Meeting the (Trans)parent: Test of Parasocial Contact with Transgender Characters on Reducing Stigma toward Transgender People

Theorizing Prejudice Reduction via Mediated Intergroup Contact

“…Moyer-Gusé and Nabi's (2010) findings related to PSI align with extant research showing that parasocial response to outgroup characters in entertainment media was associated with decreased prejudice toward the characters' groups. This finding has been supported in cross-sectional (Bond & Compton, 2015;Ortiz & Harwood, 2007;Schiappa et al, 2006;Sink & Mastro, 2018), longitudinal (Bond, 2020), and experimental studies (Harwood et al, 2016;Massey et al, 2021;Wong et al, 2017) with mediated contact decreasing prejudice toward a wide range of outgroups (e.g., gay men, Schiappa et al, 2005, Studies 1 and 2; Muslims, Abrams et al, 2018).…”

“…Pettigrew and Tropp's (2008) conceptual intergroup contact model, derived on the basis of their metaanalysis, has been used in mediated contexts, and, similarly to the direct contact applications, was expected to both: (a) reduce intergroup anxiety and (b) foster greater levels of empathy toward the outgroup, which in turn, would be negatively associated with prejudice toward the outgroup (see Figure 1). Massey et al (2021) tested Pettigrew and Tropp's (2008) intergroup contact model examining parasocial relationships with a transgender person; their results offered support for the model's predictions applied to a mediated context. Banas et al (2020) further tested the model in a meta-analysis, empirically validating the mediated intergroup contact model.…”

“…Schiappa et al (2005) further hypothesized that exposure to positive portrayals of outgroups would decrease viewer prejudice and that prejudice scores would be negatively associated with positive parasocial response. Overall, there is substantial empirical support for the relationship between mediated contact and subsequent positive parasocial response between viewers and outgroup membersboth fictional characters (Banas et al, 2020;Bond, 2020;Massey et al, 2021;Murrar & Brauer, 2018;Schiappa et al, 2005Schiappa et al, , 2006Shim et al, 2012) or real-life figures (Wong et al, 2017) and reduction in prejudice toward the represented outgroup. Given the empirical support for these relationships, parasocial response is the first mediator in the relationship between parasocial contact and prejudice.…”

From Stepmonsters to the Family’s Saving Grace: Viewer Perceptions of Stepfamilies, Stepfathers and Stepmothers in Media

“…Perhaps where viewers lacking stepfamily experience see coldness, those in stepfamilies of their own see the stepmother a bit less critically. There is potential, in this case, for parasocial contact with stepmothers who are portrayed positively to (a) change perceptions of stepmothers among those with still-married families and (b) reinforce positive perceptions of those in stepfamilies (Massey et al, 2021). Media scholars should explore this further.…”

“…While more research is needed, results from this study may help inform researchers about media literacy and understanding stepfamily dynamics. Further, the potential impacts of stepfamily portrayals are numerous and should inspire a wide variety of stepfamily research focuses (e.g., reinforcement of stepfamily stereotypes; Massey et al, 2021) across disciplines.…”