Can TV shows promote acceptance of sexual and ethnic minorities? A literature review of television effects on diversity attitudes

Abstract

Until recently, western TV programming rarely featured sexual or ethnic minority members; if present, their representation was mostly negative. Increasingly, though, diverse characters start to play likeable protagonists as well. Thus, television can promote negative diversity attitudes and, at other times, positive ones. The present article reviews and connects theories and research from sociology, psychology, and media and communication studies to clarify the role of television in diversity attitudes formation and to identify directions for future research. Specifically, two research questions are addressed. First, through which processes does television influence diversity attitudes? Second, what features of TV shows contribute to positive diversity attitudes formation among viewers, according to different theories of television effects? Findings indicate that television can entrench existing negative diversity attitudes through the echo chamber phenomenon. However, TV content featuring numerous, likeable, attractive, and typical minority characters that have friendly interactions with the rest of society can promote positive diversity attitudes. Future research should study openness to view content with minority characters, examine the effects of the complete video media diets, check media effects in non‐western countries, explore media effects in longitudinal studies and investigate what constitutes attractive, likeable, and typical representation of ethnic and sexual minorities.

Same Gaming: An Exploration of Relationships Between Gender Traits, Sexual Orientation, Motivations, and Enjoyment of Playing Video Games

“…Moreover, diverse representation in game plots can possibly improve diversity attitudes of non-LGB players. Notably, a lot of evidence for these effects comes from television studies (Żerebecki et al, 2021), yet similar theories can be applied to games. We hope that our findings inspire other researchers to examine gender identity in a more nuanced way and study the specific experiences and motivations of LGB players.…”

Recognizing the similarities and appreciating the differences? Content choices and perceived (dis)similarity with TV show characters among youth.

“…This theme stems from the reinforcing spirals model and checked if youth sought confirmation of their views (Slater, 2015). Additionally, the theme was related to representation strategies that CONTENT CHOICES AMONG YOUTH improve diversity attitudes (Zėrebecki et al, 2021). The sixth theme explored the possibility of attitude change about minorities.…”

“…Even when adolescents grow up surrounded by conservative public discourse, they are developing their own beliefs, and may not adopt all the social values uncritically. Thus, theoretically, young audiences could also be open to exploring television content with unfamiliar characters to expand their worldview (Żerebecki et al, 2021). In a sense, teenagers could choose shows with dissimilar others to reflect more broadly on their lives, pursuing a eudaimonic motivation for media selection.…”

“…Nevertheless, the role of similarity between viewers and preferred TV characters requires further exploration. Similarity as a predictor of identification is often operationalized in simple, demographic ways including gender, age, nationality, city of residence (Cohen et al, 2018), and race or sexual orientation (Żerebecki et al, 2021). Possibly, audience members may also find analogies with TV characters that go beyond looks or the same experiences.…”

Sexual Health on Television

“…Bandura (2001) recognized that the emotional expressions of others move people, and observers can attain long-lasting attitudes, emotional reactions, and behaviors toward persons, places, or things that have been associated with modeled emotional experiences. More recent studies buttress Bandura's assertion that mass media, and especially television, serve as models for people to learn how to perform behaviors (e.g., Mitchell et al, 2021;Żerebecki et al, 2021).…”