Suchergebnisse

A total of 90 Mexican American and White American participants viewed 12 emotional television news stories, featuring Mexican Americans, that were positive or negative in valence and high or low in arousal. Participants completed a cued recall test and evaluated recalled news stories. Analyses revealed a strong main effect of arousal on participants' attention and memory. Mexican American participants rated Mexican American news stories more favorably and as more arousing, recalled the news more, and evaluated recalled news more positively than did their White American counterparts. Consistent with the principles of self-schema and social identity theory, these findings demonstrate that people process and evaluate self-referencing information differently than they process nonself-referencing information. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are also discussed.

A self-administered survey questionnaire distributed to Japanese international (n = 83) and White (n = 166) students measured stereotypes of African Americans and vicarious contact (television) variables. Results supported process-oriented learning models of behavior, but not a cumulative effect model of cultivation. The study demonstrated that the media could affect one's impression of other races and further suggested that effects of mass media are more significant when direct information is limited. Implications of an influential role of television in stereotype formation were also discussed.

A telephone survey of parents (n = 216) of third-, sixth-, and ninth-grade children examined the relationship between reported family communication patterns and parental mediation styles. Concept orientation predicted parental involvement in both positive (endorsements of TV messages) and negative (counter-reinforcement of TV messages) mediation as well as critical discussion of a variety of issues with a child. Socio orientation predicted positive mediation and was associated with coviewing, but it was not related to the parental practice of either negative mediation or critical discussion. The results suggest that parents with an open communication style are more likely to make use of discussion-based intervention strategies applied to television. A parent's more control-oriented style translates into reinforcement of TV messages.

This study tests hypotheses derived from extremity-complexity and stage theories of stereotyping which predict that frequency of contact with a minority group leads to knowledge which then leads to positive group evaluations. We also test hypotheses from learning theories of behavior which predict that evaluations of contact with minority groups determine group evaluations. The hypotheses are tested for direct personal contact and vicarious contact via television. We administered questionnaires to white college students to measure the contact variables and stereotypes of Native Americans. Results show strong support for the learning hypotheses, but not for extremity-complexity theories of stereotyping. Evaluations of first contact as pleasant or unpleasant, frequency of contact, and evaluations of TV portrayals as negative or positive predict stereotyping. Implications for stereotyping theories are discussed.

A survey of 286 White and Black female college students examined the racial differences in perception of thin media images and its relation to personal importance of thinness and fear of fat. Consistent with the intergroup literature and social identity theory, this study demonstrated that Black women rated thin media images less desirable and endorsed thinness less strongly than their White counterparts. Perceived desirability of thin media images was related to greater personal endorsement of thinness among both White and Black women but related only to White women's, not to Black women's, fear of fat. Racial identity interacted with race in predicting personal endorsement of thinness, with the highest ratings among high White identifiers and the lowest ratings among high Black identifiers. It did not, however, interact with perceived desirability of thin media images in predicting fear of fat.