Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The mass media continue to reinforce stereotypical gender roles. Few studies have conducted content analyses that effectively measure stereotypes in advertising other than using nominal level data. Accordingly, this study was designed to develop a new “Stereotype Index,” measuring at the ordinal level the extent to which an advertisement uses stereotypical images. The index was developed based upon a probability sample of prime-time U.S. television commercials during a sweeps month (November 4-December 1, 2004). The final sample included 845 advertisements and 1,062 central figures. Each advertisement received positive points for the use of stereotypes and negative points for the use of reverse- stereotypes in its content based on the Stereotype Index. The mean of each variable could subsequently be compared directly using parametric statistics rather than traditional chi-square analysis. Differences between nominal (categorical) and ordinal level data were examined. The new Stereotype Index enables researchers to make precise statistical comparisons among studies cross-culturally and longitudinally, something not possible before. Since science often is advanced by detecting and reporting changes in variables, not just static scores, this is an important contribution of the new Stereotype Index.

Publication Type: Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Character evidence may be used as a “backdoor” to introduce information about behaviors of Black defendants that are consistent with racial stereotypes, leading jurors to make more negative judgments. In this study, participants read a trial transcript in which the type of character evidence (none, positive only, positive with cross-examination) and content of character evidence (stereotype-inconsistent, stereotype-consistent, neutral) were manipulated. Stereotype-consistent character evidence increased guilty verdicts, exacerbating the previously documented tendency for jurors to be more influenced by the negative information used to cross-examine a character witness than by the actual positive character testimony.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: An extensive body of research has illustrated the various ways in which media can help form perceptions of various social groups. Theories such as cultivation, stereotype theory, social learning and social identity theory, all discuss how viewers can internalize and project what they see presented in media, to what they believe to exist in reality. But many of these theories pay less extensive attention to both negative and positive stereotypes, and perceptions of multiple social groups within the same context. Likewise, research ahs less frequently examined the perceptions of marginalized social groups held by African American media viewers. The present study examines the underlying dimensions of stereotype by applying to the stereotype content model (SCM), as it applies to African Americans’ perceptions of media representations of their own group and of other groups.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Brazilians are one of the largest television audiences in the world. Roughly 87% of all households in the country have at least one television and TV Globo of Brazil produces more hours of television programs than any other company in the world, including all the major networks in the USA or the UK. Previous studies on the relationship between Brazilian soap operas and race have shown that Blacks have been portrayed in the soap operas more stereotypically with characteristics such as lazy, uneducated, poor, and criminal than have Whites or Morenos (Browns). It is unclear, however, to what extent exposure to stereotypical images of a minority group may alter perceptions of that particular group. Therefore, this study sought to contribute to this understanding by using the unique racial dynamic present in Brazil as a setting to test how these portrayals might impact stereotype activation. Findings were consistent with hypotheses and indicated that exposure to portrayals of a minority group impacted some people more strongly than others. Implications of these findings and limitations of the study are also discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Texans are often presented as self-righteousness, simple-minded, and big-mouthed individualists who by believing in law and order have their own way of authoritativeness. Part of the US Zeitgeist, stereotypes about Texans are politically correct and, therefore, largely unchallenged. Building identity and pride, this stereotype is often accepted by the stereotyped. This acceptance creates a two-edged stereotyping process that is so persuasive that even US academics are not spared. Empirical data is presented to investigate the stereotype about Texans while a native qualitative observation is used to gauge the impact on academe.