as Average, is

relatively introverted compared to Austin and is treated as an introvert in the show. When Austin

first starts to work with Ally, he finds that their styles and their preferences of songs are

distinctively different. Austin must persuade Ally to change her approach to be more fun (Season

1 Episode 1).

Austin: What do you got?

Ally: okay, um…. the tears of your heart cry.

Austin: Too depressing.

Ally: Okay. The midnight sadness

Austin: That’s even more too depressing. (Laugh track) This song should be fun, like a

splash of sunshine. You’re like a drizzle of darkness. (Laugh track) We need to get you to

relax. You know, get your creative juices flowing.

It can be seen that Ally’s songs and her music composition skills are trivialized in this

scene. Ally’s approach to songwriting clearly involves self-reflection, which is usually done

when she is alone. She prefers songs that are more melodramatic, romantic and quiet, while

Austin likes songs that are happier, have quick tempos, and can make you dance. The type of

songs Ally likes to write is completely disregarded by Austin. Although Austin is the one who

needs help creating new songs and writing new lyrics, he thinks Ally is not “relaxed” and

“creative” enough and she needs help, implying the only type of songs that are creative are the

ones he likes.

It should be noted that there’s a laugh track when Austin makes comments about Ally’s

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songs. According to Bore, the laugh track has two functions: offer collective experience and

provide safe space for audiences to laugh at people’s misfortune or transgressions (Bore, 2011).

When Austin is criticizing Ally’s songs, the laugh track reinforces his points and renders his

criticism as normal. The message behind this laugh is: Austin is right. Ally’s songs are indeed

too dark and serious. The laugh suggests to the audience that it is ok to laugh. As a result, it gives

relatively introverted characters no space to be themselves and reinforces the hierarchy between

extroverted and relatively introverted character.

After Austin’s criticism, he suggests a different approach to writing the new song, and

Ally follows his suggestion.

Ally: Uh, what are you doing?

Austin: Funning you up. (Laugh track)

(Austin clicks on the computer and the whole room turns into a dance floor. The music is

a dance song with a quick tempo)

Ally: No, I don’t….

(Austin starts to dance)

Austin: Come on. We’re gonna dance!

Ally: No thanks! Thanks, this is silly.

(Austin blows his whistle and Trish and Dez wearing shiny clothes dances onto the main

dance floor. Laugh track in the background with audiences’ screaming and cheering)

Austin: See? It’s fun!

Trish: Ally, you can do it. Come on.

Ally: Okay. Whoo Whoo!

(Ally dances and she is so bad all of her friends freeze)

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Trish: That was like the worst dancing I’ve ever seen.

Dez: That’s pathetic.

Ally: Okay, fine.

(They continues dancing and after the song is finished they stop)

Ally: I-I….I think it worked! I feel fun. I feel like I could do anything.

Austin: Well, don’t waste the creativity. Come on!

Ally: Let’s write a song.

And that’s how they come up with a new song. Not only Ally’s song writing approach is

completely trivialized, but also her personality and lifestyle. More importantly, Ally doesn’t stick

to her own style and accepts this trivialization. She follows Austin suggestion and in the end she

feels she is empowered by acting more extroverted. This indicates that relatively introverted

behavior is discouraged. When a relatively introverted character works with his/her extroverted

peers, he/she needs to alter their own personality and working style in order to meet the

expectation of other people.

Another example is that, in Season 2 episode 3, Austin and Ally are interviewed by

Megan, who is a 10-year-old journalist working for a magazine called Cheetah Beat. She only

finds Ally interesting when she lies about how she comes up with song ideas.

Megan: How’d you come up with the new song?

Ally: Like I do all my songs. Austin and I sit at the piano, toss around some ideas, and

see what sounds good.

Megan: Oh. That’s it? I thought it would be more interesting. (Laugh track) Well, bye.

Everyone: Bye. See you. Miss you already. (Laugh track)

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Ally: Megan, wait. (Laugh track) What do you mean more interesting?

Megan: Just that you write all those epic songs, I thought maybe you did exciting things

to get inspired.

Ally: Oh. We do exciting things. (Laugh track)

Austin: Ally, what are you doing?

Megan: What kind of exciting things?

Ally: Oh, you know. Like…go to the top of the highest bridge in Miami and look at the

city lights.

Megan: And?

Ally: And…then we bungee jump off the bridge. (Laugh track)

Megan: Awesome! That’s the picture I want for the cover.

In this scene, Ally tries to act cooler and more exciting to get Megan’s attention. She has

to lie about her working style and her lifestyle to cater to the taste of the journalist and the

audience. After Megan leaves, Ally and the rest of the gang are excited about their promise to go

bungee jumping. When Austin asks why Ally did this, Ally’s response is: “Because Megan and

her friends all look up to me. And I didn’t want to disappoint them.” By the end of the episode,

Ally keeps her promise and went bungee jumping with the rest of the group. And Megan takes

pictures of this event to use for the interview cover. The ending shows that Ally is responsible

since she keeps her promise, however, it also implies that there’s no space for a relatively

introverted songwriter to do things her own way because the audience would prefer someone

who is more adventurous and risk seeking. This suggests, audience of the interview for the

magazine and the industry don’t accept introverted behaviors and Ally has to give up part of

herself in order to succeed in the music industry.

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The makeover of these TV introverts is not always successful. Sometimes relative

introverts are able to preserve part of their introversion, and combined with the more extroverted

behavior, they are able to achieve their goals. In Season 2 Episode 24 of Austin & Ally, Ally and

Austin are judges for American Top Talent, and Ally chooses a shy girl, Lucy, as their student.

At first, Lucy is used as a joke contestant for the show for comedic value for the audience. The

producer of the show describes her job role after her first debut: “we always have one contestant

that has no shot of winning, but they make the audience laugh and laugh.” Lucy’s portrayed as a

nerdy, shy and weird girl at first. Since Ally is her idol, she acts nervous when talking to her: she

repeatedly asks Ally and Austin to not think she is weird; she chews her hair when she’s nervous,

and she can not maintain eye contact with stronger characters. Her choice of clothing is also

different from characters. She wears a white shirt with flower patterns, red skirt, big glasses and

her hair is very tightly worn. The whole image of Lucy does not help to make her popular. Ally

is very sympathetic to the whole situation. To help her student gain popularity, Ally tries to

completely change her into someone who is more confident, someone who is sure of herself, and

completely the opposite of who she was before. Lucy feels quite uncomfortable with the whole

makeover and she fails to achieve her full potential while pretending to be someone else. In the

end, Ally realizes, to give Lucy confidence she must try to change her into a new person, but to

make her believe in who she already is. Thus, Lucy goes on stage with her original nerdy

clothing, and sings a song called “who I am”. After which she wins the first prize.

Another example comes from Drake & Josh. Josh is a good student who does his

homework on time, and Drake is a troublemaker who likes to play music and flirt with girls.

Drake is also a lot more active than Josh based on their physical appearance and their daily

activities. The plotline is not focused on Drake learning from Josh about the importance of

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school and hard work, but instead it is focused on Josh trying to be more like Drake. In Season 1

Episode 4, Josh has a crush on a girl called Kathy. Josh gets nervous every time he talks to her,

so he asks Drake for advice (Season 1 Episode 4).

Drake: We need to talk about this Kathy situation. It’s gonna make me look bad if

my stepbrother is a dork with the girls.

Josh: So how do we de-dorkify me? (Laugh track)

To help Josh, Drake gives Josh a crash course on how to approach girls. On the second

day, Drake and Josh are in the kitchen doing some last minutes practice before going to school.

Josh looks completely confident this time. He holds an apple and pretends it is Kathy while

speaking to it.

Drake: Now talk about her eyes.

Josh: Hello, Kathy. Your eyes are like two crystal clear pools of blue. (Laugh

track)

Drake: Excellent. What’s your favorite sport?

Josh: Checkers. (Laugh track)

Drake: Josh.

Josh: Football. Football. Because football is manly and I’m all man. (Laugh track)

(Megan comes in with a snake in her hands)

Megan: Hey guys.

(Josh screams and falls on the ground, laugh track)

Drake: What a man. (Laugh track)

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It can be noticed that Josh, just like Ally, accepted the makeover at first. The hidden

message behind this is that relatively introverted characters agree to relative extroverts being on

a higher level of social hierarchy and consider introversion as a disadvantage. The laugh track

when Josh talks about de-dorkifying himself and his hobby invites the audiences to agree with

the trivialization of introverts.

After the crash course with Drake, Josh lies to Kathy that he knows how to play guitar

and she invites him to perform at her birthday party. Josh completely panics and asks Drake to

teach him how to play guitar. However, it is impossible to learn to play an instrument in one day.

So Drake comes up with another idea. They go to the birthday party together. Drake hides behind

the curtain and uses his hands to play the guitar while Josh uses a big coat to cover Drake’s body,

to hide that is it really Drake who is playing the guitar. The result is a disaster. Kathy finds out

that Josh lies and Josh ends up telling her the truth and winning her over again.

Lucy and Josh, one introvert and one relatively introverted character compared to Drake,

achieve their goal in the end. This indicates that both series want to send out an alternative

message that one needs to stick to true self. In being who he/she wants to be they can achieve

their goals. However, the drama of these two particular episodes comes from the struggle of the

relative introverts trying to be extroverts in the beginning. On the other hand, the researcher

didn’t find any instances of the opposite that encourages relative extroverts to be more reflective

and introverted. This clearly reflects that the world in these teen sitcoms is an extroverted world.

Even though Josh won Kathy over in the end, he had to go out of his comfort zone in the

beginning, act more extroverted to initiate a conversation, as suggested by his relatively

extroverted brother. The things Josh is interested in are playing checkers, writing, doing behind

the scenes work which needs a lot of intelligence and hard work, however, these hobbies or

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strengths are less recognized in the world he lives in and is considered as not attractive. In Austin

& Ally, Lucy was chosen to be on stage only because of her introversion is seen as a joke in the

first place. And even Ally, the only relatively introverted character in the show, thinks that it is

not recommended for Lucy to show her introversion in front of the public. This indicates that

there is this notion that relative introverts are incompetent to perform on stage. The underlying

assumption is that it is crucial to becoming charming, extroverted, and know how to sell oneself

confidently in order to succeed in one’s life and career. And that’s the rule Josh, Ally, Lucy and

the other TV introverts followed.

The Nerd versus the Clown

In the selected teen sitcoms, the researcher found that the relative introverts are often

portrayed as the Nerd and extroverts are often portrayed as the Clown. Relative introverts often

have higher academic achievement than extroverts. They are more hardworking and serious.

Extroverts act more goofy, funny and weird. They are less likely to work hard in school. The

series often put emphasis on the contrast between the Nerd and the Clown. Both extroverts and

introverts can be laughed at because of these traits, which provides the humor for the show.

Many studies have examined the relationship between personality and academic

achievement. Researchers agree that personality variables should be taken into consideration

when predicting academic achievement and school performance (Chamorro-Premuzic &

Furnham, 2005; Rindermann & Neubauer, 2001; Rothstein, Paunonen, Rush, & King, 1994).

Previous research has found that among the Big Five; Openness, Agreeableness and

Conscientiousness correlate positively and Neuroticism correlates negatively with GPA. There’s

no strong correlation between extroversion/introversion and academic achievements during

elementary to secondary school years (Laidra, Pullmann, & Allik, 2006).

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Thus, being an extrovert or introvert is not an important factor in terms of one’s academic

achievement. However, in the selected teen sitcoms, relative introverted characters are presented

as having higher academic achievement than extroverted characters. They can be either more

tech savvy, or more bookish, or both. They care more about their performance in school and they

follow the rules. For example, in Austin & Ally, Ally is a top student who loves reading. In

season 1 episode 2, when Ally is talking about how busy she is, she says: “I’ve just been really

busy lately. I’ve got work, school, and book club. I have to read this by tomorrow.” Ally throws

a big heavy book on the table. The book looks like an encyclopedia. In the last season, she leaves

Florida to pursue her education at Harvard University. This indicates that Ally has really high

academic achievement. Josh from Drake & Josh is another good example of a smart introvert.

He’s intelligent and willing to make effort to remain a straight-A student. In the beginning of

Season 1 Episode 2, Drake and Josh have a project they need to work on together. Josh is very

nervous about it and wants to get on it immediately while Drake just wants to play video games.

In season 4 Episode 20, Josh enters a dance contest to get extra credit in order to stay a top

student. Meanwhile, Drake’s PE teacher warns Drake that he will fail PE class because he was

absent for the whole semester. A third example would be Justin from Wizards of the Waverly

Place. Justin is the more introverted one among the three siblings. He’s also more hardworking,

responsible, and gifted. He can create his own spells and is well viewed by professors and adults

in both the mortal and wizard worlds. Justin is also good at subjects in the mortal world such as

math, geography and robotics. In Season 3 Episode 19, Max gets a girlfriend named Nancy. He

tells Nancy about his family being wizards and takes her on the magic carpet for a ride in the

sky. Justin builds a machine that can simulate the movement of the magic carpet and successfully

covers up the secret of the whole family. In the last episode of the last season, Justin doesn’t win

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the family competition, a tradition all wizard families need to follow in order to choose the

family wizard. However, Professor Crumbs lets him keep his wizard power and makes him the

new Headmaster of Wiz Tech, which can be seen as recognition of his academic achievement

and wizardry talent. As for iCarly, although there’s no incidence showing that the main

characters (Carly, Sam, Freddie, Spencer) are academic oriented, Freddie, who is relatively more

introverted than Carly and Sam (Freddie scores 2.83, Sam score 3.19, and Carly scores 3,24), is

more tech savvy and hardworking.

As for the relatively extroverted characters, they are presented as being lazy at school and

they are more interested in doing cool stuff such as playing guitar, making videos, making music,

partying, and spending time dating girls or boys. For example, Josh is always using his free time

to play guitar instead of doing homework. Drake has to constantly remind him that he should be

paying more attention to schoolwork. In iCarly all of the characters are doing all kinds of

activities except for doing their homework. In Wizards of the Waverly Place, the characters are

all average or introvert so there’s no instance showing that they are being lazy in terms of

schoolwork.

The researcher found that extroverted male characters are presented differently than

extroverted female main characters. Male characters are less academically oriented than their

female counterparts. Their lack of interest in school is made obvious in the beginning of the

season while extroverted females are rarely presented as non-academically oriented. In Austin &

Ally, Austin looks very professional on stage performing, but when he speaks, he doesn’t speak

as intelligent as Ally and Trish. In season 4 episode 19, Trish and Ally catch Austin and Dez

reading books, and this is their reaction.

Trish: Are you guys reading books?

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Dez: Since Austin’s world tour starts in a week, I’m helping him learn some foreign

languages.

Austin: I can ask, “where are the pancakes?” in fifteen different languages. French….

(Austin says it in French). Mandarin…. (Austin says it in Mandarin). Even pig Latin,

“Ere-whay are-ay e-thay ancakes-pay?” (Laugh track)

Trish: You guys are a couple of oof-days. (Laugh track)

When Trish asks Austin and Dez if they are reading books, her voice and her facial

expression look very suspicious, which indicates what she sees is very rare. Trish is the

extroverted female character in the same show. She is more likely to be shown as being sociable

based on the fact that she always does jobs that require interpersonal personality and networking.

There’s no scene indicating Trish is a top student, however, there’s no scene indicating that she

dislikes school or reading books either. Even though Austin is still a student in high school, in

the selected episodes he is never shown doing homework. When he’s not performing on stage,

he’s usually playing weird games he and Dez invented to kill time, not reading books or

practicing dancing and singing.

Besides portraying extroverted characters as having low academic achievements, they are

often portrayed as being unintelligent and eccentric in daily lives. Extroverts often act like

clowns and do quirky things. They provide the jokes for the teen sitcoms by doing eccentric

things and being mocked by other more sensible characters. In Austin & Ally, Austin does silly

things all the time. For example, he sometimes pronounces words incorrectly (pronouncing

Babylonian as Baby-lonian in season 4 episode 19); he uses a banjo as a badminton bat to play

badminton (season 1 episode 2) etc. His friend Dez is also an eccentric character. The first time

we see him in season 1 episode 1, he and Austin are in the music shop shooting a music video for

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Austin. Austin is using two corn dogs as drumsticks to play drum. Ally hears the noise and tries

to stop them.

(Ally whistles to stop Austin from playing drums)

Ally: Did you not see the “please do not play the drums” sign? (Laugh track)

Austin: It’s ok. I’m an awesome drummer.

(Laugh track. Austin continues playing)

Ally: What you just said has nothing to do with what I just said. Are those corn dogs?

Austin: Mm-hmm.

(Austin eats the corn dog he just used to play drum. Laugh track)

Ally: Ew. Do you know how dirty these drums are? And how unhealthy corn dogs are

and there’s no food allowed in there?

Dez: I’ll handle this, Austin. Ma’am, we are making a music video. I am the director,

although I prefer the term filmmaker.

(While Dez is speaking he accidently throws his camera on the ground and breaks it)

Dez: And cut! (Laugh track)

(Dez makes a gesture to indicate it’s a cut and yells. Laugh track)

Austin: We’re gonna need a lot of instruments. I can play anything…Piano, drums,

guitar, harp. I can even play a trumpet through another trumpet

(Laugh track, Austin plays trumpet through another trumpet)

Dez: Okay okay, well, I can play harmonica through a sousaphone.

(Dez puts a harmonica in the sousaphone, he blows the sousaphone and the harmonica

flys out of it all the way to an old lady. The old lady swallows it and gets choked. Laugh

track)

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Dez: Prepare to be Heimliched!

(Dez uses Heimlich maneuver to rescue the old lady, as he squeezes the old lady from

behind, the harmonica in the old lady’s body makes noises. Laugh track. As Austin and

Ally talks, a set of fake teeth with the harmonica inside flys to the table in front of them)

Dez: Got it! Whoo!

(Old lady looks surprised, without her fake teeth. Laugh track. )

Other funny things Dez does in this episode includes inventing perfume using Austin’s

sweat; keeping a ham in his backpack, his Austin merchandise and his crazy music video ideas.

From the beginning Dez is presented as someone who is quirky, funny, silly and a big goofball.

Most of the time he acts rather silly, unintelligent and lost in his own reality. His fashion style

can be quite colorful and strange and it makes him look like a clown sometimes. And his

movement and facial expression are often exaggerated, making him even funnier. The storylines

including Dez are never deep enough to make him into a well-rounded character. His existence

seems to be purely to support Austin and to make the series a little bit funnier. In each episode he

does stupid things to provide the comedy for the show.

This can be seen in other selected series as well. In Wizards of the Waverly Place, Zeke is

Justin’s best friend and he’s also a weird character. In the last episode of the last season, Harper

and Zeke are watching the Russo siblings’ family competition in the Russo’s house. He can’t

control himself and tries to touch everything he finds interesting. He picks up a garish legging

from the wardrobe and says he bets he can pull the leggings off with the right kind of shoes.

Harper warns him:” Could you put these hideous trousers back? They could be dangerous.”

Zeke’s responses: “How can they be dangerous. They don’t even have a zipper.” Harper then

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goes out to make some popcorn for them to sit and watch. She leaves Zeke alone and Zeke starts

to think he can use some magical item to make popcorn. He finds a crystal ball on the table and

he pretends to cast a spell: “Corn poppy with butter on toppy!” Yet nothing happens, of course,

since Zeke is a mortal. Zeke causes a lot of trouble in this episode. He turns purple when he

smells the purple murple potion. When he goes to the Russo siblings for help, a magical creature

escapes, grabs Zeke and Harper and flies away. The Russo siblings have to call a time-out to

save them, and it disqualifies them from the family competition as a result. During the whole

event, Zeke doesn’t act like a young adult, rather, he acts like a kid and never takes things

seriously.

Spencer in iCarly would be another example of the quirky extrovert. Although he is

Carly’s 26-year-old older brother, he often behaves like a man-child, and needs comfort and

support from Carly. Spencer was supposed to study in law school, get a steady job and be a

proper grown up, instead he decides to drop out and make art. His art is often eccentric and it’s

hard to see how he can make a living based on art. From the beginning Carly points out Spencer

is weird.

Carly: I’m home.

Spencer: Hi kiddo. Up here!

(We can see Spencer’s arm from the ceiling, but we can’t see his face. Carly

looks up)

Spencer: Just taking some pics of my robot sculpture. Smile! Yeah.

(Spencer takes picture of the robot, pretending the robot is a human)

Carly: You know, for most eighth-grade girls, if they came home and found their 26-

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year-old brother dangling upside down from the ceiling over a giant robot made out of

soda bottles, it’d be weird.

Spencer: You’re saying I’m abnormal.

Carly: Do I need to stay it? Come down from there before you hurt yourself.

Spencer: No worries! I got my legs wrapped around this pipe. Aah! Ooh!

(Spencer falls from the ceiling facing the floor)

Carly: So listen, I need to ask you for a favor.

Spencer: Shoot.

Carly: I have to video a bunch of auditions at school on Saturday.

Spencer: Fun.

Carly: Yeah, not really. Anyway, would you let me borrow your video camera?

Spencer: I would.

Carly: Awesome!

Spencer: Though, I can’t

Carly: Why not?

Spencer: I made it into a squirrel.

(Spencer chuckles, and shows Carly the squirrel made out of the camera.)

The examples above show that, although academic performance is not strongly correlated

with extroversion or introversion, it can be clearly seen that extroverts are stereotypically

represented as clowns while relative introverts are represented as nerds in the selected teen

sitcoms. Moreover, when extroverted characters do something eccentric, they are more likely to

be regarded as someone who always think and act “outside of the box”, as described by Austin in

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season 1 episode 4 of Austin & Ally, which indicates that they are perceived as creative. Despite

the silliness of TV extroverts, they are still able to succeed in the area they want to (Austin as a

singer; Dez as a filmmaker; Spencer as an artist etc.). Thus, the hidden message suggests that it is

okay to be unintelligent, as long as you are an extrovert. The strength you have as an extrovert,

such as being sociable, will compensate your unintelligence, and you can still achieve success

without trying.

On the other hand, it is hard to see what benefits introverts get from working hard and

having good grade. Relative introverts seldom get rewarded for being academically oriented.

They are still being taken advantage of and this positive trait doesn’t help them to improve their

social status among their peers. For example, in Season 4 Episode 20 of Drake & Josh, Drake

fails PE and he needs to participate in a dance competition to save himself from taking it again.

Josh wants to compete as well since he likes dancing and it can help him stay on top of his class.

Drake takes advantage of Josh and steals his dance partner, which leads to an argument and

conflict between the two brothers. In other selected episodes of Drake & Josh, Drake often

disregards Josh’s advice on spending more time on school work and takes advantage of Josh in

different things. Josh didn’t become more confident because of his intelligence and high

academic achievement. This can be observed more often when looking at relatively introverted

characters from series that place an emphasis on the difference of the main characters’

personalities, such as Drake & Josh, and Austin & Ally. When looking at iCarly and Wizards of

the Waverly Place, this phenomenon is not that obvious, however, the researcher still observed

that occasionally TV introverts are teased as being too “nerdy” or too “bookish”, or the ways

these TV introverts do things get neglected. Thus, what is considered as a positive trait in real

life does not reflect what is considered positive in the selected teen sitcoms.

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What can be potentially problematic with these stereotypical representations is that, they

reduce both extroverts and introverts into simple traits, whereas in reality both extroverts and

introverts can be either smart, academically oriented or weird and funny. These representations

send out messages to the audience about what is expected for both extroverts and introverts.

Extroverted audiences might perceive that it is okay to act like clowns and not making effort at

school while introverts might be discouraged to study since being academically oriented are not

perceived as cool. Stereotypes can be internalized and they can limit individuals’ potential

(Steele et al., 2003).

Responsibility

Since the researcher is looking at situation comedy, humor is an important part of the

story. The researcher observed that one way to provide humor for the show is to make characters

do silly things, and that’s exactly what extroverted characters do. Another way is to make

extroverts act irresponsible, which creates the conflicts between extroverted and introverted

characters and leads to drama and comedy.

In the selected teen sitcoms, the relatively introverted characters are portrayed as more

responsible than extroverts. This is reflected on different levels. First and foremost, it can be seen

that relative introverts take up more responsibilities at home, at work or in school. In Wizards of

the Waverly Place, due to Justin’s academic achievements and intelligence, he takes up tutoring

jobs at his family sandwich shop and at the wizard school. He’s the first one of his siblings to

take a job and learn about responsibility. In Austin & Ally, Ally helps her dad working in her

family music store. So in most episodes she stands behind the counter and helps customers

whereas her dad is rarely shown doing his job in the selected episodes. On the other hand, Austin

and Dez, the extroverted ones among the gang, are always messing around and causing trouble.

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In season 1 episode 1, Austin first appears on the screen playing drums using corn dog,

interrupting customers ignoring the sign in the store. In episode 2, Austin and Dez play

badminton with banjo while Ally is trying to focus on working. They interrupt other customers,

block the way, and make loud noises. Their irresponsible behaviors seldom cause them trouble

and they rarely take responsibility to clean the mess up. Ally’s best friend Trish, who is an

extrovert, is portrayed differently from Austin and Dez. She takes up new jobs in every episode.

She typically appears in every episode walking into the store, smiling, posing, and saying: guess

who got a job at the “fill in the blank” store. However, even though she takes up extra work, she

is never good at her jobs: she is always skipping work, doing wrong things, and getting fired

while Ally is taking good care of the music store and makes sure everything runs smoothly. In

Drake & Josh, Josh is the one who can be seen doing housework from time to time. He cooks

and cleans the house sometimes, and he takes a job in the movie theater and is promoted to the

manager role at the end of the series, while Drake mostly spends time playing guitar, causing

trouble and dating girls. Josh is also very hardworking. When he gets into the football team as an

equipment manager, he washes the football player’s clothes and makes them brownies without

any complaint (S2E4). The researcher didn’t find instances in iCarly that indicate relative

introverts are more responsible than extroverts or hold more responsibilities. All of the main

characters are extroverts and all of them have their own responsibilities. Carly, Sam and Freddie

have their own web shows to produce while Spencer has his art to make. Thus it is hard to

extract evidence from iCarly in terms of responsibility.

There’s a sharp contrast between extroverts and introverts in terms of work ethic, which

can be illustrated using the beginning of season 2 episode 2 of Drake & Josh as an example. At

the beginning section Drake and Josh talk about what they like to do and their attitude towards

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work.

(Drake plays guitar and talks to camera)

Drake: So after dinner tonight mom tells me and Josh to do the dishes.

(Josh does dishes and talking to camera)

Josh: You know, Drake’s supposed to be helping me do these dishes. But I don’t mind, I

like working.

Drake: It’s not that I have a problem with working. I just choose not to.

(Laugh track)

Josh: To me, getting a job done and done well, just feels good. I like doing dishes.

Drake: I like sleeping. (Laugh track)

Josh: Raking leaves.

Drake: Playing guitar.

Josh: Doing homework.

Drake: Tricking Josh into doing my homework. (Laugh track)

Josh: Well, dishes are done.

(Josh takes off his gloves)

Drake: That’s enough guitar for tonight.

(Drake puts away his guitar)

Josh: On to my next activity.

Drake: Time for my next activity.

Josh: Hello, broom.

(Josh talks to a broom and pretend it’s a person. He’s about to sweep the floor.

Laugh track)

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Drake: Hello, Michelle.

(Camera zooms out and there’s a girl sitting next to Drake, smiling at him, Drake puts his

arm around her. The girl kisses Drake on the cheek. Drake has this cool look on his face,

as if he’s the winner of life. Laugh track.)

This scene illustrates the power relationship between Drake and Josh. It is clear that

Drake has more power than Josh since he is manipulating Josh to do all his work. Josh likes to do

housework and he’s also kind, so he takes up Drake’s work without complaining. The laugh

track following some of Drake’s statements invites the audience to laugh at Drake’s statements

and Josh’s misfortune together, which normalizes Drake’s behavior, and further reinforced the

hierarchy between Drake and Josh. It is a problem that Drake manipulates Josh, and the laugh

track trivializes the seriousness of this problem.

The contrast between extroverts and introverts creates the conflict for the teen sitcoms.

Relatively introverted characters try to change extroverted characters and make them more

mature and responsible, but they often fail. The moral lessons of these teen sitcoms are not being

responsible is a good thing, rather, it is more about how working hard is perceived as lame,

especially when the work of those relatively introverted characters is not being appreciated by

the others, or even, get taken advantage of and extroverts take all the credits. In the first episode

of Austin & Ally, Austin steals Ally’s song and gets famous. In episode 2, Austin and Dez play

badminton with banjo while Ally is trying to focus on working. They put all the responsibility of

song writing on Ally and blame Ally for not working fast enough on their new song. They don’t

appreciate Ally letting them stay and play in the music store, and they are not recognizing Ally’s

talent and effort either. In Season 2 Episode 2 of Drake & Josh, Josh gets a job in the movie

theater. Even though it’s hard work, Josh enjoys it very much and likes to use the money he

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earns to buy things. However, soon Josh finds out that Drake sells Josh’s personal belongings

such as his stereo to get money to date girls. There’s no consequence for Drake’s behavior: Josh

doesn’t quarrel with him about it, neither does he tell his parents about it. Instead, Josh persuades

him to get a job, so he joins Josh and works for the movie theater as well. At work, Josh is in

charge of stacking up chocolate bars on the table. He organizes them perfectly while Drake just

stands there doing nothing. Josh offers to help Drake putting them up together. At this time,

Drake and Josh’s manager Helen comes over, and sees both of their stacks of chocolate. She

thinks the nice stacks are all Drake’s work and praises Drake, which Drake accepts without

shame, while saying to Josh: “Yours is askew.” and leaves without listening to Josh’s

explanation. After Halen leaves, Drake say to Josh: “You should fix that.” And he continues

standing next to Josh, doing nothing, Josh stares at Drake with an angry look accompanied by the

laugh track. The example from Wizards of the Waverly Place is less dramatic since most of the

characters are Average and the conflict of the stories is not focused on extroversion and

introversion. In the last episode, Zeke, who is an extrovert friend of Justin’s, is in the Waverly

family’s house watching the Waverly siblings family competition. Zeke touches every magical

item that he is curious about even though Harper tells him not to touch it. He does not think of

the danger before picking up things, which causes both Zeke and Harper in danger in the later

episodes.

Relative introverts are portrayed as more likely to follow the rules, do the right things,

and take responsibility for their action while extroverts are more likely to take risks and

disregard what is generally considered right. There is some truth in this representation since

previous research on personality and risk-taking suggests that the excitement-seeking dimension

of extroversion plays an important role in risk-taking (Zuckerman & Kuhlman, 2000).

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Extroversion is related to risky behavior such as risky sexual behavior, risky driving behavior

and drinking (Eysenck, 1976; Guo, Wei, Liao & Chu, 2016). Extroverts are more likely to take

risks in learning as well (Zafar & Meenakshi, 2012). It can be said that this representation of

extroverts and introverts reflects partial reality. However, what should be examined is how

people around these TV extroverts and TV introverts react to their risk-taking behavior and see

what is encouraged throughout the selected teen sitcoms.

The narratives of the selected teen sitcoms often send out a message that following rules

is too rigid and taking risks is cool. Relatively introverted characters are often trivialized since

their behaviors are not often appreciated and recognized by the others. The narrative of selected

teen sitcoms implies that following rules sometimes can’t solve problems, and what extroverts

prefer to do work better sometimes. For instance, in season 4 episode 25 of Wizards of the

Waverly Place, Justin wants to follow the rules and appeals to the wizard council when their

family sandwich shop, where their lair (the lair is the link to the magical world and where the

Russo family hide their magical items) is located, is at the risk of being taken away by a rich

person in 30 days. When he prints the lair relocation application, he finds out that the printer is

too slow and the application was 4000 pages long. So Alex suggests traveling through time.

Justin is totally against it because it could be very dangerous and might change the history and

cause trouble. Throughout the whole episode Justin tries to warn Alex and the rest of the family

about the danger and none of them takes him seriously. They still use time travel to fix the

problem, and each time they travel through time, they do cause problems. Yet in the end the

problem is solved, and Alex proudly says to Justin: “Well, Justin, I hope you learned a valuable

lesson. You can go back in time and fix something without causing any real problems.”

When extroverted characters act irresponsibly, they are not likely to have real

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consequences, and since acting out of the line is considered as cool, they sometimes encourage

introverts to do the same. Season 1 episode 6 of Drake & Josh demonstrates the difference of

consequences relatively introverted and extroverted characters have and how a relatively

introverted character feels about it. The boys say this as the introduction to start that episode.

Josh: Drake is unbelievable. You know, he’s just one of those guys who can get away

with anything. He does whatever he wants and like never gets in trouble. It’s like he lives

a charmed life, must be nice. Me, I always try to do the right thing. I follow all the rules,

cuz if I just think about doing something wrong, I get busted. I don’t get it. (Laugh track)

I wish I knew Drake’s secret. (Laugh track)

(Josh talks to the camera and watches TV at the same time, his feet are on the table.

Meanwhile, Drake is eating cake out of the fridge and drinking milk out of the carton. He

spills some milk on the floor and doesn’t bother cleaning the floor. And then he uses

curtain to wipe his hands. Laugh track)

Mom: Josh, get your feet off the table. (Laugh track)

Josh: Every time! (Laugh track)

While Josh always tries to do the right thing, Drake always makes it look like it is only

cool to break the rules, and he never gets caught, or even if he gets caught, he doesn’t get blamed

for it. So Josh thinks maybe he could try it too.

(Josh breaks the TV)

Drake: Dude, there’s a very easy way out of this.

Josh: What?

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Drake: Lie.

Josh: Lie?

Drake: Lie.

Josh: Lie. (Laugh track)

Drake: If mom and dad ask about the TV, you don’t know what happened.

Josh: But, but that’s not the truth.

Drake: Which is why they call it lying. (Laugh track)

Josh: I don’t know. Lying, it seems so wrong.

Drake: Wanna get grounded?

Josh: But it feels so right. (Laugh track)

Later when Josh’s mom finds out the TV is broken and asks Josh, Josh just can’t lie about

it. He completely breaks down and tells her the truth. He is grounded because he lied to his mom

and he has to do extra housework. He spends some time working on the dune buggy he and

Drake get and completely fixes it. Their parents forbid the two boys driving the dune buggy on

the street because it would be too dangerous. Josh follows the rules, of course, but Drake

proposes to drive the dune buggy outside without telling their parents. Josh is against it because

he hates to lie and he suffers from the consequence, so Drake drives the car on his own without

telling Josh. It is not hard to imagine what happens next: Drake gets into an accident, completely

wrecks the dune buggy that Josh put so much work into, and is sent to the emergency room.

Later when Drake comes back home, he tries to hide the truth but in the end he can’t cover it

anymore. When Josh finds out that Drake got into an accident and completely ruined the dune

buggy, he is really upset and he yells at Drake: “It’s about time you stop getting away with

everything! You talked me into lying about the TV! You got me grounded! And you took our

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dune buggy out when you were not supposed to and you wrecked it! I saw the buggy! I was

grounded for two weeks! I spent like 100 hours on that dune buggy, trying to fix it up and you

ruined it! And you’re hurt! But all you can think about is getting away with it. ‘Oh I’m Drake.

I’m so cool. I can get away with everything.’ Fine! I’ll stay grounded, and I’ll keep fixing the

dune buggy. You just keep worrying about yourself. ” After their argument, Drake decides to tell

their parents. His parents, however, don’t blame him at all.

Mom: Car accident?

Josh: He’s gonna get it now!

Drake: Actually it was a dune buggy accident.

Dad: What! Are you ok?

Drake: I kind of went to the emergency room and got x-rays.

Josh: Here is comes!

Mom: Poor baby…

Josh: Huh?

Mom: Just look at you, you can barely stand.

(Mom finds a chair, and dad helps Drake sit down.)

Drake: Easy, easy, easy. Everything hurts. Guys I’m really sorry I disobeyed you, I really

shouldn’t have.

Josh: Now he’s gonna get it.

Mom: Josh, did you know about this.

Josh: Well…

Mom: And you still made your father wrestle him?

Dad: You knew Drake was hurt?

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Josh: Wow, wow, wait a second.

Drake: Guys, guys, guys, go easy on him. He’s a good kid. And about the TV accident,

it’s really my fault. I talked Josh into lying about it.

(Both mom and dad looks at Josh, Josh nods)

Mom: We’ll talk about this later.

Dad: What else did the doctor say?

Drake: That I should just stay in bed and rest for a week.

Mom: Well that’s gonna be easy, cuz you’re grounded.

Josh: Finally!

(Josh dances and yells)

What can be seen in selected teen sitcoms is that, relative introverts and relative

extroverts often have opposite view in terms of their value, interests, and what their

responsibilities are as teenagers. Relative introverts are more hardworking, honest, dutiful, and

respect for the rules their parents and teachers set for them while relative extroverts are more

rebellious and adventurous. Relative extroverts don’t consider clearly what the consequences are

following their reaction while introverts act more mature and responsible. A relative introvert is

close to an ideal self in the Culture of Character while a relative extrovert is the ideal self in the

Culture of Personality. According to Susman, an ideal self in the Culture of Character is serious,

disciplined, hardworking, and virtuous while in the Culture of Personality one should be

confident, aggressive, unique and entertaining (Susman, 1984; Nicholson, 1998; Cain, 2012).

Since relative introverts are less likely to be gregarious and sociable than extroverts, they might

not be able to stand out at first glance. As a result, their effort and contribution are often

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neglected. Relative extroverts often take advantage of introverts and relative introverts’ work

have been taken for granted. Moreover, based on the consequences of relative extroverts’ and

introverts’ behavior, being responsible, hardworking, sensible are not considered positive traits

among their teenage peers. Being rebellious is considered cool. This means it is desired to avoid

work and duty. It makes extroverted characters more popular than introverts in return, which the

researcher will discuss in the next theme.

Popularity

Popularity, according to Mejis, Cillessen, Scholte et al, has two definitions (Parkhurst &

Hopmeyer,1998, Mejis, Cillessen, Scholte, Segers, & Spijkerman, 2010). One definition is

sociometric popularity. An individual who is sociometrically popular is well-liked and accepted

by others. He/she often displays high level of prosocial and cooperative behavior and low level

of aggression. He/she also has high quality friendships and is emotionally stable and mature

(Rubin, Bukowski & Parker, 1998). The second definition of popularity is perceived popularity,

which indicates “social dominance, influence, and prestige in the peer group” (Mejis, Cillessen,

Scholte, Segers, & Spijkerman, 2010). Perceived popular teenagers are characterized as cool,

powerful, influential, arrogant, exclusionary, elitist, manipulative, controlling and aggressive,

which demonstrate both positive and negative qualities (Adler & Adler 1998; Eder 1985; Lease

Kennedy & Axelrod. 2002). Adolescents who are perceived popular tend to engage in activities

with high visibility and prestige, such as sports events and cheerleading. They also know how to

use their social skills to maintain their popular status. Adler et al. found that what influences

popularity vary by gender. Boys who are high on perceived popularity are athletic, cool, and

tough, with good social skills and success in cross-gender relationships. Girls who are perceived

popular are from high socioeconomic backgrounds, have good physical appearance, good social

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skills, and can achieve academic success (Adler et al., 1992)

In the chosen teen sitcoms, the researcher found a similarity of situation between the

reality and the fiction. Extroverted characters are presented to have more traits that result in high

perceived popularity than relatively introverted characters. Extroverted characters are more

likely to have highly visible hobbies that can be performed in the public. These hobbies include

playing music, dancing, cheerleading, playing football etc. These are the hobbies that normally

people would consider as cool and exciting and often help extroverted characters gain public

attention since they can entertain other people. On the other hand, what relatively introverted

characters like to do, such as reading, cloud watching etc., are often considered as lame and

boring. As a result, extroverts are more popular than relative introverts, and stands on a higher

social status than introverts in the selected teen sitcoms.

One good example can be found in Austin & Ally. In season 1 episode 4, Austin and Ally

want to get to know each other better by learning more about each other’s hobbies. One of Ally’s

hobbies is cloud watching. She is in the cloud-watching club and she asks Austin to go with her.

While Ally is excited about looking at the clouds, Austin keeps yawning and looking at his

watch. After the cloud watching, Austin says: “Ok, now I know you better. You like really lame

things.” In season 2 episode 3, Megan, a reporter at a famous magazine, wants to interview

Austin and Ally. That magazine was well known for its coolness and they only get in because

Trish lies about their hobbies and what they usually do in their daily lives. So they have to come

up with really exciting, risky things they did to make them more popular.

Trish: Austin, I’ve been on the phone all morning with “Cheetah Beat.” They are sending

over their top reporter to interview you.

Austin: Whoa!

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Dez: Awesome!

Austin: They must have loved that questionnaire you filled out for me.

Trish: Oh, and if she asks, you’re a 10

degree black belt in Kung Fu, you swim with

sharks, race motorcycles, and a bunch of other crazy stuff I can’t remember. (Laugh

track)

Ally: You shouldn’t have lied. Being cool isn’t about doing crazy exciting things. It’s

those special qualities you have deep down that make you cool.

Dez: Yeah, that sounds like something an uncool person would say.

(Austin nods to agree with Dez. Laugh track)

The laugh track plays the important role for us to understand the hidden message in this

scene. When Dez says what Ally thought is uncool, the laugh track is played in the background,

which invites all the audience to agree with Dez and provides a safe space to laugh at Ally’s

statement. This renders Ally into passivity and her ideal of coolness into ridicule since the

laughter suggests everyone agrees with Dez. Megan, Trish, Dez and Austin’s perception of

coolness is a good example of the Extrovert Ideal. In order to be popular, one has to be

confident, unique and entertaining. One has to show their coolness on the outside. Yet, Ally

thinks it is more important to have unique qualities on the inside instead of showing it off in front

of the others. According to Ally, one must take time to discover what’s deep down inside oneself

or the others. This kind of thinking is not compatible with the style of teen sitcoms, but it

resonates with Jung’s definition of introversion: introversion is defined as an attitude type

characterized by focusing on one’s “inner psychic activity” (Jung, 1995). Previous research also

shows that introverts tend to make friends slowly, have a few but long-term, very close friends,

which is what Ally wants and expects others to do (Nelson & Throne, 2012). However, it seems

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like being modest and being an adventurer of the inner world is not going to work if one wants to

be popular, instead, one has to demonstrate their coolness on the surface in order to distinguish

oneself from others, and leaves the first impression that’s fascinating, fast-paced and exciting.

Acting extroverted can help relative introverts gain popularity. In some of the selected

episodes, the main plotline is about introverts acting extroverted in order to become more

popular. One example can be found in Season 3 Episode 7 of Austin & Ally. In this episode,

Ally’s boss forbids Ally to write songs for Austin because Austin has a contract with a different

company. Austin and Ally try to find another good songwriter but they can’t find any, so Ally

comes up with the idea that she can write under an alias Roxy Rocket. This way her boss would

never know the two are still working together. Their new song is a big hit and all the fans want to

know more about Roxy, so the gang make up her personality and appearance based on the

complete opposite of Ally: tall, sassy, super confident, a good dancer, a fashionista, and a person

who is not afraid to speak her mind. She is also a Swedish pop punk with pink and blonde

checkerboard hair. She is a lot more extroverted than Ally. When Ally dresses like Roxy, she is

completely changed inside out. She is very comfortable standing in front of the camera and says

bold things, which Ally isn’t. Austin and Roxy both get interviewed about the new song, and the

interviewer says: “Well, Roxy. You just bring this fire that Ally never had, and I think you’re

more talented than her. In my opinion, Ally Dawson wasn’t such an important part of your

success (referred to Austin) after all. She was overrated.” Roxy gets really angry and starts to

confront the interviewer: “What do you know? You don’t write music. You just sit there with

your over-gelled swoopy hair and read stupid questions off of stupid cards. And another thing,

Ally has worked too hard to be treated with such disrespect. Am I right, Miami?” Roxy turns to

the audience and yells. The audience applauds, laughs, screams and starts yelling Roxy’s name.

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Later, Ally admits: “being Roxy made her feel powerful.” Her boss likes Roxy’s style and wants

Roxy to work with Ally. Then he finds out that Roxy is Ally, at this point, Ally says she would

handle it and be completely straightforward with her boss: “Writing songs for Austin helped me

to be a better artist, and that’s the artist you signed. So let me get right to the point. I will

continue writing songs for Austin. You will not drop me from the label, and you’re gonna like

it!” Her boss Ronnie says: “Hey, no one talks to Ronnie Ramone like that. I’m impressed, and a

little frightened. Look, Ally, I’d rather let you keep writing for Austin than lose you as an artist.”

This episode shows that being dominant, confident and extroverted not only helps to

increase popularity, it is also empowering. Even though Roxy and Ally are the same person with

the same level of music talent, people perceive Roxy as cooler and more powerful. It can change

public perception of one’s ability to do one’s job. People assume one is better at what he/she

does if he/she acts more extroverted and it can lead to a successful career. This reflects previous

research that people tend to perceive extroverts as more competent. They are perceived as having

more ideas and better insights than introverts (Paulhus & Morgan, 1997; Taager & Hackew &

Saha, 1999; Swann & Rentfrow, 2001; Anderson & Kilduff, 2009; Premuzic, 2013). Moreover,

previous research also suggests that extroverts are happier and wealthier, and they tend to make

greater social impacts (Ching, Church & Katigbak et al, 2014; DiNardo, 2003; Fleeson, 2011;

Jensen-Campbell & Graziano, 2001; Keirsey Research Study, 2010; Trombley, 2013). Relative

introverts can benefit from acting more extroverted (Zelenski, Santoro & Whelan, 2012). Thus,

acting extroverted helps TV introverts not only to survive but also thrive. They gain popularity

through acting extroverted, which leads to success in their career.

Other examples of relatively introverted characters trying to act more extroverted to gain

popularity can be found in the other selected teen sitcoms as well. In Drake & Josh, Josh tries

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out for the school football team to look cool and to gain popularity (S2E4). He also lies that he

knows how to play guitar and hides the fact that his hobby is playing chess (S1E4). In Wizard of

the Waverly Place, Justin tries to join baseball team to become more popular and to impress a

girl (S1E15).

This leads to another aspect of perceived popularity, which is associated with

attractiveness to the opposite sex. According to Brown, adolescents in early and mid-adolescence

go through the status phase, in which their romantic involvement is an important means of

establishing, improving, or maintaining peer group status (Brown, 1999). In other words, being

able to get involved in romantic relationships indicates popularity. In the chosen teen sitcoms, all

the characters are heterosexual. The researcher observed that extroverted characters are more

likely to be shown talking to potential love interests while introverted characters are more likely

to be presented as failing to initiate a conversation with their love interests, however, acting more

extroverted also helps attract the opposite sex.

This is not that obvious when the main character is a girl. When a girl is casted as the

main character, the researcher observed that the series focused less on the importance of the

number of people the character flirted with or date with. Instead, if the girl finds a potential love

interest, the show focuses more on developing their relationship. However, there is still trace of

evidence that shows adhering to Extrovert Ideal would help gaining popularity, which leads to

increase in possibilities to get a date. In iCarly, after Carly and Sam launch their webcast and

become web stars, they hold a party to celebrate their big success. And on that party, boys start

talking to them, saying what they did is really cool. Carly and Sam look very surprised and

happy and it’s obvious that they don’t get chances like this very often. However, this is not how

Carly is like in daily lives. In season 3 episode 3, Carly needs to find a date to go to a dance. She

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first asks a boy she likes in school, but she gets nervous and accidentally spits in his eyes. She

gets rejected. So Freddie and Sam decide to post the information on their show and guys who

want to ask Carly out to the dance can apply. They get huge amount of application, and they

have to do speed dating at the same to quickly find someone as a good match for Carly. Here

Carly has two identities, one is a normal school girl who does not have any publicity, and

another is a popular web celebrity who is overtly energetic and social when facing the camera.

When she takes on the role as the normal school girl, she isn’t portrayed as popular and

attractive, but when she takes on the role as the web celebrity, guys act like moths to the flame.

Although Carly is an extroverted girl, when she gains publicity, acts more extroverted on the

web show, she gets more popular.

When a boy is the main character, this pattern is more frequent and obvious since in

traditional dating scripts, men are expected to initiate dates, whereas women are expected to be

alluring and facilitate the conversation. This dating script has not changed much over the past

two decades (Eaton & Rose, 2011). Moreover, one of the determinants for boys to achieve high

perceived popularity is their success in cross-gender relationships while this is not a determinant

for popular girls (Adler et al., 1992). Extroverted male characters seemed to stand on a higher

social hierarchy than introverted male characters when it comes to romantic relationships. A

good example can be found in Drake & Josh. Drake, as an extrovert, is portrayed as a lot more

popular than Josh. Drake flirts with a new girl in almost every episode and he always gets his

way. In fact, in one episode Drake yells to a girl in a blue t-shirt and asks if she wants to watch a

movie with him, and the girl says yes, just like that (S4E19). In Season 2 Episode 4, Drake

actually flips a coin to choose which girl in school he wants to talk to, and even though his line

can be perceived as uncool in real life, the girl likes it and responds in a positive way.

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Drake: oh Valerie….Mandy….

(Drake flips a coin. Laugh track)

Drake: Mandy, it’s your lucky day. (Laugh track) Excuse me, but would you by any

chance be a cheerleader?

Mandy: How did you guess? Was it my pompoms? My uniform?

Drake: Oh, you know, I didn’t even notice that uniform. I guess I was too busy looking at

your incredible eyes.

Mandy: Incredible eyes, you know, you’re only the fourth guy to try that line on me

today (Laugh track).

Drake: Oh yeah? How did it work out for the first 3?

Mandy: Not as well as it’s working for you.

On the other hand, as a relatively introverted character, Josh is presented as “not so good

with the ladies”, according to Drake in Season 1 Episode 4. In the beginning of the episode, Josh

and Drake are both on the phone, however, the people they are talking to are different.

(Both Drake and Josh are on the phone)

Drake: Oh, come on. You know I think you’re awesome.

Josh: Aw, come on. You know I love you.

Drake: Oh hey hey, I got to go. Maybe I’ll call you this weekend.

Josh: I’ll call you this weekend, ok?

Drake: Bye, Stephanie.

Josh: Bye, grandma.

(Both hang up and start talking to the camera. Laugh track)

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Drake: I love talking to girls.

Josh: I love talking to my granny. I just wish it was as easy to talk to females who aren’t,

you know, elderly.

Drake: Josh on the other hand, not so smooth with the ladies.

Josh: It’s like me and girls speak different languages. They speak English, I speak idiot.

(Laugh track) I don’t know, but my dad always says, the most important thing to

remember is to always be yourself.

Drake: The most important thing to remember is to always be yourself, unless you’re

Josh. (Laugh track)

The beginning of the episode makes it clear that the contrast between Drake and Josh is

big. Throughout the series the contrast between these main two characters serves as the comedic

impetus. In this scene, Josh is portrayed as unable to speak to women unless he’s speaking to

older women. Drake, on the other hand, is able to court girls with ease. Josh is considered a total

failure in terms of dating, which can be seen from his own opinion and Drake’s comment. The

laugh track further reinforces this message and invites the audience to laugh at Josh’s failure

together. Later when Josh talks to the girl he likes, Kathy, he keeps talking about spoons.

Josh: Oh hey, Kathy.

Kathy: Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.

Josh: You didn’t scare me. I just as—zu-zu-be-spoons?

Kathy: Spoons?

Josh: Yeah. Yeah. Do you like spoons? (Laugh track)

Kathy: I think they are very helpful with cereal and soup.

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Josh: That’s what I’m saying. (Laugh track)

(Josh laughs nervously)

Kathy: Well, bye.

(After Kathy leaves, Josh hits himself on his forehead. Laugh track.)

Josh: Spoon?! The best I can come up is spoons? Ohh.

(Josh puts his head in his locker, looking frustrated. Laugh track. Drake walks up

to him.)

Drake: Josh, what wrong?

Josh: She thinks I’m an idiot.

Drake: Kathy?

Josh: Yes.

Drake: Did you say spoons again? (Laugh track)

From what Drake says, it seems like Josh gets nervous every time talking to attractive

girls. It is interesting to see that Josh, as a relatively introverted male among the two, is portrayed

as not being able to communicate to the opposite sex. It reflects the misperception and stereotype

that introverts are shy and socially awkward, which isn’t always true. Introversion is only one’s

tendency to turn inward and concentrate on his/her own feelings. In fact, even though finding

people to date can be hard for introverts, dating itself can be quite comfortable since it requires

one-on-one social interaction (Dembling, 2015).

Not only is Josh presented as socially awkward when talking to girls, he is presented as

unattractive to the opposite sex. His physical appearance isn’t ideal compared to Drake. Drake is

fit and Josh is overweight in the first two seasons. Josh likes cheese, which is not really healthy.

Moreover, Josh is portrayed as feminine compared to Drake. In the first episode of Drake &

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Josh, Josh was portrayed as shy, kind, unaggressive and sweet. He looks like a good boy who

followed what his parents tell him to do. The fact that he drinks milk instead of coke also implies

that he doesn’t act like a rebellious teenager. Later in the first episode Drake finds Josh cross-

dressing and writing an advice column for the school newspaper, which is a non-traditional

masculine behavior. Drake says Josh is unusual which makes Drake the norm and Josh the other.

In season 1 episode 4, after Drake helps Josh de-dorkifying and learn to speak to girls. He asks

Josh to give it a final practice before going to school.

Drake: What’s your favorite sport?

Josh: Checkers. (Laugh track)

Drake: Josh.

Josh: Football. Football. Because football is manly and I’m all man. (Laugh track)

(Megan comes in with a snake in her hands)

Megan: Hey guys.

(Josh screams and fells on the ground. Laugh track)

Drake: What a man. (Laugh track)

In this scene, it should be noted that Josh’s real hobby, checkers, is considered feminine,

and he has to lie that he likes football because football is manlier. The laugh track after Josh says

his hobby is checkers suggests that the audience knows and agrees that it’s not going to work

with the girls. Checkers is a hobby that does not have high visibility and requires a lot of

intelligence. Intelligence is considered strength in real life, however, since this activity does not

usually attract public attention, it does not help Josh to be considered more masculine and

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achieve higher perceived popularity. Josh has to lie to prove that he’s “all man”. Yet, when he

gets scared of Megan’s pet snake and screams, the real him is revealed, and Drake sarcastically

commented: “what a man.”

As the researcher mentioned before, Josh changed slightly in the last two seasons. In the

end he is no longer afraid of talking to girls. He’s not as smooth as Drake, but he’s not as

nervous as before. He also lost a lot of weight and looks as good as Drake. In season 4 episode

20, which is the last episode of the last season, Josh enters a dance contest to get extra credit in

order to be the top student in his class. He needs to find a dance partner. He interviews several

girls in person. Although he still has a shy and sweet smile on his face when talking to girls, he

has no trouble communicating with them. However, Drake enters the competition as well and

Josh’s dance partner Emily chooses Drake over Josh. When putting Drake and Josh together,

Josh is still the feminine one.

As the researcher wrote in the previous theme, relatively introverted males are a lot more

hardworking in school than extroverted male. However, this trait does not help relatively

introverted males to become more popular. Traits such as athleticism, coolness, toughness, good

social skills and success in cross-gender relationships are the basis for a boy to achieve high

status among his peers while hardworking or success in the academic life are not (Adler et al.,

1992). Moreover, Hodgetts stated that to be a boy is to “succeed without trying” (Hodgetts,

2008, p. 476). Research has proposed that academic hard work is generally incompatible with

‘cool’ masculinities” in many schools (Epstein, 1998; Frosh et al., 2002; Younger and

Warrington, 2005; Jackson, 2006; Hodgetts, 2008; Jasckson, 2009). Masculinity is a relative

construct and only exists when femininity exists. Thus, when a boy is not masculine enough, he

would be considered feminine. As a result, to be accepted and be regarded as popular and

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masculine, one must avoid displaying overt hard work in school. This can be seen in both Drake

& Josh and Wizards of the Waverly Place. Josh has to pretend he likes football to attract girls,

and he tries out for the football team after listening to Drake’s advice in season 2 episode 4.

Justin from Wizards of the Waverly Place also tries out for the baseball team to attract the girl he

likes in season 1 episode 15. Both of the boys failed to realize that their intelligence is a strength

and utilize it attract the opposite sex. As the researcher stated before, romantic involvement is an

important means of establishing, improving, and maintaining peer group status (B.B. Brown,

1999). As a result, relatively introverted characters like Josh and Justin are rendered as unpopular

and are placed on a lower social status among their peers.

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Chapter 5: Conclusion

In the book Quiet, Susan Cain stated that she observed there’s a preference of

extroversion over introversion in the American society. An ideal self should be “gregarious,

alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight” (Cain, 2012, p.4). Moreover, she observed that the

protagonists for the current teen sitcoms tend to have “outsized personalities” and they are rock

stars and webcast hostesses instead of the normal “children next door” (Cain, 2012, p.6). Inspired

by Cain’s observation, the researcher aims to examine her statements by answering questions

about how extroverts and introverts are represented on screen, whether extroversion is a

privileged personality, and how extroversion and introversion interplay with race, ethnicity, and

gender.

In the analysis of the representations of extroverts and introverts in Disney and

Nickelodeon teen sitcoms, it was noticed how extroverted and introverted characters interact and

compete with one another, creating a complex relationship between the two, which in return

serves as the comedic impetus for teen sitcoms and created the hierarchy among different

characters. The representations of extroverts and introverts often put extroverts in a more

powerful position than the relatively introverted characters, and render these relative introverts

passive and powerless. This reflects the preference towards extroversion over introversion in the

American society.

To begin with, introverted characters are symbolically annihilated in the selected teen

sitcoms. Among 37 characters, only 3(8%) are introverts. When looking at how gender interplays

with extroversion and introversion, 2 (10%) of the female characters and 1 (6%) of the male

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characters are introverts. Among main characters, only 1(7%) male character is introvert.

According to Stuart Hall, representation gives a group of people their public identity. It shows

that this group of people is relevant and important to the society (Evans, Hall & Nixon, 2012).

Thus, the symbolic annihilation of introverted characters implies that introverted people, along

with their strength and their talent, are not being recognized by the society. The

underrepresentation serves as gentle violence towards potential audience who identify

themselves as introverts since it conveys a message that extroverted behaviors are considered as

acceptable and norm in the society. Ultimately, the lack of recognition renders introverted people

in the society powerless and further reinforces the Extrovert Ideal.

When relatively introverted characters or introverted behaviors are presented, they are

often trivialized. As the researcher mentioned in the Introverts in an Extroverted World theme,

introverted behaviors are neglected and discouraged in the world of current teen sitcoms.

Relatively introverted characters are often under the pressure that they need to change

themselves. Their ways of doing things and seeing the world are not accepted by their peers. The

narrative often emphasizes how introverted characters are trying to change the way they behave

in order to be more popular. According to Gross, the trivialization and condemnation often

reflect the interests of elites who define the public agenda (Gross, 1992; Venzo & Hess, 2013).

Thus, this representation also suggests that the content creators of the current teen sitcoms have a

preference of extroverts over relative introverts. By making the extroverts as the more “popular”

ones, the selected series identify what is considered to be cool, and they market an empowered

identity and extroverted lifestyle to the audiences.

Introversion and extroversion are stereotypically portrayed in both positive and negative

ways in the current teen sitcoms. Extroversion is associated with unintelligent, non-academically

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oriented and irresponsible; yet these traits made relative extroverts appear to be cool and popular.

Introversion is associated with intelligent, academically oriented, responsible and hardworking.

However, relative introverts are often teased by their peers and considered uncool and unpopular.

The stereotypical representations reduce these two types of personality into a few traits, and

present to the audience a distorted image of both extroverts and introverts. Although previous

research shows that extroverts tend to take risks and are bolder in terms of socializing with other

people, these differences were exaggerated in the selected teen sitcoms (Ashton, Lee &

Paunonen, 2002; Berry & Miller, 2001; Lajunen, 2001). It is true that extroverts and introverts

differ in their styles in terms of learning, socializing and leadership, yet it would be reductionist

and arbitrary to say which one is a better personality. It would be wrong to use it as a standard to

judge the other.

It can be said that being responsible, intelligent and hardworking as well as having high

grades are positive stereotypes for the introverts. However, these positive stereotypes are not

meant to be complementary, since these traits are the reason why introverts are being trivialized

while at the same time that their extroverted friends are perceived as successful and talented.

Extroverts can basically get away with everything in the selected teen sitcoms. It places

extroversion as the most important traits while the other traits are placed on the second place. It

also places extroverted characters on the top and renders introverted characters as second-class

citizens.

Moreover, positive stereotypes have been used to offer a “still accepted means for

members of dominant groups to funnel members of disadvantaged groups to domains they have

traditionally occupied or to subtly communicate what society expects of them” (Czopp, Kay &

Cheryan, 2015). Positive stereotypes render introverts passive and kept them from being in a

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more proactive role and leadership position. They are usually kept on the backstage to support

their extroverted peers. For example, in Austin & Ally, because of Ally’s talent in writing

beautiful lyrics, she is directed to writer position and is portrayed as having terrible stage fright

in front of the audience. In the beginning of the series, Ally focuses on developing Austin’s

music career instead of hers. And she only becomes famous after she overcomes her stage fright.

In Drake & Josh, Josh is hardworking, responsible and organized. As a result, he is limited to

jobs that only requires him to support other people instead of taking the lead while Drake always

takes his work for granted and never appreciates his efforts. In Wizards of the Waverly Place,

Justin’s way of doing things are often neglected and the whole family is usually under Alex’s

lead.

This reflects the common misunderstanding of extroversion and introversion in terms of

leadership and working style. Extroverts are perceived as more competent and having more ideas

and insights than introverts (Paulhus & Morgan, 1997; Taager & Hackew & Saha, 1999; Swann

& Rentfrow, 2001; Anderson & Kilduff, 2009; Premuzic, 2013). They are also perceived as

better leaders. Again, there’s no direct connection between someone’s personality and their job

performance or their leadership skills, rather, it is a question of style (Jones & Sutherland, 2012).

As leaders, extroverts are more people oriented and collaborative while introverts are more

reflective and analytical (Cain, 2012; Gosling, Jones & Sutherland, 2012). It wouldn’t be fair to

portray both extroverts and introverts in this stereotypical way, and it wouldn’t be fair to push

introverts to the backstage instead of giving them the opportunities to lead others.

When looking at how extroversion and introversion interplays with gender, the researcher

noticed that female characters have more freedom to exhibit introverted behaviors than male

introverted characters. Relative introverted males are treated a lot worse by his relatively

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extroverted friends compared to relatively introverted female. When TV introverts exhibit

introverted behavior, such as showing a preference for activities such as playing chess, watching

cloud, reflecting, or reading books, female introverts are likely to be teased by their friends while

introverted males are likely to be considered as failure. Relatively introverted males are also

rendered as feminine and unattractive, which makes them less popular and hinders their romantic

relationship with the opposite sex. Previous research shows that extroverted males tend to be

bolder with women they don’t know than introverted males (Berry & Miller, 2001). This is also

reflected in the current teen sitcoms. Extroverted males are more likely to be shown having

different girlfriends in different episodes while introverted males have trouble communicating

with the opposite sex. However, being able to pick up different girls does not mean that

extroverts have a deeper, more meaningful relationship with the opposite sex. Drake from Drake

& Josh changes girlfriends in almost every episode, yet it is hard to see if he is ever connected to

any one of them. Josh, on the other hand, although having trouble talking to girls in the

beginning of the season, ends up having an on and off long term romantic relationship with a

very ambitious, smart and strong girl called Mindy. Mindy appreciates Josh’s sweet and kind

nature. Their relationship is much more emotional and mature than any romantic relationship

Drake has before. Thus, it can be said that relatively introverted males are rendered feminine

compared to extroverted males, there are still people who appreciate their strength and love them

for who they are.

The consequence of both positive and negative stereotypes of extroverts and introverts is

that, it sent out messages to the audience about the expectations the society holds, which could

limit individual’s potential to achieve their own goals (Steele et al., 2003). Audiences who are

exposed to these stereotypes are under the influence of these images as they try to distant

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themselves from or live up to the expectation. Extroverted audiences might perceive being an

unintelligent, goofy, irresponsible, and lazy as desired traits as these make the extroverted

characters cooler and more popular. Introverted audiences might consider being academically

oriented, hard working, responsible as a bad thing since introverted characters don’t get positive

outcomes from having these traits. Extroverts in real life can be intelligent, responsible and

insightful, while introverts can be attractive, dominant, and fun. The simplified generalization of

both two personalities only reflects the society’s perception rather than the truth (Mastro, 2009;

Sue & Kitano, 1973). Moreover, according to Hall, Lipmann and Crandall et al., stereotypes are

used to maintain and reinforce social hierarchy by defining what is normal and acceptable and

what is abnormal and unacceptable (Evans, Hall & Nixon, 2012; Lippmann, 1922; Crandall et

al., 2011). In the selected teen sitcoms, introverted behaviors, such as needing time and space

alone to reflect on oneself, or reading book are considered unacceptable. Everyone is on the go

all the time and that’s the norm. Thus, the TV introverts became the “other” and the social and

symbolic order was maintained.

It should be noted that although extroverts in the selected teen sitcoms are represented as

irresponsible, clownish, popular, cool and fun while relative introverts are represented as nerdy,

responsible, hardworking and unpopular, these traits are not sub traits of extroversion and

introversion. Rather, the researcher argue that extroversion and introversion is associated with

these traits and this association is a way to reinforce the Hip and Square binary in teen sitcoms.

According to Greene, teen programs often express a Hip-Square tension in which Hip represents

rock, rebel and liberal, while Square represents down-to-earth attitude, conform and

conservative. One is a “frontiersman in the Wild West of American nightlife” and the other is

“trapped in the totalitarian tissues of American society” (Mailer, 1957, p. 339). Hip is also urban,

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and Square is rural. East and West coast are Hip while Midwestern and Southern are Square. All

of the chosen teen sitcoms are set in urban and suburban settings (iCarly in Seattle, Austin & Ally

in Miami, Drake & Josh in San Diego, and Wizards of the Waverly Place in New York), and the

dominant societal representation in these teen sitcoms constructed a normal teenage lifestyle

around an idealized Hip lifestyle and consists bourgeois teenagers, which, according to Greene,

is predominantly metropolitan, Northern, Coastal, middle-to-upper class, and white. The tension

between extroverts and relative introverts epitomizes the Hip and Square. The entertaining, cool,

rebellious extrovert is the Hip, and the down-to-earth, responsible, hardworking relative introvert

is the Square.

The emphasis of the importance of perceived popularity can be seen everywhere in the

selected teen sitcoms, which is the most prominent way of promoting the Extrovert Ideal. As

Cain defined in her book, the Extrovert Ideal is the “omnipresent belief that the ideal self is

gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in front of the spotlight” (Cain, 2012, p. 4). Being gregarious,

alpha and comfortable in front of the spotlight are considered as norm and achieving high

perceived popularity is often desired in selected teen sitcoms. In addition, the plotlines of the

current sitcoms focus on teenagers trying to pursue a career in music, web show host to become

famous instead of focusing on adventures of their inner world, growing pain and life lessons. It

shouldn’t be considered that the current focus of teen sitcoms is bad and shallow, but it is also

not diverse enough to reach audiences who are potentially falling onto any random position of

the extroversion/introversion spectrum.

It is true that most of the time the current series are promoting the Extrovert Ideal,

however, there are still exceptions. It would be reductionist to say that Cain’s statement is fully

supported by the current teen sitcoms. The researcher finds that introverts still play an important

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role to create humor and drama for the series. They drive the storylines and offer an alternative

personality and opinion in the stories. In the end, although introverted characters such as Josh,

Justin and Ally make a lot of effort to survive and thrive in the extroverted world, they are still

likable and successful. Moreover, sometimes these teen sitcoms send out alternative messages to

encourage individuals to be themselves. For example, the theme song from Austin & Ally tries to

convey a message to the audience that, although Austin and Ally have very different

personalities, they need to appreciate the differences between the two and learn to work with

each other because there’s no way they can make it without each other.

There's no way I can make it without you

Do it without you

Be here without you

It's no fun when you're doing it solo

With you it's like whoa

Yeah and I know

I, own this dream

Cause I've got you with me

There's no way I can make it without you

Do it without you

Be here without you

The lyrics above summarize the relationship between Austin and Ally and imply that

both extroverts and introverts need to learn to appreciate each other’s strength. Moreover,

although Drake in Drake & Josh takes advantage of Josh most of the time, there are moments

where Drake feels sorry for treating Josh like this and shows his appreciation for Josh. Although

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incidences like these are scarce, it should still be noticed and encouraged.

Symbolic annihilation of introverted people and stereotypical representations of both

extroverts and introverts in the current teen sitcoms denote that the media content creators tend

to neglect the potential of different stories to make good and diverse TV narratives. It is

understandable that, as teen sitcoms are under the sitcom genre, their main purposes are to make

the audience laugh. Thus, it is not as easy to use introverts as using extroverts as the main

characters since extroverts are more likely to mingle, their emotions are more expressive and

they might have more social lives going on. However, there are still potential to create narratives

that do not emphasize the binary or the conflict between extroverts and introverts or place

extroversion as a superior personality. After all, extroversion/introversion is only one dimension

of personalities (Digman, 1990, 1996; Goldberg, 1990; McCrae & Costa, 1990, p.23; McCrae&

John, 1992). The other four dimensions: Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and

Openness to Experience can also play an important role in terms of one’s popularity. The

researcher advises the content creators of teen sitcoms to explore alternative narratives to create a

deeper, more diverse and inclusive media environment.

Since the Extrovert Ideal is still a prominent ideology in the American society, future

research can focus on this topic to develop a more comprehensive understanding of how

Extrovert Ideal is promoted in the media landscape. There are certain limitations to this study

that should be noted for future studies. First of all, this thesis only examined teen sitcoms

produced by “the big two” – Disney and Nickelodeon. Thus, it would be wrong to assume that

the findings in this thesis can apply to all of the American teen sitcoms. Future research could

take on quantitative approach and do content analysis on a large scale of teen sitcoms across

different channels such as PBS, MTV and Fox. This way we can have a more comprehensive

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understanding of how prevalent the Extrovert Ideal among teen sitcoms in different networks and

how the profit-driven aspect of media production influenced the representation of extroverts and

introverts.

Second, future research can try to develop a more suitable personality instrument to test

the personalities of TV characters. Since there’s no research done examining the extroversion

level of characters in television series before this research, the researcher used NEO PI-R as a

model to create the instrument to measure the personalities of extroverted and introverted

characters. NEO PI-R is a self-report instrument that focuses more on one’s perception of

personality rather than adopting a behavioral approach. It is an instrument for real person. The

researcher used the modified instrument to observe characters’ behaviors to identify which

characters are extroverts and which characters are introvert. This leads to the scores for all of the

characters leaning more on the extroverted side. Thus the researcher suggests to develop an

instrument based on observing the characters’ behavior instead of using a self-report instrument.

Third, since the current research is only focusing on the extroversion dimension

specifically, other personality traits that are related to extroversion and introversion, or sub traits

of extroversion and introversion have been precluded from analysis. Future research can also

look at other dimensions of personality, such as conscientiousness, and provide a more

comprehensive analysis of what type of personality is popular among the American teen

programs and American TV.

Moreover, the selected teen sitcoms this study looked at only have Caucasian as main

characters, thus it’s hard to see if representations of extroverts and introverts vary by race. The

researcher chose the current four sitcoms based on their rating, the awards they won and

audience reception instead of looking at how diverse the characters were. As a result, the

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characters analyzed in this study were all Caucasians. Thus, the findings for this study can only

be applied to Caucasian teenage girls and boys. In some episode there are black characters or

Asian characters appeared on the screen but neither do they neither drive the story nor were they

teenagers. The researcher has an interesting observation, however, when Asian teenage

characters are on screen (mainly in iCarly and Austin & Ally), Asian boys and girls were

portrayed as silent, which might indicate that they were presented as introverts. In season 1

episode 2 of iCarly, an Asian boy is brought on the web show to show what special skill he had.

He performs drinking meatball spaghetti that is completely mashed in a blender. He says nothing

during the web show, doesn’t respond to Carly and Sam’s questions and acted like someone who

doesn’t know how to speak and doesn’t understand their questions. In season 3 episode 6 of

Austin & Ally, Austin and Ally formed two a cappella and some of the singers are Asians. The

Asian boy in the group couldn’t speak a word either, which made the audience question why he

got into the choir in the first place. The Asian girl in the group can speak, but often in really

high-pitched voice and nervous. However, none of these were sufficient enough to be analyzed

further since the time these characters are shown on screen are very brief and they don’t drive the

story to develop. Thus, future research can focus on finding teen programs with a diverse cast

and examine how people from different race are portrayed in terms of extroversion and

introversion.

Furthermore, the researcher found there isn’t much audience research to examine the

media effect of teen sitcoms. Thus, future research can also look at the media effect of these teen

sitcoms to see how the representation of extroverts and introverts in teen sitcoms affect teenage

viewers’s identity and behaivor and how this media effect differs among audience with different

personalities.

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Additionally, analysis of teen sitcoms across a longer period of time could be done to see

if there was any change of level of extroversion since the beginning of the birth of teen sitcoms.

Lastly, future research can look at other genres of teen programs such as teen drama, reality TV,

talk shows and music videos rather than just focusing on teen sitcoms. This will open doors for

more encompassing studies.

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Appendix: List of Episodes

Network

Show

Year

Produced

Episode

Title

Disney

Austin & Ally

2011-2016

S1E1

Rockers & Writers

S1E2

Kangaroos & Chaos

S1E4

Zaliens & Cloud Watchers

S2E3

Magazines & Made-Up Stuff

S2E24

Moon Week & Mentors

S3E7

Austin & Alias

S4E19

Musicals & Moving On

S4E20

Duets & Destiny

Wizards of the

Waverly Place

2007-2012

S1E1

Crazy 10-Minute Sale

S1E2

First Kiss

S1E15

The Supernatural

S2E24

Wizard for a Day

S3E19

Max’s Secret Girlfriend

S4E5

Three Maxes and a Little Lady

S4E25

Rock Around the Clock

S4E27

Who Will Be the Family

Wizard

Nickelodeon

Drake & Josh

2004-2007

S1E1

Pilot

S1E2

Dune Buggy

S1E5

First Crush

S2E2

Movie Job

S2E4

Football

S4E17-18

Really Big Shrimp

S4E19

Helicopter

S4E20

Dance Contest

iCarly

2007-2012

S1E1

iPilot

S1E2

iWant More Viewers

S2E14

iLook Alike

S3E3

iSpeed Date

S4E4

iSell Penny Tees

S5E4

iLove You

S6E13

iBust a Theif

S6E14-15

iGoodbye

104!

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Curriculum Vitae

YuXi%(Cecilia)%Zhou!

[email protected]!

315-7514534!

EDUCATION%

June%2017%% % M.A%in%Media%Studies%

! ! ! S.I.!Newhouse!of!Public!Communication!

Syracuse!University,!Syracuse,!NY!

Thesis! Title:! “Are! introverts! invisible?! A! t extu al! analysis! of! how! the!

Disney!and!Nickelodeon!teen!sitcoms!reflect!the!Extrovert!Ideal”!

Advisor:!Prof.!Anne!Osborne!!

Committee:!Prof.! Charisse! L’Pree,! Prof.! Robert! Thompson,! Prof.! Carol!

Liebler!(Chair)!

GPA:!3.72/4.00!

June%2014% Bachelor%of%Social%Science%in%Communication%%

! ! ! School!of!Communication!

! ! ! Hon g!Kong!Baptist!University,!Hong!Kong,!China!

Thesis!Title:!“Female!Representation!in!Modern!Vampire!Television:!A!

Case!Study!of!True%Blood”!!

Advisor:!Tan!Jia!

GPA:!3.10/4.00!

Jan%2013% % Exchange%Program%%

! ! ! School!of!Media!&!Communication!

! ! ! Bowling!Green!State!University!

! ! ! GPA:!3.47/4.00!

RESEARCH%INTERSTS%

Media!literacy!

Children!and!adolescent!media!and!education!

Content!and!effects!of!media!diversity!!

Media!and!personality!!

Media!and!children’s!gender!development!

AWARD%AND%SCHOLARSHIP%

2015-2016!!!!!!!!!!!! Graduate!Teaching!Assistantship!in!S.I.!Newhouse!School,!Syracuse!

University!!

2012-2013% ! !!!!!!!Study!Abroad!on!the!University!Scholarship!in!Hong!Kong!Baptist!!

University!

123!

RESEARCH%PAPER%

!!Zhou,%Y.X.,%(2017).!Thesis:!Are%introverts%invisible?%A%textual%analysis%of%how%the%Disney%and%

Nickelodeon%teen%sitcoms%reflect%the%Extrovert%Ideal%%

!!Zhou,% Y.X.,% (2016).!Sakura%and%Young%Love:%How%Shojo%Anime%Affects%the%U.S%Female%Fans’%

Gender% Role% Constructions,% Romantic% Expectations% and% Real% Life% Experiences! (Accepted! by!

International!Communication!Association!annual!conference,!San!Diego,!USA,!2017)!

!! Zhou,% Y.X.,! Fenne,! Alma! &! Yvorra,! Gaston.! (2015).! the% U.S% Female% College% Athletes’%

Perception% of% Women’s% Sports% in% the% Media% and% their% Sports% Career! (Presented! at! Popular!

Culture!Association!2016!Annual!Conference,!Seattle)!!

!! Bias,! Casby,! Brown,! Dan,! Zhou,% Y.X.,! &! Warren,! Stephen! (2014).! Minnie%Mouse,%Modern%

Women:% Anthropomorphic% Characters% and% Gender% Roles% in% Children’s% Animated% Television!

(Presented! at! Association! for! Education! in! Journalism! and! Mass! Communication! 2015!

annual!conference,!San!Francisco)!!

!! Zhou,% Y.X.,!(2014).! “Kawaii”%Gals%and%“Cool”%Guys:%Examining%the%Sex%Role%Stereotypes%in%

Japanese%Shojo%Anime!(Presented!at! Popular! Culture!Association!2015!Annual! Conference,!

New!Orleans)!

RESEARCH%POSITION%

Jan%2017-Present%%%Consumer%Analyst%Intern,%SKIM,%New%Jersey%

!! Work! on! around! 10! different! research! projects! and! conduct!

consumer! behavioral! research! using! CBC,! MaxDiff,! HB,! and! Virtual!

Shelf!methods!

!!In!charge!of!survey!design!and!programming!using!SSIWEB!

!!Collect!data!with!the!size!of!over!1000!respondents!

!!Analyze!data!using!SPSS,!SSIWEB,!EXCEL!and!R!

!!Prepare!consultative!reports!and!presentation%

Sept%2017-Present% Freelance%Researcher,%Crandall%Consulting,%NY%

!!Supported!formative!research!effort!for!Crandall!Consulting,!Sprout!

Network!and!Sockeye!Media!

!!Designed!interview!questionnaire!and!research!

!! Interviewed! preschoolers! age! 3! to! 5! on! the! appeal! and!

comprehension! of! children’s! book! and! TV! series! such! as! Sprout’s!

animated! series! the% Floogals,% children’s! book% Gokul% and! Sockeye!

Media’s%Schoolhouse%Literacy%Book%Series%%

!!Input!data!and!analyze!data!using!NVivo!and!Excel!!

!! Made! recommendations! regarding! visual! presentation! and! story! of!

TV!series!and!children’s!book!

May%2015-Aug%2015%Research%Assistant,%Prof.%Keren%Henderson,%Syracuse%University%

!! Worked! on! the! paper! “A! content! analysis! of!lead!stories!for!the!top!

fifty!local!television!news!stations”!

!!Collected!and!sorted!interview!data!using!NVivo!

!!Transcribed!interview!using!NVivo!

124!

TEACHING%EXPERIENCE%

Sept%2015-May%2016%Teaching%Assistant,%Multimedia%Storytelling,%Syracuse%

University%%

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!Assisted!teaching!multimedia!storytelling!course!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!Taught!two!lab!sections!on!editing,!multimedia!storytelling,!audio!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! collecting,!video!production,!camera!operation!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!Create!quizzes!and!grading!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!Evaluate!students’!video!production!projects!

WORK%EXPERIENCE%

July%2016-Dec%2016%ESL%Teacher,%Elmhurst%Tutorial%Service,%New%York%

!!Teach!ESL!students!beginner!English!and!manage!class!of!12!!

!!Teach!ESL!students!math!!

!!Create!curriculum!!

July%2015-Jan%2016%Production%Coordi nato r,%Baboon%Animation,%New%York%

!!Provided!administrative!support!for!Creative!Director,!including!!

maintaining!schedule!on!Google!Calendar!and!contacts!on!Skype!!

!!Scheduled!international!Skype/Phone/Face!time!meetings!!

!! Provided! support! to! creative! teams! including! attending! writer’s!

meeting,!taking!notes!and!giving!feedback!to!the!scrip!!

!!Arranged!domestic!and!international!business!travel!!

!!Managed!account!payables!and!receivables!!

Sept%2014-Aug%2015%%Editor,%Newhouse%News%Team,%Syracuse%University!

!!Edited!seminar!footage!into!3!minutes!promos!weekly!for!Newhouse!

department!YouTube!channel!using!Adobe!Premiere!

Dec%2013-May%2014%%Producer/Editor,%Free-TV%Broadcasting%Limited,%Hong%Kong%%%

!!Produced!web!reality!show!based!on!singing!competition!weekly!!

!!Camera!operation!!

!!Edited!footages!into!10-minutes!web!show!using!Final!Cut!

July%2012-Sep%2012%%Assistant%Producer,%BTV,%Beijing,%China!

!!Contacted!individuals!and!scheduled!meeting!!

!!Researched!and!selected!talk!show!guests!!

!!Produced!one!episode!“!Uncle!HanZi”!independently!!

!!In!charged!of!retouching!scripts!daily!!

April% 2012-June% 2012% Classroom% Teacher,% Social% Service% Association,% Hong% Kong,%

China%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

!!Taught!English!and!Math!to!a!class!of!30!of!Chinese!students!who!are!

from!remote!area!in!China!!

!!Created!curriculum!

!!Led!computer!lab!to!teach!children!how!to!use!computer!

125!

RELATED%COURSES%

Theories% Courses%%%%%%%Communication!theory,!Media!Diversity,!Youth!Schooling!and!Pop!

Culture,!Psychology!of!Childhood!

Methods%Courses! Methods!in!MIND!Lab,!Qualitative!Research!Methods,!Quantitative!

Research! Methods,! Perception! analyzer! in! communication!

research,!Q!Method!

SKILLS%

Data%Analysis! !!!!!!!SPSS,!NVivo,!Google!Analytics,!Excel,!R!

Others% Qualtrics,! Perception! Analyzer,! Microsoft! office,! Prezi;! Familiar!

with!social!media!

Video%Production%% %%%%%%%Final!Cut,!Pro!Tools,!Adobe!Photoshop,!After!Effect,!Premiere!Pro!

Language% Fluent! in! English,! Mandarin! Chinese,! Conversational! Cantonese,!

Basic!Japanese!

! ! ! !

PROFESSIONAL%ASSOCIATIONS%

Children’s!Media!Association!

Geena!Davis!Institute!on!Gender!in!Media!

International!Communication!Association!

CERTIFICATES)

Accreditation+ Grade+ of+ Middle+ Chinese+ Teacher,+ Serial+ No.A12CLT-13115,+ Awarded+ by+

International+Profession+Certification+Association)