research paper (stereotype activation and application)

Running head: MEDIA CONTENT PRIMING AND STEREOTYPE APPLICATION 1

The Effect of Media Content Priming on Stereotype Activation and Application

Dylan V. Russell

Western Washington University

Author Note

Dylan V. Russell, Department of Psychology, Western Washington University.

Email: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

MEDIA CONTENT PRIMING AND STEREOTYPE APPLICATION 2

Abstract

The effect of activating the stereotype “African Americans are criminals” using related media

content on the application of this stereotype was assessed. For this study, 41 participants were

recruited, all of which were undergraduate students at Western Washington University.

Participants were randomly assigned to one of three media content groups: one portrayed African

Americans negatively, one was race neutral, and one portrayed African Americans positively.

After being exposed to the priming stimuli, which consisted of a newspaper vignette with

wording that varied across the three conditions, discrimination levels were tested using the

Symbolic Racism Scale. Results showed that there was no significant difference in Symbolic

Racism Scale scores between the three media content groups. These findings suggest that

priming content such as images and sounds might be more effective than words at activating

racial stereotypes. A theoretical explanation for why non-significant results were obtained is also

provided, which focuses on the negative compatibility effect (NCE) that often accompanies

masked priming.

Keywords: media content, priming, stereotypes, activation, application, African

American


The Effect of Media Content Priming on Stereotype Activation and Application

There are two generally agreed upon forms of individual racism. Overt racism, or

racism in a traditional sense, is the form that is public, conscious, and intended. This form acts to

intentionally damage a person of a certain race simply because of the race of that person,

whereas covert racism is simply racism that is not explicitly public, such as the act as hiring an

employee based on their race (Scheurich, 2008). Covert racism in particular acts to systemically

disadvantage certain populations, which can take the form of limiting the access of people of

color to socioeconomic resources such as healthcare and other valuable services (Feagin, 2014).

Additionally, symbolic racism, which is a belief system that reflects underlying discrimination

towards African Americans, is a common form of discrimination that relies entirely on acts of

racism that are covert (Maxwell, 2013). Implicit stereotypes, which are those that imply racist

ideas without directly stating them, are central to covert acts of symbolic racism and are learned

from various sources, such as the media. The purpose of the present study is to assess the

immediate priming effects of media exposure on the application of racial stereotypes in order to

determine how influential media is in racial stereotype activation and application.

Unfortunately, stereotypes that act against certain groups of people are not obtained

during the later stages of life. In one study it was found that children endorse stereotypes and

exhibit prejudice based on traits such as gender and race by the time they start formal schooling

(Bigler, 2014). Beyond being exposed to racially discriminatory ideas about certain ethnic

groups, children suffer from racial stereotypes in other ways as well. Specifically, it has be found

that experiencing acts of racism may be a factor contributing to poor health and healthcare

disparities in minority children (Pachter, 2010). Stereotype acquirement and the detriments of


these beliefs might not be significant if these stereotypes were not widespread, but research has

shown that racial stereotypes are more prevalent than most realize.

In one article focusing on stereotype prevalence, the researchers found that

common phrases that reflected stereotypic beliefs of certain ethnicities were common, and that

they were used on a daily basis by the participants involved in the study (Kite, 2012). While it

may not seem feasible that a source such as media could be powerful enough to influence the

minds of youth, one must keep in mind that children are especially impressionable and learn

much of what it means to become a member of the community through powerful influences such

as media. In one particular study, it was found that images and phrases seen in media in general

and on television in particular perpetuated negative stereotypes about African Americans

(Martin, 2008). Further, it is true that modern American media is replete with negative

stereotypes associated with African Americans. In particular, African American characters

within the media are often portrayed as either violent, criminal, or both (Babtiste, 1986). African

Americans being associated with crime in a stereotypical way is nothing new. After the civil

rights movement, the association between blacks and crime and violence became concrete. This

persistent and inaccurate portrayal of African Americans has resulted in the stereotype

associating African Americans with crime and violence. It is so pervasive, in fact, that the term

“criminal predator” is essentially used as a euphemism for “young black male” (Welch, 2007).

The incredibly negative impacts of stereotypes on those who they adversely affect

cannot be denied. Not only does racism and its associated stereotypes affect easily observable

psychological characteristics such as self-esteem, it also impacts factors such as the identity

development of minority adolescents. A study conducted to determine the adverse effects of

media promoted stereotypes on identity development in African American adolescents found that


stereotypical images seen on television negatively impact the identity development of African

American adolescents (Martin, 2008). Another study focusing on the impacts of systemic racism

in the United States found that institutionalized white socioeconomic resources restricts

healthcare access to many Americans of color (Feagin, 2014). The researchers involved

concluded that oppression of Americans of color and their subsequent lack of access to certain

resources was caused mainly by large scale discrimination and racialized framing, ideas that

label whites as the superior group.

In direct relation to the present research, one study found evidence for the idea that

stereotypes are activated automatically if certain categorical cues, such as stereotype related

stimuli, are taken in and analyzed (Muller, 2014). In this particular study, the researchers tested

their hypothesis related to the automatic activation of stereotypes by priming their subjects with

stereotype related stimuli and then determining whether or not that priming caused participants

to categorize names as male or female at a faster rate. Another study obtained very similar results

and found that participants primed with stereotype activating stimuli were far quicker to apply

related stereotypes in certain situations (Wang, 2015). Further research focusing on media

priming effects and the activation and application of stereotypes found that stereotypic content

within the media acted to prime participants to more readily activate implicit stereotypes, and

further concluded that this content can impact implicit stereotypes even if the media content is

perceived as invalid (Arendt, 2013).

Priming the activation and application of stereotypes may seem confusing and

ambiguous, but successful stereotype priming techniques have been used in the past. One of the

most effective methods is identifying stereotype trait words, such as “male” or “female”, to

prime the use of stereotypes (Wang, 2010). The study that utilized this technique found that


stereotypes, specifically gender stereotypes, could be activated by priming participants with

stereotype trait words (male and female). Another study testing the priming effects of words

related to self-control on the activation of immigrant stereotypes found that participants primed

with words related to self-control had more positive opinions of immigrants than those primed

with neutral words (Araya, 2002). While few studies have focused on the specific priming effects

of words related to racial stereotypes, there are one or two that provide useful insights. One in

particular tested the priming effects of words related to African American stereotypes. In this

study, it was found that participants primed with the words “African” and “American” rated an

imaginary patient far less favorably on hostility-related issues than participants primed with

neutral words (Abreu, 1999).

Priming content, however, is not limited simply to words that are connected to a

stereotype; it can include a wide range of stimuli such as individuals or symbols from the group

that the stereotype acts against as well as any other content that contains aspects of a particular

stereotype (Bargh, 1996). Images related to aspects of certain group stereotypes, for example,

have been used to prime the activation and application of stereotypes. The results of one study

concluded that priming the “Black criminal” stereotype using media images of African

Americans looting after hurricane Katrina resulted in lower levels of support for African

American hurricane Katrina evacuees that were in need (Johnson, 2009). Finally, it should be

noted that there is a distinct difference between stereotype activation and stereotype application.

Stereotype activation simply refers to an increase in the accessibility of stereotype related

information, while stereotype application refers to using that information in perceptual or

evaluative processes (Bargh, 1999). The stimuli that acted to prime stereotypes in the studies


described above, then, resulted in increased stereotype activation which then had a dramatic

effect on its application.

While research has clearly shown that stereotypes can be activated using stereotype

content and word priming techniques, few studies have focused on the priming effects of race

related stereotype content found in media sources. It is true that media content such as images

have been used for stereotype priming, but results may differ dramatically if the media based

stereotype content is more complicated. Further, the activation and application of stereotypes

related to discrimination such as symbolic racism has been, for the most part, neglected. Finally,

the idea that media content influences the beliefs, and more specifically, the stereotypes we hold

is consistent with the social conditioning theory. According to this theory, stereotype formation

is largely unintentional and is driven by social forces, such as media and human interaction.

Stereotypical ideas about certain groups being presented results in illusory correlations, or the

overestimation of negative behaviors associated with minority groups (Smith, 2007).

The purpose of the present study is to assess the impact of priming the stereotype

that African Americans are criminals using related media content on the application of this

stereotype as measured by the Symbolic Racism Scale. Further, this study is a one-way between

subjects ANOVA with an independent variable of priming stimuli and a dependent variable of

score on the Symbolic Racism Scale. Due to the fact that media content such as photography has

been used effectively as priming material in the past, participants will read one of three

newspaper excerpts: one that portrays African Americans as criminals, one that is race neutral,

and one that portrays African Americans as helpful. After being exposed to their respective news

excerpt, participants will fill out a survey measuring the extent to which they agree with

symbolically racist statements that pertain directly to African Americans. Based on past research,


it is predicted that participants who read the excerpt that portrays African Americans negatively

will have far more discriminatory responses on the symbolic racism scale than those in the other

two treatment groups. Further, it is predicted that those that read the excerpt that and portrays

African Americans as helpful will be the least discriminatory in their survey responses.

Method

Participants

A total of 41 participants were recruited to participate in this study, all of which

were derived from college courses at Western Washington University. Further, 18 (43.9%) males

and 23 (56.1%) females participated in this study, and ranged in age from 18-40 (M = 20.22, SD

= 3.46). Additionally, the ethnicity of the participants varied significantly, as can be seen by the

following distribution that shows the percentage of participants that identified with each

ethnicity: 61.0% White, 17.1% Mixed Ethnicity, 9.8% Asian, 7.3% Hispanic, and 4.9% African

American.

For practical purposes, convenience sampling was used to obtain this particular

sample. All participants involved in this study were recruited using the SONA online research

system. In addition, all participants took part in this study as part of a requirement for a particular

psychology course.

Materials and Procedure

Within the different experimental conditions, participants will be exposed to one of

three vignettes fashioned as a newspaper article: one that contains stereotype related media

content that portrays African Americans as criminals, one that is race neutral, and one that

contains media content that portrays African Americans positively. The stereotype related media


content in the negative news excerpt will be represented by the African American character in

the story incurring violence, while the news excerpt for the third independent variable condition

will portray the African American character as a hero. Additionally, a neutral condition exists

that does not mention race at all. In this condition, the two characters are referred to as “a man”

and “another man.” Each vignette is identical in every way except for the identities of the

attacker and the hero, which shifts based on whether or not the African American character is

being portrayed negatively or positively. In the vignette portraying the African Americans as

criminals, the African American character is the criminal while a Caucasian man is cast as the

hero. Finally, the vignette portraying African Americans positively will label an African

American man as the hero and a Caucasian man as a criminal.

The measure being used for the dependent variable in this study is the Symbolic

Racism Scale. This measure assesses the extent to which participants agree with symbolically

racist ideas related to African Americans, and as a result more specifically measures participants’

level of discrimination towards African Americans. This measure was comprised of seven

selections, all similar to each other in format. A sample selection reads: “Over the past few years,

African Americans have gotten less than they deserve.” When responding to selections on this

scale, participants were asked to indicate how much they agreed with them by selecting a number

from 1 to 4, with 1 meaning strongly agree and 4 meaning strongly disagree. For most of the

selections, a higher score indicated a higher level of discrimination towards African Americans.

For items 2, 3, 4, and 5, however, the values had to be reverse coded due to the fact that higher

scores on these selections indicated lower levels of discrimination towards African Americans.

When assigning a score to each participant, the circled values were simply totaled, with a higher

score indicating a higher level of discrimination towards African Americans. The Chronbach’s


alpha for this scale was .84, indicating a high level of internal reliability. Finally, 41 participants

completed this survey.

Procedure

Participants were assigned randomly to one of the following three conditions:

stimulus portraying African Americans as criminals, race neutral stimulus, and stimulus

portraying African Americans positively. Random assignment to conditions was accomplished

by assigning each condition to a particular data collection time, making the distribution of

participants that signed up to participate in this study random. Each experimental session began

with participants filling out and turning in a consent form, which informed them of the risks and

benefits of participating in this study. Participants were then told to silently read a short vignette

and to not interact with their fellow participants while doing so. After reading the vignette,

participants were handed the Symbolic Racism Scale and were told to fill it out silently. After

completing the survey, participants then filled out a brief demographics questionnaire. Upon

completion of the relevant materials, participants were given a debriefing form and asked to

leave the testing area.

Results

We analyzed the data using SPSS 22.0 at a = .05 for a one-way between subjects

ANOVA with a dependent variable of score on the Symbolic Racism Scale and an independent

variable of priming stimuli (vignette portraying African Americans as criminals vs. race neutral

vignette vs. vignette portraying African Americans as helpful). The means, standard deviations,

standard error of means, and confidence intervals are shown in Table 1. We did not find a

significant difference in scores on the Symbolic Racism Scale between the different priming


stimuli. F(2,42) = .740, p = .484, SEM = .45 (see Table 2). Since the results of the omnibus F

ratio test were not significant, no follow-up analysis was necessary to determine which means

differed from which.

Discussion

The result of the statistical analysis for this study was non-significant, meaning that the

mean Symbolic Racism scores of all three stimulus conditions did not differ significantly from

one another. More specifically, the results show that scores on the Symbolic Racism Scale, the

likes of which signified participants’ level of discrimination towards African Americans, did not

differ significantly as a function of the priming stimulus that participants were exposed to. As

mentioned previously, there were two alternative hypotheses pertaining to this study. One

hypothesis stated that participants in the negative portrayal group would have higher levels of

discrimination towards African Americans while the other predicted that participants in the

positive portrayal group would have the lowest levels of discrimination towards African

Americans. Since the result of the omnibus F ratio test was non-significant, it can be concluded

that the results of this study do not support either of the alternative hypotheses.

In relation to past research done on stereotype priming, it would appear that the results of

this study are not consistent with past findings. One major inconsistency is that the data collected

from this study indicates that stereotype priming did not occur after the participants were

exposed to the media content. Had priming occurred, it is likely that results similar to those of

Johnson (2009) and Abreu (1999) would have been seen. In these studies, exposure to priming

stimuli, either stereotype trait words or images from the media, resulted in the activation of

certain race related stereotypes. Although the results of the current study may give the

impression that priming the stereotype “African Americans are criminals” did not occur, it is


possible that stereotype activation took place in the absence stereotype application. When self-

report is being used to measure participants’ opinions on sensitive topics, there is the persistent

and very real concern that participants will report a distorted version of their true opinion in

order to align with social norms (Fleming, 2012).

The findings of this study were also inconsistent with past findings that showed

categorical cues acting as priming stimuli for stereotypes. The findings from a study conducted

by Muller (2014) showed that stereotypes can be activated automatically when categorical cues

are taken in and analyzed. Further, this study concluded that stereotype related stimuli would be

impactful enough to increase access to stereotype related information. Had the findings of the

current study been consistent with these results, we would have expected the negative portrayal

of African Americans in the negative vignette to act as a categorical cue that led to more

discriminatory responses on the Symbolic Racism Scale. Additionally, other studies suggest that

priming can actually act to lessen the activation of certain stereotypes. Araya (2002) provided

evidence for this phenomena by showing that participants primed with words related to self-

control had more positive opinions of immigrants than those primed with neutral words. This

was the basis of the second alternative hypothesis for the current study. Had the results been

consistent with the findings described above, it is likely that participants in the positive portrayal

group would have been the least discriminatory in their responses on the Symbolic Racism Scale.

Masked priming, and the negative compatibility effect that often time accompanies it,

could provide theoretical insight as to why typical stereotype activation and application was not

seen in the current study. Masked priming, which is commonly utilized to evaluate phonological

and orthographic word recognition, is the act of presenting symbols before or after priming

content in order to obscure it. These symbols can either be presented before the target stimuli


(forward masking) or after the target stimuli (backward masking) (Sumner, 2008). Again, while

this type of priming is typically seen in studies focusing on simple word priming, it seems

reasonable to suggest that the words surrounding the priming content within the vignettes of the

current study acted as masking material. While masking does not appear to be harmful when it is

appraised at face value, it often times results in counter-intuitive priming effects.

Many studies have provided evidence for the idea that masked priming can result in

counter-intuitive negative compatibility effects (NCE). When this is seen, priming in the

direction opposite of the priming content occurs. More specifically, in simple priming

experiments measuring participant reaction time, it is often the case that masked primes result in

decreased reaction times as opposed to increased reaction times (Sumner, 2008). Negative

compatibility effects are not always seen when primes are masked, however. It is most prevalent

in situations where the target is similar to the prime. Thus, in regards to the current study, it is

likely that a counter intuitive priming effect was seen for several reasons. First, it is likely that

the words surrounding the stereotype related content in the vignettes acted to mask it in both a

forward and backward direction. It is also plausible that this masking resulted in a negative

compatibility effect (NCE), or a priming effect that was opposite in direction to the priming

material. One possible explanation for why this occurred is that the priming material in the

newspaper vignettes was very similar in nature to the target material on the symbolic racism

scale; in the negative portrayal group, for example, participants read about a crime perpetrated by

an African American man and then proceeded to indicate the extent to which they agreed with

racist statements directly pertaining to African Americans.

While this study was based on past research and designed in a thoughtful manner, there

were three notable limitations that can be improved upon in the future. Something that might


have acted as a confound in this experimental study was the appearance and writing style of the

newspaper vignettes. The priming stimuli in this study did not have the appearance of an actual

newspaper article but instead took the form of a simple Word document. Further, the vignettes

were not written by a journalist, and therefore did not reflect the writing style that is typically

seen in newspaper articles. While Martin (2008) pointed out that media content portraying

African Americans negatively is frequently seen, it is certainly plausible that media content is

only impactful on stereotype formation and activation if it appears to be real. Future research

utilizing media content as priming material should ensure that the content is as professional and

realistic as possible. This may make it more likely that participants interpret what they are

perceiving as genuine media content as opposed to experimental material.

Another significant limitation in this study was the tendency of participants to read the

newspaper vignette and complete the Symbolic Racism Scale as quickly as possible. Rather than

taking their time and reading over all of the materials carefully as they were instructed at the

outset of the session, an overwhelming majority of the participants involved in this study simply

flew through the materials and left the testing environment a mere five to 10 minutes after the

beginning the data collection session. In order to eliminate this issue in future studies,

participants need to be told that reading through all of the materials at a slow pace is a

requirement. Further, the data collected from individuals that refuse to adhere to this requirement

should be excluded from statistical analyses in future studies.

The third and final factor that acted as a major limitation in this study was the

obviousness of the racist statements on the Symbolic Racism Scale. All of the selections on the

SRS were implicit in nature, but they could have been obscured further by utilizing statements

that did not include words such as “discrimination” and “tension.” The fact that words like these


were present in the SRS made it likely that participants were aware that their level of

discrimination towards African Americans was being measured. As mentioned previously, when

participants are aware that a sensitive topic, such as racism, is being focused on, they will alter

their opinions in order to adhere to what is socially acceptable. In order to avoid having

participants fall victim to social desirability in the future, participants should be assessed

individually. This would likely diffuse tension and would allow participants to share their

opinions in an honest manner. Future studies could also utilize a distraction task such as a puzzle

or a math assignment to make what is truly being measured less obvious.

Although the results of this study were non-significant, there are certainly numerous

implications that can be derived from what was found. One implication based on the results of

this study is the idea that perhaps written media is less effective in terms of activating stereotypes

than other forms of media, such as images and audio recordings. In fact, research has shown that

visual images are more effective as priming stimuli when compared to words. In one study, it

was shown that pictures were more effective than words as priming stimuli in experiments

focused on implicit memory tasks (Kinjo, 2000). Understanding that images may be more

effective than words as priming material can provide insight as to which forms of media should

be censored. More specifically, if images, such as those seen on television, are more likely to

instill and activate stereotypes, efforts can be focused on limiting peoples’ access to media

content that promotes and perpetuates racial stereotypes.

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Table 1

Table of the mean scores on the Symbolic Racism Scale, standard deviations, standard error of

the means, and confidence intervals for each priming stimuli

95% Confidence Interval

Priming Stimuli M SD SEM Lower Upper

Negative Portrayal 13.23 3.17 .88 11.32 15.14

Race Neutral 11.93 2.71 .70 10.43 13.43

Positive Portrayal 12.77 2.74 .76 11.11 14.43

Table 2


ANOVA Summary Table of Symbolic Racism Scores as a Function of the priming stimuli

Assigned

(Negative Portrayal vs. Race Nuetral vs. Positive Portrayal)

Source SS df MS F p

Priming Stimuli 12.21 2 6.10 .740 .484

Error 313.55 38 8.25

Total 325.76 40

research paper (stereotype activation and application)

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