The association between media exposure of interracial relationships and attitudes toward interracial relationships

Abstract

From an extended contact hypothesis (ECH) framework, mass-media portrayals of interracial relationships may encourage positive attitudes toward such relationships. Caucasian participants (N = 218) indicated examples of media portrayals of BlackWhite interracial relationships, attitudes toward Blacks, attitudes toward interracial relationships, degree of identification with Whites, and the degree to which Blacks are included in self-representations. Supporting our hypotheses, extended contact with Black-White relationships via media portrayals was associated with more positive attitudes toward Blacks and interracial relationships. These relationships were mediated by the degree to which Blacks are included in self-representations. This study furthers understanding of ECH by including representations of dyadic relationships and suggests an avenue for the creation of interventions for improving attitudes toward interracial relationships.

A Robust Bias Against Interracial Couples Among White and Black Respondents, Relative to Multiracial Respondents

“…Moreover, multicultural theorizing indicates that involvement in interracial romantic relationships leads to an identity transformation, in which being a part of an interracial couple becomes part of one's identity (Foeman & Nance, 1999). Thus, we similarly expected respondents with previous experience with interracial romance (versus respondents with no experience) to hold more favorable attitudes towards interracial couples (for evidence consistent with this prediction, see Lienemann & Stopp, 2013).…”

“…Thus, with respect to interracial couples, one possibility is that increased incidental exposure to interracial couples would reduce bias against them. Consistent with this prediction, Lienemann and Stopp (2013) found that media exposure to interracial couples predicted positive explicit attitudes towards interracial dating among White respondents in the U.S. Yet, there is also evidence that (a) mere exposure can increase disliking towards previously disliked stimuli (Crisp, Hutter, & Young, 2009;Grush, 1976) and (b) exposure to outgroup members can sometimes be associated with increased prejudice⎯particularly when outgroup members pose some sort of threat (Rae et al, 2015).…”

Online Contact, Face-to-Face Contact, and Multilingualism: Young Swedish-Speaking Finns Develop Trilingual Identities

“…Interestingly, this intergroup self-efficacy variable neatly parallels Clément's concept of linguistic confidence (1980). Although the outgroup attitudes, empathy, and affect variables are not a direct match for linguistic identification, other research on mediated contact has found that effects of mediated contact on attitudes are statistically mediated by increased outgroup identification (Lienemann & Stopp, 2013). All of this is to simply say that the social context model of language acquisition and intergroup contact theory may actually be describing the same, or at least very similar, theoretical underpinnings.…”

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

“…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).…”