Television and Prejudice Reduction: When Does Television as a Vicarious Experience Make a Difference?

Abstract

Televised role portrayals and interracial interactions, as sources of vicarious experience, contribute to the development of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination among children. The first section of this article reviews the amount and nature of racial/ethnic content on television, including limited portrayals of racial/ethnic groups and of interracial/ethnic interaction. The second section focuses on theoretical models that help explain television's role in the development, maintenance, and modification of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. The third section addresses research on the effects of television in altering stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination, with particular attention given to media intervention programs specifically designed to address these issues (Sesame Street and Different and the Same). This article concludes with a discussion of suggestions for future research.Almost all children have a television, with 97% living in households with a VCR and 74% having access to cable or satellite television (Rideout, Foehr, Roberts, & Brodie, 1999). The most recent statistics suggest that children watch almost 3 hr per day of television (Rideout et al., 1999). As a "window on the world" television can be seen as a vehicle for providing children and youth with experiences and information otherwise not available to them, their families or communities. In the case of race relations, television is indeed a key socializing agent. Both non-Hispanic Whites and African Americans are most likely to live in a neighborhood in which most residents are of the same ethnic group (

Is negative the new positive? Secondary transfer effect of exposure to LGBT portrayals in TV entertainment programs

“…Recent literature has emphasized the importance of interaction content quality in outcome assessment (Graf et al, ; Lissitsa & Kushnirovich, ; Paolini et al, , ; Pettigrew et al, ). Research found different effects of positive and negative parasocial contact (Browne Graves, ; Mutz & Goldman, ; Theorin, ). Predominance of negative exposure can be linked to negative intergroup attitudes, while mostly positive portrayals of specific groups generated more positive attitudes toward those groups.…”

“…Recent literature has emphasized the importance of interaction content quality in outcome assessment (Graf et al, 2014;Lissitsa & Kushnirovich, 2018;Paolini et al, 2010Paolini et al, , 2014Pettigrew et al, 2011). Research found different effects of positive and negative parasocial contact (Browne Graves, 1999;Mutz & Goldman, 2010;Theorin, 2019).…”

“…Exposure to mass media plays an important role even when direct contact does occur, as engendered emotions and impressions can influence intergroup perceptions and attitudes. The exposure to mass media leads to shifts in prejudice levels in both positive and negative directions, depending on the valence of the portrayal of out-groups (Browne Graves, 1999;Mutz & Goldman, 2010). Regardless of evidence showing the beneficial effects of positive vicarious contact for prejudice reduction (Lienemann & Stopp, 2013;Mazziotta et al, 2011;Schiappa et al, 2005;Shim, Zhang, & Harwood, 2012), investigating the effect of exposure to neutral and negative out-group portrayals is still limited (Mazziotta, Rohmann, Wright, De Tezanos-Pinto, & Lutterbach, 2015).…”

Applying Ecological Theory to Advance the Science and Practice of School-Based Prejudice Reduction Interventions

“…For example, though difficult to study systematically, the balance of the evidence suggests that school desegregation alone has been insufficient to reduce prejudice (Weinstein, Gregory, & Strambler, 2004). Media interventions such as Sesame Street have shown some evidence of promoting increased racial tolerance (Browne Graves, 1999), but they are not school based. Whole-school reform strategies focusing on democratic participation have shown benefits to children's social and emotional functioning (Battistich, Solomon, Watson, & Schaps, 1997;Solomon, Battistich, Watson, Schaps, & Lewis, 2000;Solomon, Watson, Battistich, Schaps, & Delucchi, 1996).…”

"(Weitergeleitet von Journalistin)"

“…Information that (mis)represents a given state of affairs may endorse existing or create new stereotypes in the reader or viewer [3] which potentially impact their behavior. Cultivation theory has long suggested that prolonged exposure to biased information may shift individuals' perceptions over time [4] and even different gender ratios in image search results affect participants's perception of gender proportions in professions slightly but notably [17]. In respect to professions and gender, a potential effect is that in particular young people can be influenced in their career decisions, after being exposed to such information -conceivably avoiding an ostensibly (fe)male-dominated trade, even if they have a natural predisposition for it [8].…”