The majority of research on media counter‐stereotyping of race/ethnicity has tended to employ positive portrayals or counter‐stereotypical exemplars as a primary strategy in eliciting positive attitudes among White participants. In contrast, this article reports the results of an experiment on the unique role of affective responses to media messages as a mechanism in inducing greater feelings of connectedness with a diversity of racial/ethnic groups. Our focus is on the affective response of elevation specifically, which refers to feelings of being moved, touched, and inspired by images of people engaged in morally beautiful acts such as love, generosity, and kindness. Results show that the experience of elevation in response to inspiring videos was associated with heightened feelings of overlap between the self and humanity, with this overlap associated with greater feelings of connectedness with those from a diversity of racial/ethnic groups. This connection was also associated with more favorable attitudes.

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This study analyzes letters to the editor in two Oklahoma newspapers during the debate over a constitutional amendment banning judicial use of the Islamic moral code called “Shariah Law.” Using Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) to operationalize the moral evaluations in media framing, three morality-based frames were identified: a Patriot frame emphasizing Shariah’s harms, a Heritage frame advocating loyalty to the American Way, and a Golden Rule frame promoting equal treatment of Muslims. Each frame was related to moral foundations that align with particular political ideologies, and amendment supporters were more likely to frame their arguments in moral terms.

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A manipulation check is a test used to determine the effectiveness of a manipulation in an experimental design. Researchers incorporate manipulation checks when using experiments to ensure participants perceive, comprehend, and/or react as expected to the portion of the manipulation of interest contained within the independent variable. A typical manipulation check consists of one or more questions geared toward understanding each participant's cognizance regarding the condition to which they were exposed. If a manipulation check is successful (i.e., elicits the expected differences between or among experimental conditions), the researcher can conclude that participants correctly perceived, interpreted, or reacted to the stimulus and then draw more accurate conclusions related to the relationship between the independent and dependent variables.