The Effect of Prime Time Television Ethnic/Racial Stereotypes on Latino and Black Americans: A Longitudinal National Level Study

Abstract

Much is known about the negative consequences of exposure to ethnic/racial stereotypes in the media, on White audiences. However, there is substantially less research addressing the effects of such media content on members of racial/ethnic minority groups. The present study examines this question using repeated cross-sectional national level data alongside a content analysis of top prime time shows between 1987 and 2008. Multi-level modeling analyses reveal that media representations of Latinos and Blacks were associated with Latinos’ and Blacks’ ingroup attitudes, however effects on attitudes towards Whites were not significant.

Funding

These materials are based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos.: SBR-9317631, SBR-9707741, SES-0118451, SES-0535334, SES-0651271, SES-0720428, SES-0840550, SES-8207580, SES-8341310, SES-8808361, SES-9009379, SES-9209410, SES-9707741, SOC77-08885, the Russell Sage Foundation under grant 82-00-01Stanford University, and the University of Michigan. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding organizations

Notes

^1. These analyses were used to account for the two-level structure of the data. Although the data include only 4–6 waves, such an approach has been used in other studies in the area (e.g., Sheafer, 2008; Yarchi et al., 2013). However, in addition to the multi-level analysis, we also conducted a clustered standard errors regression to verify our results. The results of the clustered standard errors analysis were very close to those in the multi-level analysis (few minor differences notwithstanding, see notes in Table 1 and Table 2).

^2. Since the content analysis revealed a number of gender differences in media representations, an interaction between the survey respondent’s sex and the sexualization and professional status of same-sex characters was also examined in a separate model. No significant interactions were found.

Additional information

Funding

These materials are based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos.: SBR-9317631, SBR-9707741, SES-0118451, SES-0535334, SES-0651271, SES-0720428, SES-0840550, SES-8207580, SES-8341310, SES-8808361, SES-9009379, SES-9209410, SES-9707741, SOC77-08885, the Russell Sage Foundation under grant 82-00-01Stanford University, and the University of Michigan. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding organizations

Notes on contributors

Riva Tukachinsky

Riva Tukachinsky (Ph.D., University of Arizona) is an assistant professor of Communication at Chapman University. Her research interests involve media psychology and effects of entertainment media.

Dana Mastro

Dana Mastro (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is a professor of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research interests are the effects of media on racial/ethnic relations in society.

Moran Yarchi

Moran Yarchi (Ph.D., Hebrew University) is a senior lecturer at the Sammy Ofer School of Communications, and the co-head of the Public Diplomacy program at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Israel. Her main fields of research are political communication, public diplomacy, media coverage of conflicts and terrorism, and new media.