Preview

An Analysis Of Media Priming And The Effects Of Counter Stereotypes

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
704 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
An Analysis Of Media Priming And The Effects Of Counter Stereotypes
Media Priming:
A Journal Article Analysis of Media Priming and the Effects of Counter-Stereotypes
Daniela West
Georgia Southern University

Media Priming:
A Journal Article Analysis of Media Priming and the Effects of Counter-Stereotypes In this article, Holt (2013) looks at the specific media story types and their effect on combatting stereotypes. Specifically this article looks not only the story types but also “media’s role in shaping race perception,” (p.109). The specific stereotype looked at in the article is African Americans as criminals. The author makes three hypothesizes, but they are all centered around the idea that when it comes to crime white people are looked at more favorably than black people are. This problem is worth studying because it has become a common occurrence for African Americans to be the face of criminals and can potentially play a role on other problems that have become more common like the Trayvon Martin case. This is especially important in mass media because the media plays a role in what we see and whom we see along with the message that we see and hear. The theory of priming was used within this article. I believe with what the author was aiming to study priming was an excellent choice of theory to utilize. This is because priming in a way sets up what we think. If we see or hear something, especially repeatedly, we relate things together. As we see a specific race in the media for the same thing repeatedly stereotypes are built more often than not. The author states within his research that he is the first to look at the specific types of media used and their effects. Taking that into consideration Holt (2013) does adequate previous research. Holt examines stereotypes, his theory, and many specific things that are related to what he is looking at to provide support for his research. The method had a clear foundation, but it lacked in one specific area. The research should have more participants, especially black

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rios and Garcia both discusses, with perceived perception of poor black and brown youth, they become targets of teachers, law enforcement and the justice system. With the help of media, it help shapes a certain image of who African American and brown youth are. This stigma affect the youth today who fill our jails because second chances are…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    African-Americans in Media

    • 1596 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Throughout American history many enertainment forms have protrayed African-Americans in negative degrading forms, such as minstreal shows and early television. Movies such as Birth of a Nation”questioned whether or not black people were fit to run for governmental offices or vote or to even live an productive, independent life. In the 1930's, studies found a high level of consistency among adjectives used to describe black people. Furthermore, most of these adjectives were negative, and included terms such as superstitious, lazy, and ignorant. Today’s stereotypes are not much different, Depictions of African-Americans include unintelligent, loud, poor, unable to swim, and criminal. Stereotypes can also be "positive" terms, although this does not make them less damaging to their targets. This paper's focus is the linkage between social perceptions of minorities and their TV roles. Research on the relationship between mass media and ethnic perceptions suggests that the media shape knowledge and beliefs of the majority about minoritygroups and, in turn, influence minority responses to the majority (Faber, O'Guinn, 1987) .Exposure to stereotypes produced unfavorable effects on the viewers. When the target…

    • 1596 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Looking Deathworthy Essay

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This study is important because it shows how racial stereotypes can affect the sentence given to a defendant guilty of murder. The relationship of the different sentences of black on black murders vs. black on white murders is also slightly exposed in this study. For science, this shows a new perspective of how modern society views and profiles African-American men. These stereotypes have and influence on how people treat one another, in this case African-American murder defendants, which is changing society as a…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Images of African Americans in television, music, and film are often less than stellar. Black men are often portrayed as drug pushers, pimps, thugs, and dead beat dads, while black women are portrayed as poor, lazy, and promiscuous. This needs to stop! That is a given! Question is, how are these negative images going to be stopped? Several steps should be taken in order to prevent these negative images in the media. The origins of these images need to be examined, and modern racism and prejudice need to be exposed.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    A considerable amount of literature consistently argues that the way crime is portrayed in the media significantly differs from what official records and research tell us, that is to say, that the media is said to misrepresent the crime problem. Five main arguments are presented demonstrating that the media distorts the crime problem. First, the media tend to report on crimes that are considered `newsworthy.' Second, it is argued that the media's role is that of an agenda-setter. Third, media reporting on crime is supportive of law enforcement agencies but is negative towards courts. Fourth, the media reports on crime that escalates public anxiety to such an extent that it can lead to moral panic about particular crimes. Fifth, stereotypes of both victims and offenders dominate media representations of crime. It is believed that the media is the public's primary source of knowledge about crime and it has exploited this by inaccurately presenting the nature of crime to our society.…

    • 1496 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    A report issued by the Sentencing Project tells that “Whether acting on their own implicit biases or bowing to political exigency, policy makers have fused crime and race in their policy initiatives and statements. They have crafted harsh sentencing laws that impact all Americans and disproportionately incarcerate people of color”. This evidence shows the bias and prejudice that is still present in our society, even at the highest levels. Apparently, these policies and ideas begin to influence the public, giving the misconceptions of other races. The report furthers its earlier statement, saying “Many media outlets reinforce the public’s racial misconceptions about crime by presenting African-Americans and Latinos differently than whites — both quantitatively and qualitatively. Television news programs and newspapers over-represent racial minorities as crime suspects and whites as crime victims.” A book called Suspicion Nation, written by Lisa Bloom, points out that “The standard assumption that criminals are black and blacks are criminals is so prevalent that in one study, 60 percent of viewers who viewed a crime story with no picture of the perpetrator falsely recalled seeing one, and of those, 70 percent believed he was African-American. When we (the public) think about crime, we (the public) ‘see black,’ even when it’s not present at…

    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Racial prejudice often occurs through first impressions; individuals often associate an individual’s external appearance with personality traits that can be tremendously inaccurate. To reduce problems of racial prejudice in society individuals need to alter their cognitive strategies that are causing them to briefly categorize people in particularly negative ways. Furthermore, children need to be taught as well about these negative cognitive strategies and how to avoid categorizing people. Witter, Hammer and Dunn express in in the textbook Adjust, that stereotypes are often automatic customs that occur unintentional and unconsciously. However, these automatic customs can be superseded, though it requires awareness from the individual that…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Social Dichotomy Of Race

    • 1682 Words
    • 7 Pages

    For an example of media portrayal of negative minority stereotypes, we can look at the 1992 riot in Los Angeles. In this case the media encouraged the perception that the black community was solely responsible for the riots and disturbances, even though the police reports show that of those arrested only 36% were black. This is just one example. Many television shows and video games show an overwhelming amount of African Americans and Hispanics as criminals. This is one way that race has become a social construction that is ingrained within our…

    • 1682 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stereotyping In The Media

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Stereotyping, in its various forms, plays a significant role in class divisions of our society but perhaps none more impactful than with the categorization of race as it relates to law enforcement. While statistics may seem to guide citizens to believe minorities commit more violent crimes, Mann suggests, “what types of crimes are defined, how they are defined, and who is defining them” are primary flaws in the overrepresentation of crimes committed by African-Americans (1993, p. 70). Perhaps the strongest influence contributing to the public perception of crimes committed by minorities is the racial stereotypes depicted by the media. I offer the movie trailer for “Whose Streets” advertising the aftermath of the Michael Brown police involved shooting in Ferguson, MO, from my white privileged seat, is a reminder of how the…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the United States, the media has contributed in the development of various divisions within the black community because it portrays them as criminals (Garner, 2012). Most of them make an honest living and do not want to be associated with every crime that happens across the country. Americans have been made to believe that a crime is based on race. This has affected the fight against racism in the country, as many white Americans argue that they tend to feel unsafe around members of the black community (Colbran, 2014). The misrepresentation by the media has also contributed to the public losing trust in the law enforcement agencies. It has portrayed police officers as incompetent, inhuman, and overly insensitive to the safety of the people they are supposed to…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mass Media Stereotypes

    • 204 Words
    • 1 Page

    “Communication research and theory suggest that the mass media are an important source of information about African Americans and media portrayals contribute to public perceptions of African Americans” (Punyanunt-Carter 241). What we see about African Americans from television makes us to have certain images about them. TV became a common object that most people have in United States, and we get to watch and hear different kinds of contents from many broadcasting stations. TV now has become an object that most people in America have due to it is information and entertaining purposes. However, there is a problem. Some TV shows are creating certain images about certain races which make the public to have certain perceptions about certain races.…

    • 204 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    These negative stereotypes have been psychologically embedded in people of America subconsciously through media these negative stereotypes have negatively affected the black community socially and economically. The media portrayal of black men as criminals, and many people equate black men to murderers and thieves which causes fear in reality. Media is subconsciously portraying black people as criminals on television shows and news, only covering issues in inner city environments primarily populated by black people. The study “Media Impact on the Lives of Black Men and Boys” conducted by The Opportunity Agenda describes these portrayals as negative associations exaggerated by media with black men in, “criminality, unemployment, and poverty.” The idle Black male on the street corner is not the “true face” of poverty in America, but he is the only idle Black male in the world as depicted by media.…

    • 1294 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Race is a large part of American Society today, and the United States media plays a large factor in how people perceive African-American males and females both. There have been many surveys taken to see how people perceive the portrayals of African-Americans in the media, and these surveys do not always match up with the true statistics. These portrayals in media can directly affect the stereotypes people have on African-Americans, and these stereotypes can create racial differences that results in violence. African Americans are portrayed poorly in the mass media, and with early education on race and better representation in the media, these portrayals will no longer affect the stereotypes people have on African-Americans.…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Race Crime and The Media

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the 1800’s African Americans were belittled and segregated simply due to the color of their skin; this was one of the most stereotyped controversies in history, and remains to be today. Dealing with race and its stereotypes that socially construct ones influence on what to think. Through the intersection of the inequalities of stereotypical racial depictions, and crimes had inequalities, and influenced by the media although the media is hegemony towards the public perception, also as well as unequal law enforcement, and public policy. Stereotype is a form of dehumanization and hegemony towards each race.…

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Media Stereotyping

    • 1346 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In what ways do the media perpetuate stereotyping and prejudice? Provide examples to support your assertion.…

    • 1346 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics