Awe and Stereotypes: Examining Awe as an Intervention against Stereotypical Media Portrayals of African Americans

ABSTRACT

Previous research has shown the harmful effects of stereotypical messages on viewers, including increased negative attitudes toward outgroup members. In contrast, positive or counter-stereotypical portrayals can lead to less prejudiced attitudes toward outgroup members; however, these kinds of portrayals are not always easy to come by. As a result, alternative methods for combating the effects of stereotypical messages are necessary. The current study examined the ability of self-transcendent emotions, specifically awe, to reduce the negative effects of stereotypical portrayals of African American men. Contrary to expectations, results showed that participants who watched an awe-inducing video before a stereotypical video reported more negative explicit attitudes toward African Americans compared to those in control conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-transcendent emotions
• inspirational media
• discrimination
• attitudes
• sensitization
• priming

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The ANOVA presented here was also run using all 171 participants, and the same conclusions can be drawn from the dataset using all participants.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the John Templeton Foundation under Grant [55826].

Notes on contributors

Katherine R. Dale

Katherine R. Dale (Ph.D., The Ohio State University) is an assistant professor at Florida State University. Her main research interests include positive media psychology and intergroup interaction. She is particularly interested in how media affect the way we see and experience the world.

Sophie H. Janicke-Bowles

Sophie H. Janicke-Bowles (Ph.D., Florida State University, 2013) is an assistant professor in the School of Communication at Chapman University. Her research interests include the role that new and traditional media play in promoting and affecting character development, self-transcendent emotions, prosocial behavior, and well-being.

Arthur A. Raney

Arthur A. Raney is the James E. Kirk Professor of Communication in the School of Communication at Florida State University. His research primarily examines how and why we enjoy various media entertainment content, with specific attention to the role morality plays in those processes.

Mary Beth Oliver

Mary Beth Oliver is a distinguished professor at Penn State (USA). Her research focuses on entertainment psychology and on social cognition and the media.

Laura-Kate Huse

Laura-Kate Huse is a Communication scholar concentrating on applied communication paradigms for marginalized populations. Utilizing participatory research paradigms and identity theories, Huse focuses on research projects based on social justice. Huse is currently a PhD Candidate at Florida State University.

Jacob Lopez

Jacob Lopez (M.S., Chapman University, 2018) is an alum of the School of Communication. His research interests include the understanding of grand narratives and their role in treating depressive disorders.

Abigail Reed

Abigail Reed is a doctoral student in the School of Communication at Florida State University specializing in Media Studies. Her primary area of research interest involves the representation of marginalized identities in contemporary film and their corresponding multimedia paratexts using political economy of media, critical textual analysis, and audience reception. Her dissertation is titled, “Interpretations and Receptions of Alternative Subjectivities in the Disney-Produced Star Wars films.”

Jonmichael Seibert

Jonmichael Seibert is a doctoral candidate at the Florida State University School of Communication. He received a bachelor’s degree of arts in film and digital media and a master’s degree in communication from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He is interested in entertainment, and morality in virtual reality video games.

Danyang Zhao

Danyang Zhao is a visiting assistant professor at the Elliott School of Communication at Wichita State University. Her research focuses on understanding media uses and effects from a psychological perspective. Her work has examined the influence of media messages on behaviors related to mental health, and the relationships between media consumption, positive emotions, and prosociality.