The effects of television role models on the career aspirations of African American junior high school students

King, Michelle M.; Multon, Karen D.

doi:10.1007/bf02359291

Cited by 30 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…set homework times or enforcement of limits to television time) that benefit all children when they are collective norms (for general discussions see Sampson, 1997; Wilson, 1987). A number of studies suggest that children of low-education and low-income parents are especially likely to turn to alternative models such as television sports and entertainment models (King & Multon, 1996). These models may inspire lofty goals, but they do not articulate a path to school success.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeing the Destination but Not the Path: Effects of Socioeconomic Disadvantage on School-focused Possible Self Content and Linked Behavioral Strategies

2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Low-income children perform better in school when school-focused future identities are a salient aspect of their possible self for the coming year and these school-focused future identities are linked to behavioral strategies . Hierarchical linear modeling of data from a four-state low-income neighborhood sample of eighth-graders suggests two central consequences of family and neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation on children's schoolfocused possible identities and strategies. First, higher neighborhood disadvantage is associated with greater salience of school in children's possible self for the coming year. Second, disadvantage clouds the path to school-success; controlling for salience of school-focused possible identities, children living in lower socioeconomic status families and boys living in more economically disadvantaged neighborhoods were less likely to have strategies to attain their school-focused possible identities. The influence of family socioeconomic status was seen particularly with regard to strategies to attain academic success and teacher engagement aspects of school-focused identities.In the United States there is a clear disjuncture between the expectations and outcomes of low-income and minority children. Almost half of low-income and minority students do not graduate from high school (Orfield, 2004(Orfield, , 2006. Risk of school failure is higher in neighborhoods (Aronson, 1997;Brooks-Gunn et al., 1993;Corcoran, Gordon, Laren, & Solon, 1992;Dornbusch, Ritter, Steinberg, 1991;Duncan, 1994;Entwisle et al., 1994;Halpern-Felsher et al., 1997) and families (DeGarmo et al., 1999;Mercy & Steelman, 1982;Scarr & Weinberg, 1978) with fewer socioeconomic resources. Yet, when asked, lowincome children expect to do well in school. Most low-income and minority eighth graders in nationally representative U.S. samples report that they expect to attend college (Mello, 2009), whether or not they are currently at grade-level in their schoolwork or planning to take a college preparation track in high school (Mello, 2009;Trusty, 2000).We interpret this contrast between children's outcomes and aspirations as meaning that low income and minority children do see school success as an important destination, but that for these children, the path to school success may not be clear. That is, children from socioeconomically disadvantaged contexts may be less aware that attaining the collegebound aspect of their distal (but possible) self requires sustained current school-focused effort, and because the path is not clear, they may fail to devote sufficient school-focused NIH Public Access Author Manuscript Self Identity. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2012 October 1. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript effort toward achieving academic success (for related conceptualizations, see Cook et al., 1996;Mickelson, 1990). If so, children from socioeconomically disadvantaged contexts may be less in need of intervention to raise their long-term expectations for school-succe...

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeing the Destination but Not the Path: Effects of Socioeconomic Disadvantage on School-focused Possible Self Content and Linked Behavioral Strategies

2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For instance, adults practice health-promoting behaviors such as self-screenings more when someone of their own race models the behaviors (Haas and Sullivan, 1991). Adults have also been found to model their educational and career choices after own-race role models (Karunanayake and Nauta, 2004; King and Multon, 1996; Zirkel, 2002). Here we investigate the neural mechanisms of race-biased imitation in order to provide insight into the neural mechanisms of cultural acquisition (Losin et al, 2009), a process that shapes almost every aspect of our lives (Losin et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Race modulates neural activity during imitation

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Imitation plays a central role in the acquisition of culture. People preferentially imitate others who are self-similar, prestigious or successful. Because race can indicate a person's self-similarity or status, race influences whom people imitate. Prior studies of the neural underpinnings of imitation have not considered the effects of race. Here we measured neural activity with fMRI while European American participants imitated meaningless gestures performed by actors of their own race, and two racial outgroups, African American, and Chinese American. Participants also passively observed the actions of these actors and their portraits. Frontal, parietal and occipital areas were differentially activated while participants imitated actors of different races. More activity was present when imitating African Americans than the other racial groups, perhaps reflecting participants' reported lack of experience with and negative attitudes towards this group, or the group's lower perceived social status. This pattern of neural activity was not found when participants passively observed the gestures of the actors or simply looked at their faces. Instead, during face-viewing neural responses were overall greater for own-race individuals, consistent with prior race perception studies not involving imitation. Our findings represent a first step in elucidating neural mechanisms involved in cultural learning, a process that influences almost every aspect of our lives but has thus far received little neuroscientific study.

show abstract

“…Research has also shown that identification with media characters affects adoption or rejection of specific behaviors or life goals. Television role models also influence young people's occupational aspirations (e.g., Christiansen, 1979;Hoffner et al, in press;King & Multon, 1996). Harrison (1997) found that identification with thin media characters was associated with higher levels of disordered eating behaviors.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Young Adults' Wishful Identification With Television Characters: The Role of Perceived Similarity and Character Attributes

Hoffner

Buchanan²

2005

Media Psychology

452

322

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this study, 208 young adults completed questionnaires measuring their perceptions of and responses to their favorite fictional television characters, both male and female. Measures included perceived attitude similarity, perceived character attributes (smart, successful, attractive, funny, violent, admired), and wishful identification with the characters. Wishful identification was defined as the desire to be like or act like the character. Respondents reported greater wishful identification with samegender characters and with characters who seemed more similar in attitudes. Both men and women identified more strongly with successful and admired characters of the other gender, but they differed in the attributes that predicted their wishful identification with same-gender characters. Men identified with male characters whom they perceived as successful, intelligent, and violent, whereas women identified with female characters whom they perceived as successful, intelligent, attractive, and admired. Humor was the only attribute that was not related to wishful identification. Interpretations of the findings, and implications for understanding the social impact of television, are discussed.What motivates individuals to watch a television series regularly and to care what happens from week to week? Anecdotal and research evidence suggest that the characters who populate the programs play a key role in generating and maintaining audiences (Hoffner & Cantor, 1991). Many television executives believe that MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY, 7,

show abstract

The effects of television role models on the career aspirations of African American junior high school students

Cited by 30 publications

References 25 publications

Seeing the Destination but Not the Path: Effects of Socioeconomic Disadvantage on School-focused Possible Self Content and Linked Behavioral Strategies

Seeing the Destination but Not the Path: Effects of Socioeconomic Disadvantage on School-focused Possible Self Content and Linked Behavioral Strategies

Race modulates neural activity during imitation

Young Adults' Wishful Identification With Television Characters: The Role of Perceived Similarity and Character Attributes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About