Black and White Viewers' Perception and Recall of Occupational Characters on Television

Abstract

This study examined the differences in how Black and White viewers process messages based on the race of television characters representing 5 occupations. Black and White male viewers were exposed to either 5 Black or 5 White male television characters representing 5 different occupations (i.e., lawyer, doctor, professor, engineer, and business student). Findings from 81 male Black and White college students suggest that Black viewers have better recall of Black occupational characters on television than they do White occupational characters on television. Unexpectedly, the results show evidence that both Black and White viewers' perceptions of occupational characters were positively affected by the race of the Black character. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

A Cognitive Processing Model of Information Source Use and Stereotyping: African-American Stereotypes in South Korea

“…These results suggest that negative stereotypes are more susceptible to information and media influence. This supports previous research that has shown negative information can be more influential than positive information (e.g., Fiske, 1980), and the media can form and reinforce negative stereotypes of African-Americans (e.g., Appiah, 2002;Dixon, 2006;Oliver, 1999;Rada, 2000). Taking this into consideration, and because prior studies revealed that negative stereotypes of African-Americans may influence opinions on race-coded issues (Mastro & Kopacz, 2007;Tan et al, 2000) and prime racial attitudes during evaluations of a U.S. president (Valentino, 1999), future studies might consider investigating whether foreign residents' stereotypes, and their exposure to negative portrayals of African-Americans could influence their opinions of the foreign policies of President Barrack Obama (the first AfricanAmerican president of the United States) and his administration.…”

“…When opportunities for direct contact are lacking, the media serve as important agents in the formation of stereotypes (e.g., Appiah, 2002;Dixon, 2006;Fujioka, 1999;Oliver, 1999;Rada, 2000). Cultivation theory suggests that there is a direct correlation between the media's portrayals of social groups and audiences' perceptions (Gerbner et al, 2002).…”

“…This premise is based on the fundamental assumption that human beings are rational and seek to maximize cognitive rewards by utilizing available information (Bandura, 2002;Elasmar, 2003). The de-emphasis in the model on frequency of exposure is based on previous research indicating that even brief and ''one-shot'' exposures to information may alter stereotypical beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors (e.g., Appiah, 2002;Oliver, 1999). Personal contact research shows that even a single encounter with a member of another group can lead to stereotyping (e.g., Pettigrew, 1998).…”

Sugar and Spice, and Everything Nice: Do Female Stereotypes Supersede In-group Favoritism Among Men When Evaluating Female Criminal Suspects in News Stories?

“…Sympathy Towards the Suspect was measured using 3 items adapted from Batson, Fultz, and Schoenrade (1987) Attitude Towards the Suspect and Attitude Towards the Victim were measured using 11 semantic differential items as modeled in Appiah (2002), Devine and Elliot (1995), and Peffley, Hurwitz and Sniderman (1997). The following pairs were used: lazy/hardworking, unreliable/dependable, undisciplined/disciplined, violent/peaceful, unintelligent/intelligent, poor/rich, immoral/moral, unsuccessful/successful, untidy/neat, naïve/sophisticated, criminal/law-abiding (Attitude Towards Suspect: M = 3.75, SD = 1.11, α = 0.93; Attitude Towards Victim: M = 3.29, SD = 1.10, α = 0.94).…”

Experimental Studies of Media Stereotyping Effects

“…Group identity is especially salient for members of minority groups, and studies show that they prefer content featuring members of their minority in-groups in the media (Appiah, 2001(Appiah, , 2002Fujioka, 2005). Audience members from minority groups are conscious of features that might mark them as distinct from the majority group and are particularly sensitive to how they are represented in popular media, in which they are often typically invisible.…”