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Intergroup Contact, Media Exposure, and Racial Attitudes Srividya Ramasubramanian Version of record first published: 24 Jul 2012.
To cite this article: Srividya Ramasubramanian (2013): Intergroup Contact, Media Exposure, and Racial Attitudes, Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 42:1, 54-72 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17475759.2012.707981
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Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 2013 Vol. 42, No. 1, 54–72, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17475759.2012.707981
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Intergroup Contact, Media Exposure, and Racial Attitudes Srividya Ramasubramanian The present investigation uses intergroup contact and media systems’ dependency theories to illuminate the relative significance of various sources of information in shaping Caucasian-American attitudes toward African-Americans. It uses empirical data from an exploratory survey of college students to build a chain of related variables that link primary sources of information (face-to-face versus mediated) to stereotypical beliefs, perceived internal causal attributions for African-Americans’ failures, and prejudicial feelings toward African-Americans. Results suggest that face-to-face sources of racial/ethnic out-group information are more effective than mediated sources in prejudice reduction. The discussion includes theoretical and practical implications of the findings. Keywords: Intergroup Contact; Media Effects; Contact Hypothesis; Racial Stereotypes; Intercultural Communication (Received 1 March 2012; final version received 27 June 2012)
In the course of the past few decades, several studies illuminated socialization of racial/ethnic out-groups’ cultural stereotypes through a variety of sources—family, friends, acquaintances, and media. Real-world opportunities for spontaneous meaningful inter-racial contact in homes, at work, and in academic settings have increased in the United States due to changing racial demographics and policies, such as affirmative action and desegregation. Yet many individuals rely quite heavily on media sources: news reports or fictional entertainment, for most of their insight into racial/ethnic out-groups. The present investigation uses intergroup contact and media systems’ dependency theories to understand the relative significance of various
Srividya Ramasubramanian earned her PhD in Mass Communication from the Pennsylvania State University in 2004. She is currently an Associate Professor of Communication at Texas A&M University. Her research interests are in the areas of media stereotyping of race and gender, positive media psychology, and media literacy. Correspondence to Srividya Ramasubramanian, 202D Bolton Hall, Department of Communication, MS 4234, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA. Email:
[email protected] ß 2013 World Communication Association
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sources of information (mediated sources versus face-to-face interpersonal sources) in shaping Caucasian-American attitudes toward African-Americans. Considering the sheer amount of exposure, mass media serves as an active agent of socialization for shaping audiences’ social realities. Mediated information is especially likely to be influential in attitudinal formation when direct inter-racial experience is negligible. Media dependency theory (Ball-Rokeach, 1976) posits that viewers who depend heavily on mediated sources of information are likely to hold worldviews of social reality that are similar to the media’s ‘‘reality.’’ Thus, individuals who depend mainly on the media to gain insight into racial/ethnic out-groups might have more media-consistent, stereotypical views of those groups when lacking direct experience from face-to-face interactions with out-groups’ members. Along with mass media, interpersonal communication with friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances are also important sources of information that shape attitudes and beliefs, especially relating to those from ethnic/racial groups not within everyday social circles. According to intergroup contact theory, contact between members of various social groups, especially through intergroup friendships, leads to positive outcomes, such as mutual respect and friendliness. Most of the research on contact hypothesis has focused almost exclusively on interpersonal communication between people of different groups without significantly attending to other forms of contact in promoting attitudinal change and leading to prejudice-reduction. Although intergroup contact has more recently been expanded beyond traditional face-to-face interactions to also include mediated contact (Harwood, 2010; Ortiz & Harwood, 2007; Park, 2012), very few studies have simultaneously compared the role of face-to-face contact with mass-mediated contact. The present study aims to bridge these two theoretical bodies of literature: interpersonal face-to-face contact and mediated intergroup contact. The study attempts to reconcile the relative impact of interpersonal versus mediated sources of information in shaping majority members’ attitudes toward out-groups. The contribution to scholarship occurs through comparing the racial attitudes of Caucasian-Americans, whose primary sources of information regarding AfricanAmericans is media (television, movies, newspapers, etc.), with those whose primary sources is non-mediated (face-to-face interactions) (family, friends, and acquaintances). The research uses empirical data from an exploratory survey of college students to build a chain of related variables that link primary sources of information to relevant variables of interest, such as Caucasian-Americans’ real-world stereotypical beliefs, perceived internal causal attributions for African-Americans’ failures, and prejudicial feelings toward African-Americans.
Media Exposure, Racial Stereotypes, and Causal Attributions Historically, criticism of the media focuses on deficient, stereotypical, and unfavorable portrayals of racial/ethnic out-groups. Among other demeaning characterizations, prominent portrayal of African-Americans in mainstream media
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emphasizes unlawful, unmotivated, and clownish behavior (Bogle, 2001; Dixon & Linz, 2000; Entman, 1990; Stroman, Merritt, & Matabane, 1989). Although contemporary media content appears to include more African-American characters, the portrayals of African-Americans continue to be stereotypical and unidimensional. Generation after generation, mainstream media reproduce the White racial frame through cognitive schemas, visual imagery, feelings, and metaphors that privilege and rationalize White superiority (Feagin, 2006). For instance, news reports frequently use subtle cues and code words, such as welfare queens and inner-city residents that implicitly reinforce societal stereotypes of African-Americans as ‘‘bad minorities’’ who are disruptive and inferior. All these factors lend credence to concerns raised by media scholars for the overall quality of portraits of AfricanAmericans in the media. Mounting evidence supports the view that exposure to overwhelmingly negative media imagery of African-Americans primes Caucasian-American audiences’ unfavorable social judgments toward the out-group (Dixon & Azocar, 2007; Ford, 1997; Gilliam & Iyengar, 2000). Not only does stereotypical media contact prime real-world stereotypical beliefs they also activate negative prejudicial feelings such as dislike, fear, and discomfort (Bodenhausen, Gaelick, & Wyer, 1987; Ramasubramanian, 2011; Tan, Fujioka, & Lucht, 1997). As if representing African-Americans using negative stereotypical attributes in and of themselves are not problematic enough, media depictions routinely frame these depictions in ways that blame African-Americans’ subordinate status in society on their personal deficiencies rather than on societal factors such as discrimination and lack of access to opportunities (Pan & Kosicki, 1998; Peffley, Hurwitz, & Sniderman, 1997; Ramasubramanian, 2010). According to the perspective of causal attributional theory, failures of African-Americans arise from internal rather than external factors. Dominant media frames, such as ‘‘The American Dream,’’ reinforce symbolic, modern forms of racist myths that racism is non-existent in contemporary America and that if racial/ethnic minorities are unsuccessful, the reason is their insufficient ambition or tenacity (Entman, 1990; Sears, 1988). Although there is an increasing focus on the study of the effects of media stereotypes on audiences’ racial attitudes, little of research’s attention has examined the influence of the types of contacts with out-groups’ on racial attitudes and causal attributions. The current study will examine how the type of intergroup contact (mediated or face-to-face) influences Caucasian-American audiences’ stereotypical beliefs, prejudicial feelings, and internal causal attributions of failures of African-Americans as a whole.
Mediated Intergroup Contact and Prejudice Reduction Although intergroup contact theory has not been studied extensively within media effects scholarship, some researchers have described related processes such as ‘‘vicarious contact’’ (Fujioka, 1999), ‘‘parasocial contact’’ (Schiappa, 2005), and mediated interpersonal contact (Ortiz & Harwood, 2007) (see Park, 2012 for a
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detailed explication). Vicarious contact draws from social cognitive theory and refers to intergroup contact experienced through media exposure. In Fujioka’s study (1999), vicarious contact with African-Americans was higher for CaucasianAmerican students as compared to Japanese international students in the sample. Parasocial contact, in contrast, focuses on in-group media consumers forming strong emotional bonds with out-group media characters. For example, Schiappa (2005) and colleagues found that when audiences form friendship-like, intimate relationships with out-group media characters, their attitudes toward the entire out-group might become more positive than before. Here the audience member identifies directly with the out-group media character. However, in the ‘‘mediated interpersonal contact’’ described by Ortiz and Harwood (2007), audience members observe and identify with an in-group media character that is a friend of and interacts positively with an out-group character. Recently, there have been efforts to explicate, clarify, and synthesize these various terms relating to mediated intergroup contact (see Harwood, 2010; Park, 2012). The current study conceptualizes mediated intergroup contact that is more in line with Fujioka’s definition of ‘‘vicarious contact,’’ focusing on intergroup contact through media consumption regardless of whether parasocial relationships are formed with the out-group characters Mediated contact might play an especially instrumental role in influencing racial attitudes when direct interpersonal contact is lacking (Armstrong, Neuendorf, & Brentar, 1992; Fujioka, 1999; Tan et al., 1997). According to media dependency theory (Ball-Rokeach, 1976), the more people depend upon media for information, the greater the chance that media’s messages will modify people’s stereotypical attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. When individuals believe that their personal firsthand experiences are sufficient for making decisions concerning out-groups, then media might not have any effect on influencing attitudes except by reinforcing existing beliefs. However, media information is especially likely to be influential when issues are outside the realm of immediate personal experience (Gamson, Croteau, Hoynes, & Sasson, 1992; Sotirovic, 2001). Similarly, the cultivation hypothesis suggests that among individuals who lack direct real-world experience with out-groups and those whose daily exposure to media is very high depend on the media to a significantly greater degree for forming opinions and shaping attitudes (Armstrong et al., 1992; Fujioka, 1999; Tan et al., 1997). These media viewers use recent and frequent media exemplars as primary information for maintaining their schemas of racial/ethnic out-groups (Busselle & Crandall, 2002). For example, a survey conducted by Mastro and colleagues suggested that interpersonal intergroup contact might moderate the cultivation effects of media exposure on real-world stereotypical beliefs(Mastro, Behm-Morawitz, & Ortiz, 2007). Overall, within media effects scholarship relating to prejudice-reduction, there has been an increasing interest in mediated intergroup contact. The present study will compare mediated intergroup contact with non-mediated contact to understand their comparative effects on racial attitudes.
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Face-to Face Intergroup Contact and Prejudice Reduction According to the original conceptualization of contact hypothesis, the focus was on how interpersonal, face-to-face interactions between members of different groups ameliorates prejudice and improves relations among groups. Allport (1954) suggested four moderators that influence positive interactions among members of different groups: equal status, cooperation rather than competition, potential for long-term friendship, and institutional sponsorship. A meta-analytical study by Pettigrew and Tropp (2006) supported the notion that increased intergroup contact leads to prejudice reduction and also encourages positive relations between groups. Applying these conditions to the context of mediated intergroup contact, it can be hypothesized that development of parasocial relationships with out-group characters are facilitated by identification with the character, potential for long-term exposure to the media character, positive/cooperative behaviors displayed by the out-group character, and cues within the media narrative that encourage viewer–character relationships. Park (2012) interprets institutional support in mediated contexts as social approval provided for the parasocial contact and also suggests that the facilitator ‘‘potential for long-term friendship’’ in terms of repeated exposure to the media character is especially important in mediated contexts. However, these moderating variables have not been fully tested empirically within mediated contact contexts. Some recent research suggests that exposure to intergroup friends in the context of television can lead to positive changes in racial attitudes towards outgroups (Ortiz & Harwood, 2007; Schiappa, 2005). Other viewer-related variables such as empathy, perspective-taking, intergroup anxiety, and perceived typicality have been identified as the potential moderators that could be tested in future research (Park, 2012). Studies showed that, when children mature in multi-racial educational settings and more racially diverse neighborhoods that allow for opportunities for inter-racial contact, these children are more likely to have friends from racial/ethnic out-groups later in life (Emerson, Kimbro, & Yancey, 2002). Research also suggested that intercultural contact is most effective, leading to positive outcomes among groups, when associations involve meaningful interactions such as intimate friendships (Brown, 2005; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006).The literature on interpersonal aspects of communicational contact focuses mainly on examining relational aspects of the development of inter-racial friendships over time. These studies operate from the perspective of social penetration on the level of self-disclosure and from the angle of uncertainty reduction (Martin, Trego, & Nakayama, 2010). Perhaps, face-to-face intergroup contact is an important, contingent factor in determining the effects of media messages. From the perspective of social cognition, internalization and selection of media’s depictions of racial discrimination creates real-life models (Bandura, 1983). Vicarious learning from media could lead to abstract modeling of racist behaviors/attitudes expressed in the media. However, some evidence suggests that face-to-face, direct observations of social roles can dampen mediated, vicarious learning (Armstrong et al., 1992; Greenberg &
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Atkin, 1982). Prior research demonstrated that willingness to express prejudice without compunction depends on situational factors, such as perceived social norms, motives, and focus of attention (Blair, 2002; Devine, Monteith, Zuwerink, & Elliot, 1991). Arguably, racist behavior toward non-Whites, presented in popular media gains perception of shared cultural norms, leading audiences to interpret these depictions as in-groups’ consensus and display less inhibition to display similar behaviors in inter-racial interactions (Tan et al. 2001). That is, negative media portrayals not only serve as models but also assist justification of prejudice as normative. Several reasons exist to support face-to-face intercultural contact, compared to mediated contact, as more effective in reduction of prejudice among people in advantaged groups. For individuals who perceive stereotypical beliefs as exaggerated generalizations, not based on factual information, exposure to counter-stereotypical exemplars can influence shifting attitudes. Source credibility also influences the relative impact of mediated and non-mediated sources of information. An interpersonal source may represent more or less credibility for a given issue when compared to mediated sources of information. According to Chaffee (1986), individuals decide the value of a source of information based on topic, timing, and accessibility. The trustworthiness of the source influences the level of acceptance of new information. Direct, face-to-face contacts also offer richer, interactive communicative experiences, compared to more passive mediated experiences. Different forms of communication vary in their information-richness in terms of both verbal and non-verbal cues relating to social presence, opportunities for immediate feedback, numbers of modalities involved, and levels of personalization (Daft, 1984; Harwood, 2010; Rice, 1992). Harwood (2010) in an excellent essay on ‘‘contact space,’’ distinguishes between various types of contact based on two dimensions: the extent to which one’s self is involved in the contact context and the level of richness of the contact experience. Communication is most effective when the level of richness or social presence of a medium matches the complexity of the communicative task. Face-to-face intergroup contact might offer a richer media environment than mediated contact for a complex task such as reducing prejudice and changing attitudes.
Present Study Acknowledging that individuals could gain awareness of out-groups through multiple channels and contact contexts, the present study’s exploration of prejudice-reduction through intergroup contact depends on whether or not such contact occurs via mass media or through face-to-face interactions. Specifically, the research examines the relative importance of mediated versus face-to-face informational sources for influencing Caucasian-Americans’ stereotypical attitudes, prejudicial feelings, and causal attributions for failures of African-Americans as a racial/ethnic out-group.
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By merging contact hypothesis with media dependency perspective, the expectation is that individuals who are more dependent on media for information of out-groups, compared to people who have opportunities for direct, face-to-face interpersonal contact with out-groups, are more likely to hold negative, stereotypical beliefs of out-groups, internal causal attributions for out-groups’ failures, and hostile feelings toward out-groups. Aligned with this expectation, the proposed hypothesis is: Hypothesis: Individuals, exposed primarily to mediated rather than non-mediated sources of information will report greater stereotypical perceptions, stronger internal, causal attributions, and more prejudicial feelings toward out-groups.
Method Sample Undergraduate students attending communication classes and recruited from a predominantly White, large public university in the Southern part of United States are this study’s participants. Including Caucasian-American college students in this convenience sample had the goal of encompassing a wide range of opportunities for inter-racial interactions via mass media and interpersonal contact in dorms, classrooms, student organizations, and with family, friends, and acquaintances. Perceptions of, objectives for, and barriers to interpersonal communication during contact and audiences’ reception of portrayals of racial/ethnic minorities vary greatly depending on group membership (in-groups versus out-groups). Since the focus of the present study is prejudice-reduction, the final analysis only includes members of the dominant group (Caucasian-Americans). The initial pool of 431 respondents returned 345 completed, usable questionnaires. Of those who responded to ethnic identity, 83.9% (N ¼ 287), were Caucasian, non-Hispanic; 2.3% were Black, nonHispanic; 9.3 % were Hispanic; 2.0% were Asian; 2% used the identity, ‘‘Other.’’ Females represented 85.7% of participants (N ¼ 246). The average age was 20.67 (SD ¼ 1.104). Since this study’s main interest is prejudice-reduction among Caucasian-Americans, the final analysis included only those participants who self-identified as White, non-Hispanic. Procedure Participants completed a self-administered survey in exchange for nominal extra credit in their communication courses. An alternative assignment was available for those unable or unwilling to participate. With the permission of the instructors, announcements concerning the study occurred during class time. After this announcement, instructors received, by email, a link to the online survey, which they forwarded, along with a solicitation for participation, to all enrolled students. The design of the survey’s link required no identifying information from respondents allowing them to remain anonymous. The survey’s link was active for one week
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during which participants could complete the questionnaire in approximately 20 to 30 minutes. Respondents had the option of exiting the survey at any time or ignoring any discomfiting questions. The survey encouraged participants to provide honest opinions and contained assurances that questions had no right or wrong answers. Once the participants completed the survey, a printed, completion form, submitted in class, provided documentation of participation, and for extra credit due.
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Survey Items The questionnaire consisted of a range of questions relating to stereotypical beliefs, prejudicial feelings, internal causal attributions for failures, and participants’ primary sources of information regarding out-groups. The instrument also included questions of perceptions of racial/ethnic out-groups (such as people living in Africa and Asian-Americans), perceptions of the justice system, opinions of policies, hours of media usage, and enjoyment of various television genres. These variables were beyond the scope of the hypothesis examined here and have no further elucidation in this particular study. The questionnaire, titled ‘‘Global Communication and Social Identity,’’ allows accommodating filler-questions relating to all socio-cultural groups (beyond African-Americans) for masking purposes. Stereotypical perceptions. Grounded in prior research, the variable for stereotypical perceptions asked participants to indicate the extent to which their perceptions dictate various traits and characteristics to be typical stereotypes of AfricanAmericans (Mastro & Kopacz, 2006; Pan & Kosicki, 1998; Ramasubramanian, 2011). The focus was for explicit stereotypical knowledge rather than implicit stereotypical application (Devine, 1989; Wittenbrink, Judd, & Park, 1997). In other words, these items’ assessments were participants’ knowledge of cultural stereotypes of AfricanAmericans rather than their explicit beliefs of these stereotypes. Participants responded on a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) to the question: ‘‘Indicate the extent to which you agree that the following traits describe African-Americans/Black people in general. Please be honest in your responses.’’ A factor analysis was conducted using principal axis extraction to reduce the items into manageable clusters and varimax rotation was used to make the extracted factors more interpretable. As per convention, eigenvalue of 1.0 was used as a cut-off and items that loaded on more than one factor (as indicated by a factor loadings differing by less than 1.5) or had loadings lesser than 0.33 were dropped from the analysis (see Tabachnick & Fiddell, 2007 for more details). Although participants had a broad range of positive traits (such as athletic and musical), negative traits (such as criminal and lazy), and neutral traits (such as polite and nerdy) for responses, the participants indicated that the dominant stereotypical traits associated with this racial/ethnic outgroup were mostly negative in nature. Specifically, the following eight items clustered in a single index labeled ‘‘Stereotypical Perceptions’’: criminal, violent, lazy, drug dealer, drug user, poor, dirty, and uneducated, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.91.
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The expectation was that the type of primary source of information about AfricanAmericans would influence the strength of participants’ negative, stereotypical perceptions of this racial/ethnic out-group. Two other factors that emerged from the analysis consisted of model minority stereotypes associated with another racial/ethnic out-group, Asian-Americans, beyond the scope of this paper. These factors were labeled ‘‘Smartness Index’’ that included nerdy and smart, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.75 and ‘‘Politeness Index’’ that included friendly and polite with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.77. Internal causal attributions. The variable for internal causal attributions focused on determining if respondents’ attributions for failures of African-Americans resulted from individuals’ characteristics, such as laziness, rather than societal causes, such as discrimination (Pan & Kosicki, 1998; Ramasubramanian, 2011). Based on causal attribution theory, the negative stereotypes applied to subordinate racial/ethnic out-groups, such as African-Americans, might gain justification from CaucasianAmericans by placing the blame for disadvantaged positions on personal shortcomings of individuals in out-groups rather than systemic factors. By attributing the failures of out-groups’ members to personal shortcomings, the responsibility or blame for differential status, power, and privilege between advantaged and disadvantaged groups shift to the individual rather than the society as a whole. To estimate the strength of such internal attributions, participants responded to: ‘‘Please indicate the extent to which the following reasons account for low-quality of life of African-Americans.’’ Respondents, on a seven-point scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), indicated the extent to which each cause was responsible for out-groups’ failures. The ‘‘internal causal attributions for failures’’ scale consisted of items: lack of motivation, lack of language skills, laidback lifestyle, traditional beliefs, and lack of social skills (Cronbach’s alpha ¼ 0.78). Prejudicial feelings. Much of the existing scholarship on the effects of media stereotypes focused on cognitive beliefs without much attention to emotional feelings. The current study distinguishes stereotypical perceptions, such as traits and characteristics, from prejudicial feelings such as dislike, anger, and fear. Drawing on prior literature of anti-Black affect and aversive racism, this research recognizes that antagonism toward racial/ethnic out-groups could manifest itself in ways beyond pure hostility and dislike to encompass feelings of discomfort, uneasiness, nervousness, and even fear (Gaertner & Dovidio, 1986; Kinder & Sears, 1981). To measure this broad range of prejudicial feelings, participants responded to: ‘‘Please look at each of the following adjectives to indicate how well they describe your feelings toward African-Americans in general. Please be frank in your opinions.’’ A seven-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), scored the extent to which each adjective described feelings. A factor analysis was conducted using principal axis factoring and varimax rotation as described above under ‘‘Stereotypical Perceptions.’’ Six items clustered
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together into a single index labeled ‘‘Prejudicial Feelings.’’ They were dislike, disgust, anger, fear, nervous, and discomfort (Cronbach’s alpha ¼ 0.89). The expectation was that the primary source of information would relate to the strength of prejudicial feelings expressed toward African-Americans by Caucasian-American respondents. Two other factors—‘‘Pity index’’ and ‘‘Pride index’’—which are typically associated with people living in Africa and with in-group Caucasian-Americans, respectively, also emerged from the analysis but were beyond the scope of this paper that focused on attitudes toward African-Americans. ‘‘Pity index’’ consisted of sadness, guilt, and pity, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.86 and the ‘‘pride index’’ consisted of admiration, respect, and pride, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.73.
Primary source of information. Prior research, within a single study, has very rarely examined mediated versus non-mediated sources of information regarding racial/ ethnic out-groups. Much of the literature of mediated contact focused on distinguishing exposure to news media from entertainment media (Armstrong et al., 1992; Sotirovic, 2001). Similarly, the literature on interpersonal contact via face-to-face interactions largely focused on relational development and selfdisclosure without much attention to mediated contact. The present study incorporates a relative emphasis on mediated or non-mediated contacts for each individual. Participants responded to: ‘‘Please indicate your primary source of information about the following groups of people.’’ Participants indicated if their main sources of information were family, friends, acquaintances, television, movies, magazines, or newspapers. Grouping these categories created a dichotomous variable with non-mediated and mediated sources of information as the categories’ labels. Non-mediated sources included family, friends, and acquaintances, and mediated sources included the other sources.
Results Data Analysis Steps After gleaning the data to remove incomplete questionnaires, the first step in analysis was bivariate correlational analyses to examine the relationships among key variables. These analyses identified the extent to which the dependent variables correlate with one another. Following this step, a multivariate analysis of variance assessed the effects of the independent variable on the dependent variables. This step determined which dependent variables significantly correlate with the independent variables and examined the dependent variables’ relative effects on the predictor variable. Finally, to examine, simultaneously, the direct and indirect effects of the exogenous variables on the endogenous variables, path analysis used the AMOS software. The path analysis assisted building a chain of relationships among exogenous and endogenous variables.
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Results from Preliminary Analyses
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Descriptive statistics. An analysis of the descriptive statistics reveals that the means for the dependent variables, stereotypical beliefs (M ¼ 4.60, SD ¼ 1.07), internal causal attributions (M ¼ 4.42, SD ¼ 1.31), and prejudicial feelings (M ¼ 3.02, SD ¼ 1.43) clustered around the mid-point on a seven-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). As expected, the average scores were highest for stereotypical perceptions since their framing is in terms of cultural stereotypical knowledge as compared to prejudicial feelings and internal causal attributions, which focused on measuring the participants’ own beliefs and feelings. Correlational analysis. A bivariate correlation analysis revealed the dependent variables’—stereotypical perceptions, internal causal attributions, and prejudicial feelings—correlations with one another. The Pearson’s correlation coefficients among the dependent variables indicate significant, positive correlations among all the variables: stereotypical beliefs and internal causal attributions (r ¼ 0.45; p50.01), internal causal attribution and prejudicial feelings (r ¼ 0.44; p50.01), and stereotypical beliefs and prejudicial feelings (r ¼ 0.51; p50.01). Prior research also documented similar positive correlations among these variables. Since the magnitudes of the correlations represent moderate levels (Pearson’s correlations are in the 0.3 to 0.7 range), they appear to be theoretically distinct, although correlated. Therefore, the next step, conducting a Multivariate Analysis of Variance, is appropriate. Multivariate analysis of variance. A multivariate analysis of variance examines the effects of the independent variable (primary source of information about AfricanAmericans) on the three dependent variables (stereotypical beliefs, internal causal attributions, and prejudicial feelings). Although the results suggest that the overall model is not statistically significant, Wilk’s ¼ 0.98, F (3, 280); p ¼ 0.14; R2 ¼ 0.02, examining the individual one-way ANOVA, results as a follow-up, suggests that the type of primary source of information about African-Americans (mediated or faceto-face) did influence stereotypical beliefs. In particular, as Table 1 illustrates, Table 1. Differences in Scores as a Function of Primary Source of Information (Faceto-face or Mediated). Face-to-Face Variables Stereotypical perceptions Internal causal attributions Prejudicial feelings
Mediated
M
SD
M
SD
F(1, 282)
R2
4.52* 4.40 2.99
0.07 0.09 0.10
4.87* 4.54 3.11
0.13 0.17 0.18
5.04 0.55 0.33
0.02 0.00 0.00
Wilk’s ¼ 0.98; F(3, 280); p ¼ 0.14; R2 ¼ 0.02. Note: * indicates that the scores were significantly different at p50.05.
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Caucasian-American participants whose primary sources of information are mediated (M ¼ 4.87; SD ¼ 0.13) had significantly higher stereotypical perceptions of African-Americans compared to White-American participants whose primary contacts are face-to-face with African-Americans (M ¼ 4.52; SD ¼ 0.07); F (1, 282) ¼ 5.04; p50.05.
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Results from Path Analysis The final step, a path analysis, used AMOS to simultaneously examine the direct and indirect effects of the exogenous variable (primary source of information: mediated or face-to-face) on the exogenous variables (stereotypical beliefs, internal causal attributions, and prejudicial feelings). The exogenous variable assigned dummycodes: 0 to face-to-face primary source and 1 to mediated source. The initial model uses the observed variable approach to hypothesize direct and indirect correlations among all endogenous variables with the exogenous variable. The model eliminates all paths that are not statistically significant at p50.05. Rather than use the traditional chi-square statistic as the only measure for determining goodness of fit of the final model, examination includes the root mean square of approximation (RMSEA), if less than 0.06, and comparative fit index (CFI) if greater than 0.95 (Hu & Bentler, 1999). The final developed path model has a good fit with the data as evidenced by 2 ¼ 0.46; CFI ¼ 1.00, and RMSEA ¼ 0.000 (0.000 to 0.075). Examination of the individual paths in the final model in Figure 1 reveals that when primary source of information about African-Americans is mediated rather than face-to-face, a direct path to stereotypical perceptions exists with a significant, positive correlation ( ¼ 0.34; p50.05). That is, when the primary source of information of African-Americans is through mediated contact rather than face-toface contact, negative stereotypical perceptions of the out-groups are significantly stronger. In the next step of the final path diagram, stereotypical perceptions correlate with prejudicial feelings through two paths: one direct and the other indirect. The direct path between stereotypical perceptions and prejudicial feelings
Internal causal attributions
0.56***
Primary source of information#
0.34*
Stereotypical perceptions
0.29***
0.52***
Prejudicial feelings
Figure 1 Model relating Primary Source of Information (Face-to-Face or Mediated) with Stereotypical Beliefs, Internal Causal Attributions, and Prejudicial Feelings toward African-Americans. ( 2 ¼ 0.46; df ¼ 2; p ¼ 0.79; CFI ¼ 1.00; NFI ¼ 0.997; RMSEA ¼ 0.000 [0.000 to 0.075]). Notes: (1) *p50.05; ***p50.001. (2) #face-to-face ¼ 0; mediated ¼ 1.
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toward African-Americans is significantly positive ( ¼ 0.52; p50.001) suggesting that as negative stereotypical perceptions increase, prejudicial feelings also increase. The indirect path, mediated by the ‘‘Internal causal attributions’’ variable demonstrates that stereotypical perceptions positively correlate with internal causal attributions ( ¼ 0.56; p50.001), which in turn positively correlates with prejudicial feelings ( ¼ 0.29; p50.001). Notably, no direct paths exist among the primary source of information and either internal causal attributions or prejudicial feelings. Overall, the model suggests that the source for out-group information (mediated or face-to-face) influences stereotypical perceptions, which in turn influences internal causal attributions for failures of the out-group and prejudicial feelings toward the out-group. Secondary analyses were conducted to examine whether in line with the cultivation hypothesis, the amount to which media exposure would moderate the effects of the source of information on racial attitudes. Specifically, a multiple group analysis was conducted that examined the equivalence of the model for heavy versus light media consumers. No statistically significant effects were observed between these two groups of media users, suggesting that the model was the same regardless of media exposure for this sample.
Discussion Prior research focused almost entirely on interpersonal friendships or on media exposure without reconciling both of these important sources for out-group information. The extent to which the literature developed these separate domain results in somewhat contradictory findings of the relative role of mediated versus face-to-face forms of intergroup contacts in engendering prejudice reduction among members of the majority group. On the one hand, research from interpersonal communication supported the notion that face-to-face interactions are much richer than mediated contacts, offering more opportunities to disconfirm media stereotypes. Conversely, some studies showed counter-stereotypical media exemplars might reduce prejudice when direct contact is lacking (Armstrong et al., 1992; Fujioka, 1999; Ortiz & Harwood, 2007). Mediated contact might offer an opportunity to overcome intergroup anxiety often accompanying face-to-face outgroup interactions (Islam & Hewstone, 1993; Stephan & Stephan, 1985). Mediated contact allows viewers to learn, observe, and indirectly interact with out-group members, and consequently might effectively reduce intergroup anxiety arising from direct contact. The current study attempts to understand the comparative role of face-to-face and mediated inter-racial contact with African-Americans leading to prejudice reduction among Caucasian-Americans. The research compares face-to-face intergroup contacts with mediated contacts in terms of their relative influence on stereotypical attitudes, prejudicial feelings, and causal attributions. The findings suggest that the primary source from which individuals derive insight of racial/ethnic out-groups
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influences racial attitudes. Specifically, when the primary source of information of African-Americans is from mass media rather than interpersonal sources, participants report more negative stereotypes related to higher internal attributions for failures and more prejudicial feelings toward African-Americans. Aligned with cultivation effects, individuals who reported media as their primary sources of information of out-groups were likely to have media-consistent racial beliefs and attitudes in the absence of relevant direct, real-world experiences with racial/ethnic out-groups. Apparently, greater instance reliance exists for relying on negative mediated stereotypes in attitude formation, causal interpretations, and affective orientation toward out-groups when face-to-face contact is not a primary source of information. The take-away message is not necessarily that all types of mediated contact increases prejudice. Mediated contact with out-groups has the potential to provide opportunities for lowering intergroup anxieties by the vicarious observation of mediated inter-racial contact, but such an effect is only observable if media’s portrayals depict minority groups in favorable light. Some recent studies suggested that positive media exemplars, although rare in popular media, can serve as useful tools to promote positive intergroup attitudes (Ortiz & Harwood, 2007; Ramasubramanian, 2011; Schiappa, 2005). As the review of scholarship on African-American portrayals in mainstream media demonstrates, media does not yet provide a rich variety of complex, multi-dimensional characters from racial/ ethnic out-groups. Consistent with contact theory, merely increasing the number of racial/ethnic out-group characters in the media is ineffective for prejudice reduction unless the overall quality of portrayals improves among all media formats. When structural and socio-cultural barriers inhibit face-to-face meaningful, long-term friendships, media will continue to provide vicarious learning opportunities regarding racial/ethnic out-groups. Notably, internal causal attribution for failures of African-Americans mediated the stereotype-prejudice relationship in the final model that emerged. This is an important contribution to the literature in terms of understanding the functions underlying stereotyping processes. The finding suggests that media portrayals might activate contemptuous prejudice by portraying out-groups as not trying hard enough (too laidback, unmotivated) rather than framing social issues, such as poverty and crime, caused by the societal factors of racial discrimination and lack of equal opportunities for success. Journalists and other news content creators should continue to be conscious of their frames for news stories while reporting an issue and the implications of such framing on both majority and minority audiences. Future research should continue to examine mediated and non-mediated sources simultaneously to understand the mechanisms through which to influence one another. The results of this study showed that there were no statistically significant differences between heavy and light users of media. This finding suggests that more research is needed to understand the complex ways in which mediated and nonmediated sources of information might work in tandem or in opposition to one another to influence racial attitudes toward an out-group. Perhaps direct contact acts
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as a buffer or a conditional factor in the effect of media messages. In turn, perhaps, mediated contact could moderate direct inter-racial contact. Social cognitive theory and uses and gratification approaches suggested that information from non-media sources may mitigate media’s impacts. That is, positive inter-racial contact might moderate the negative effects of exposure to media stereotypes of racial minorities. From an attitude-integration perspective, media stereotypes are so pervasive and deep-rooted that they are resistant to change even in the presence of contrary information during interpersonal contact. During intergroup contact, pre-existing mediated stereotypical knowledge rather than individualistic information may influence the interaction. When individuals encounter stereotypical, inconsistent information in interpersonal contexts, they may, more likely than not, ignore such information or simply subtype the out-groups in ways that leave existing stereotypical beliefs intact (Bodenhausen, Schwarz, Bless, & Waenke, 1995; Hewstone, Hopkins, & Routh, 1992). Future studies could also explore selfstereotyping effects, media avoidance/selective exposure to maintain positive group esteem, and system justification perspectives that suggest that even minority groups might adopt meritocracy and a hierarchy promoting the status quo. There are also some measurement-related limitations that need to be discussed. One of the limitations of the survey methodology is that researchers assume that individuals are fully cognizant of their behaviors and are able to report their motivations accurately. However, for questions such as ‘‘primary source of information,’’ it is possible that respondents are not fully aware of the relative importance of mediated versus non-mediated sources of information and are not able to articulate the combination of factors that influenced their attitudes. Following up a survey study with other methods such as experiments might help overcome these limitations. Another measure that needs further refinement is the one that relates to internal causal attributions. Since the focus of this study was on attributions for failures, the related survey question requested participants to identify the factors that lead to a lower quality of life for African-Americans as compared to Caucasian-Americans. The purpose of asking this question was to understand the factors that are attributed for difference in quality of life, if such differences are perceived to exist. However, the wording reflects an inherent bias that assumes that the quality of life in the United States is lower for African-Americans than it is for Caucasian-Americans. In the future, this question should follow a more basic one that asks respondents for their opinions about differences in the quality of life between groups before asking them to report the extent to which specific factors account for these differences. Another limitation of the study is that the majority (over 80%) of the respondents were females. This is quite typical of college undergraduate samples in the United States, especially while recruiting from Communication courses. It is likely that gender could have affected the results. Future studies could consider a more balanced sample. In terms of practical implications for this study, some fruitful avenues for exploration could be finding ways to remove structural barriers that prevent direct meaningful inter-racial interactions: Initiate societal and institutional changes that
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allow greater opportunities for people from all races to form friendships and other long-term relationships with racial/ethnic out-groups that improve race relations. These findings reinforce the idea that public policies such as affirmative action and desegregation, aimed at facilitating greater inter-racial contact opportunities at school, work, and neighborhoods, are important, continuing initiatives even in the context of living in a highly mediated world. Youth today, especially those who are in college are especially likely to have several opportunities to share living spaces, develop friendships, form romantic relationships with, and work with someone from a different racial/ethnic group. Simultaneously, improvement of the quality of media representations of racial/ethnic minority groups should include a diverse range of portrayals beyond the stereotypical. Programming such as reality shows offer opportunities for viewers to interact vicariously with people different from themselves, including diversities of race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other aspects of cultural identity. Future research would benefit from exploring the reasons for face-to-face interactions’ effectiveness in prejudice reduction as compared to mediated sources. Research could seek respondents’ evaluations of the quality of both types of contact (face-to-face and mediated) to determine if this variable moderates the relationship between the primary sources of out-group information with racial attitudes. Favorable rather than unfavorable contact situations in both mass media and interpersonal communication could either challenge or reinforce existing stereotypical beliefs. Such inquiry would further distinguish face-to-face contact with peers from those with family and acquaintances because the policy implications would differ dramatically depending on which of these types of interpersonal sources influences prejudice-reduction. A broadened scope of study would include nonstudents. Students in large research universities, even predominantly White institutions similar to this study’s venue, might provide more opportunities to develop meaningful, long-term friendships with out-group members. Overall, this exploratory study examines the role of both mass-mediated contacts and interpersonal contacts with racial/ethnic out-groups in reducing stereotypical beliefs, prejudicial feelings, and internal attributions for out-group failures. The findings from this Caucasian-American sample suggest that interpersonal contact through friends, family, and acquaintances might be more effective than mediated contacts through television, films, etc., for reducing prejudice toward AfricanAmericans. Media dependency, information richness, and cultivation theories offer insights into the theoretical mechanisms that explain these preliminary findings and suggest future directions for unraveling the complex ways in which mediated and interpersonal communication with out-groups shape attitudes, feelings, and beliefs.
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