The Effect of Media Exposure on Perceptions of Group Entitativity: A Preliminary Investigation

Abstract

Group entitativity (i.e., the perception that a group is a coherent unit) has been found to play an important role in governing intergroup judgments and behaviors. Accordingly, considerable attention has been devoted to documenting both the factors that influence perceptions of entitativity and the effects of entitativity on group-based outcomes. Conspicuously absent from this research, however, is an assessment of the media's influence on these relationships. This is surprising, given the well-documented role of media exposure on an array of intergroup processes and effects. The current study tackles this issue by experimentally examining the impact of media exposure on perceptions of in-group entitativity and self-esteem among Latino news viewers. Although preliminary, the results found here suggest that media exposure can influence entitativity judgments.

Keywords:

• Entitativity
• Immigration
• Intergroup Communication
• Media Effects

Notes

To ensure that the news segments represented the desired levels of immigration threat, three undergraduate coders (blind to the goals of the study), coded each news segment. To assess threat, coders responded to a semantic differential item (1 = threatening, 7 = nonthreatening, 4 = neither threatening nor nonthreatening [control]). The coders were highly reliable (Krippendorff's α = .98). The threatening and nonthreatening frames were separately averaged across exemplar presentations. The resulting mean for each frame was: threatening (M = 1.35), nonthreatening (M = 6.84), and control (M = 4.00). To test the appropriateness of the news conditions, the theoretically ideal scoring of each frame (threatening = 1, control = 4, nonthreatening = 7) was used to predict the coder's actual ratings. The regression results indicated that the coders perceived the frames as intended in the manipulation, β = 1.00, t = 30.25, p < .001. All coders correctly identified the presence (or absence) of the exemplar in each news frame.

The interaction between mediated threat and exemplar endorsement was not significant in predicted Latino entitativity, F(1, 28) < 1, p > .05, partial η² = .001; Black entitativity, F(1, 28) < 1, p > .05, partial η² = .01; or Asian entitativity, F(1, 28) < 1, p > .05, partial η² = .01. The experimental conditions were not significantly different than the control in predicting Latino entitativity, F(4, 45) < 1, p > .05; Black, F(4, 45) = 1.19, p > .05; or Asian, F(4, 45) < 1, p > .05, entitativity. Power analyses reveal that with a small effect size (d = .20) approximately 300 participants are needed to detect an effect.

We conducted separate factorial ANOVAs for two distracters groups to ensure that exposure to threat only influenced theoretically meaningful entitativity perceptions. Results suggest that neither the entitativity of adults over 65, F(1, 28) < 1, p > .05, partial η² = .004, nor that of college students, F(1, 28) < 1, p > .05, partial η² = .02, was affected by the threat manipulation.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anita Atwell Seate

Anita Atwell Seate (PhD, University of Arizona, 2012) is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Maryland.

Dana Mastro

Dana Mastro (PhD, Michigan State University, 2000) is professor of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara.