Group items tagged

This study examines how exposure to media characters of color shapes viewers' opinions of race-targeted policies. Exemplar-based information processing, attribution theory, and heuristic policy decision-making formed the theoretical foundation for the study. A 2 × 2 factorial experiment (N = 363) exposed participants to stereotypical or counter- stereotypical exemplars representing the in-group (Whites) and the out-group (Blacks). The experiment revealed that exposure to stereotypical African American media characters compared to exposure to counter-stereotypical ones influenced real-world beliefs of African American stereotypes, internal attributions for perceived failures of this out-group, prejudicial feelings toward this out-group, and lack of support for pro-minority affirmative action policies. A structural model established "internal attributions for out- group failures" as a crucial mediator. Implications for entertainment studies and political communication are discussed.

While consensus has grown about the prevalence of negative Black media images, measuring the influence of these images and youth rejection or endorsement of these images on Black youth well-being and identity is a new and understudied phenomenon. This study was designed to create a measure of Black media stereotypes for use with adolescents. Focus groups with Black youth ages 14 to 21 were conducted and the data were used to design the Black Media Messages Questionnaire (BMMQ). One hundred thirteen Black youth completed the BMMQ along with measures of racial socialization, racial identity, Black history knowledge, body image, and self- esteem. Confirmatory factor analysis of the BMMQ resulted in three scales with six factors. The factors were entered into correlation and ANOVA analyses. Age, gender, and TV viewing consistently correlated with BMMQ factors. ANOVA results demonstrated that few variables were significant for the positive stereotype BMMQ factors, but endorsement of negative Black stereotype media messages resulted in significant age and gender differences. Analyses also revealed expected relationships among BMMQ, racial socialization, racial identity, and Black history knowledge variables.

While consensus has grown about the prevalence of negative Black media images, measuring the influence of these images and youth rejection or endorsement of these images on Black youth well-being and identity is a new and understudied phenomenon. This study was designed to create a measure of Black media stereotypes for use with adolescents. Focus groups with Black youth ages 14 to 21 were conducted and the data were used to design the Black Media Messages Questionnaire (BMMQ). One hundred thirteen Black youth completed the BMMQ along with measures of racial socialization, racial identity, Black history knowledge, body image, and self- esteem. Confirmatory factor analysis of the BMMQ resulted in three scales with six factors. The factors were entered into correlation and ANOVA analyses. Age, gender, and TV viewing consistently correlated with BMMQ factors. ANOVA results demonstrated that few variables were significant for the positive stereotype BMMQ factors, but endorsement of negative Black stereotype media messages resulted in significant age and gender differences. Analyses also revealed expected relationships among BMMQ, racial socialization, racial identity, and Black history knowledge variables.

We argue that the motivations that underlie stereotype-based discrimination against racial minorities and other stigmatized groups often fail to meet standard criteria for rational judgments. Stereotyping of such groups is often driven by threats to one's self-esteem and a desire to rationalize inequality, and declines when the perceiver is motivated to be accurate. Also, Bayesian racism-the belief that it is rational to discriminate against individuals based on stereotypes about their racial group-correlates highly with negative feelings toward minorities and the desire to keep low-status groups in their place, and correlates negatively with indices of rational thinking. The motives that drive social judgments call into question whether people engage in stereotype-based discrimination for rational reasons.

Two experiments assess the extent that targets' stereotypically Black physical features and individual differences in perceiver discrimination expectations influence racism-related responses. In Experiment 1, a total of 115 Black college students read about an ambiguously racist workplace situation. Participants reported their hostile emotions and racism attributions. In Experiment 2, a total of 121 Black college students read about two White police officers who physically harm a Black male. Participants reported their experience of empathy for the Black target. In both experiments, stereotypically Black physical features of the Black target were experimentally manipulated, and individual differences in discrimination expectations were assessed. More stereotypically Black physical features elicited greater racism attributions, greater hostile emotions, and more empathy for the target; and in all cases, the impact was stronger for Blacks with low discrimination expectations relative to those with high discrimination expectations. When person-related variables are especially salient, the influence of situational factors is necessarily reduced. Specifically, our findings demonstrate the insensitivity to racism-related situational cues that may be most pervasive for Blacks with high discrimination expectations.

This paper is an attempt to provide a satisfying theoretical framework for how stereotypical representations in media texts can link social-level racial myths with individual-level cognition. Barthes' theories about semiotic signs and myths are examined and linked with models from cognitive psychology concerning human memory and processing of categorical information. Using language as a medium, Livingstone's interpretive framework is proposed as the link that connects mythical social understandings with real cognitive processing phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although concern is often expressed that frequent media exposure may adversely affect the self-esteem and racial self-esteem of African American youths, evidence to support this assumption has been limited. To examine this issue, the author collected data among 156 African American high school students, testing connections among racial self-esteem, three dimensions of self-esteem, and multiple forms of media use. Whereas initial comparisons revealed media use to be a negative correlate of self-esteem, further analysis demonstrated that this association varied depending on the media genre and the domain of self in question, the content of students' media diets, and the individual characteristics of the viewer. In addition, both stronger identification with popular Black characters and greater religiosity emerged as possible protective factors.

"Individual Characteristics" "African American Students" "Adolescents" "Stereotypes" "High School Students" "Mass Media"

Although concern is often expressed that frequent media exposure may adversely affect the self-esteem and racial self-esteem of African American youths, evidence to support this assumption has been limited. To examine this issue, the author collected data among 156 African American high school students, testing connections among racial self-esteem, three dimensions of self-esteem, and multiple forms of media use. Whereas initial comparisons revealed media use to be a negative correlate of self-esteem, further analysis demonstrated that this association varied depending on the media genre and the domain of self in question, the content of students' media diets, and the individual characteristics of the viewer. In addition, both stronger identification with popular Black characters and greater religiosity emerged as possible protective factors.

We examined implicit race biases in the decision to shoot potentially hostile targets in a multiethnic context. Results of two studies showed that college-aged participants and police officers showed anti-Black racial bias in their response times: they were quicker to correctly shoot armed Black targets and to indicate "don't shoot" for unarmed Latino, Asian, and White targets. In addition, police officers showed racial biases in response times toward Latinos versus Asians or Whites, and surprisingly, toward Whites versus Asians. Results also showed that the accuracy of decisions to shoot was higher for Black and Latino targets than for White and Asian targets. Finally, the degree of bias shown by police officers toward Blacks was related to contact, attitudes, and stereotypes. Overestimation of community violent crime correlated with greater bias toward Latinos but less toward Whites. Implications for police training to ameliorate biases are discussed.

Leave aside blatantly communalperiodicals, even well-meaning scholars and intellectuals of liberal-secular hue have contributedto the constructionof the minoritycommunities,especially the Muslims and the Christians, as homogeneous, orthodox-sectarian,anti-national and rabid evangelical, notwithstandingample evidence to the contrary.

Leave aside blatantly communalperiodicals, even well-meaning scholars and intellectuals of liberal-secular hue have contributedto the constructionof the minoritycommunities,especially the Muslims and the Christians, as homogeneous, orthodox-sectarian,anti-national and rabid evangelical, notwithstandingample evidence to the contrary.

We examine the huge racial divide in citizens' general beliefs about the fairness of the criminal justice system, focusing on the political consequences of these beliefs for shaping diverging interpretations of police behavior. Predictably, most blacks believe the system to be unfair and most whites believe the opposite. More importantly, these beliefs influence the interpretation of events quite differently. African Americans who view the system as unfair are much more suspicious of the police in confrontations with black civilians. Fairness for whites, however, has fewer racial connotations; they naively interpret the confrontations disregarding civilian race. Still, whites holding antiblack stereotypes are much more sympathetic to the police in their confrontations with black civilians.

The article explores the impact of the election of U.S. president Barack Obama on race and racism in the U.S. The author contends that statistical disparities between Whites and minorities in education, income, career advancement, and health care remain significant. Other topics include racial stereotypes, diversity-based solutions, and disproportionate representation..

Although there is evidence that the media priming effect fades with time, we lack empirical evidence from experimental designs. We investigated the media priming effect of reading crime tabloid articles that overrepresented foreigners as criminals on a subsequent real-world reality judgment (i.e., estimated frequency of criminal foreigners). We utilized a factorial experimental design (N = 465) with the between- subjects factors treatment and temporal delay of the postmeasurement. We found that the media priming effect followed an exponential decay function and that vigilance (i.e., the tendency to intensify the intake and processing of threat-relevant information) moderated the decay.

Although there is evidence that the media priming effect fades with time, we lack empirical evidence from experimental designs. We investigated the media priming effect of reading crime tabloid articles that overrepresented foreigners as criminals on a subsequent real-world reality judgment (i.e., estimated frequency of criminal foreigners). We utilized a factorial experimental design (N = 465) with the between- subjects factors treatment and temporal delay of the postmeasurement. We found that the media priming effect followed an exponential decay function and that vigilance (i.e., the tendency to intensify the intake and processing of threat-relevant information) moderated the decay.

Although there is evidence that the media priming effect fades with time, we lack empirical evidence from experimental designs. We investigated the media priming effect of reading crime tabloid articles that overrepresented foreigners as criminals on a subsequent real-world reality judgment (i.e., estimated frequency of criminal foreigners). We utilized a factorial experimental design (N = 465) with the between- subjects factors treatment and temporal delay of the postmeasurement. We found that the media priming effect followed an exponential decay function and that vigilance (i.e., the tendency to intensify the intake and processing of threat-relevant information) moderated the decay.

This study examined the relationship between media exposure, antifat attitudes, and body dissatisfaction, as well as the mediating effect of dysfunctional appearance beliefs. A sample of 112 women completed surveys measuring media exposure, antifat attitudes, body dissatisfaction, and dysfunctional beliefs about appearance. It was found that time spent reading fashion magazines was positively correlated with antifat attitudes and that this relationship was mediated by dysfunctional beliefs about appearance. Measures of antifat attitudes and body dissatisfaction were both found to be correlated with endorsement of dysfunctional beliefs about appearance and body mass index. Results suggest that time spent reading fashion magazines may be related to antifat attitudes through dysfunctional appearance beliefs.

This study examined the relationship between media exposure, antifat attitudes, and body dissatisfaction, as well as the mediating effect of dysfunctional appearance beliefs. A sample of 112 women completed surveys measuring media exposure, antifat attitudes, body dissatisfaction, and dysfunctional beliefs about appearance. It was found that time spent reading fashion magazines was positively correlated with antifat attitudes and that this relationship was mediated by dysfunctional beliefs about appearance. Measures of antifat attitudes and body dissatisfaction were both found to be correlated with endorsement of dysfunctional beliefs about appearance and body mass index. Results suggest that time spent reading fashion magazines may be related to antifat attitudes through dysfunctional appearance beliefs.

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