ABSTRACT
As individuals accumulate media-based experiences with famous exemplars of racial/ethnic outgroups, subsequent reminders of those exemplars may elicit positive attitudes about the group as a whole. This “generalized appraisal process” was tested in two online experiments (one a replication) with US White 13- to 17-year-olds (N = 167; N = 200), who were randomized to see information about US Latino celebrities, Asian/Asian-American celebrities, or to a no-exposure control condition. Each celebrity condition (relative to control) increased warmth toward the focal group. There were further indirect-only effects of condition on other school-related judgments about each group, via the effect on warmth. In addition, consistent with secondary transfer hypotheses, each celebrity condition (relative to control) positively affected judgments about other racial/ethnic groups, via warmth toward the focal group. There was less support for racial stratification hypotheses.
Acknowledgments
The studies reported here were supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Institute on Race and Ethnicity, administered by the University of Wisconsin System.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.