Impacts of Media Stereotypes
Overview
A topic that most people forget to acknowledge when speaking on the negative effects of the media is the is wrongful stereotypes and stigmas portrayed in our everyday viewing. Whether the effects of it are known consciously or subconsciously the exposure to certain messages in the media has the power to influence the change of perceptions and beliefs. Stereotypes in the media can be seen and applied to a variety of different assortments including towards gender, sex, ethnicity, race, etc.. this can proceed to a mixture of potential negative effects. Just some of the effects comprise of a dissatisfaction with ones self, cognitive biases and reduced performance/expectations. This happens because we understand ourselves abilities and limitations through comparisons with other people which the media provides a prominent venue for. The one I’d like to focus on most though, that I feel is most prevalent, is the cognitive biases. Exposure to stereotypes in the media repeatedly can influence our perceptions on reality. This has been described by a professor of psychology at the University of Delaware, James Jones, that these cognitive biases that we are exposed to can alter our attitudes and beliefs of race which can lead to the perpetuation of racism. The content patterns that we see most of in the news and our favorite TV shows are diversity issues. The diversity issues create a negative impact on minorities and the more vulnerable populations. There are a multitude of theories that can function through these stereotypes. The central theories I would like to focus on are cultivation theory: first and second order of effects that influence our beliefs and attitudes, framing theory: how the media presents certain people and groups in contrasting fashion and exemplification theory: how we make judgement based on particular events we are exposed to on a day tot day basis.
Stereotypes in the Media
In a majority of the media a misrepresentation and misunderstanding of how reality actually is. The evidence of this can be seen throughout the diversity in TV show casts and in more extreme but just as frequent cases on the news. This can cause people to treat these extreme exemplars as typical instances which leads to modified attitudes and beliefs about the particular group. The media can due this by skewing stories which gives viewers a misinterpretation of an event and change the way we think about the group in relation to the context. This type of stereotyping can be linked to the framing theory and cultivation theory by analyzing the way the media discusses certain people or events in a contrasting fashion. The example shown below are from the same media outlet depicting similar events in completely different ways. The framing theory states how the media discusses certain people or events in in different ways which can influence changes in our perceptions and makes us think differently on that group in relation to the context. You can see in this example can create racial biases, stigmas and stereotypes just upon how the stories are framed.
The cultivation theory can be applied to this scenario by looking into how this article could change our beliefs and attitudes. The cultivation theory consists of first order effects and second order effects. The first order of effects focuses on how our beliefs towards certain groups or people can be changed through repeated exposure to stories such as this one. Through articles like this it can have the potential to change anyone's belief creating a cognitive biases, possibly you’re even unaware of. Once beliefs are changed the second order of effects happens next which effects behavioral and attitudinal development can occur. Lastly, I wanted to also touch on the exemplification theory. It states that we make judgments about how often particular events occur based on what we are exposed to in our day to day functions. The exemplification theory has two heuristics that can be applied to this theory which are availability and representative. Availability refers to how often/how readily accessible the information we are exposed is. If we consistently are exposed to stories like these in the media, due to framing in media stories, we are much more influenced to make these judgments which in turns creates cognitive biases. The representative heuristic refers to how misrepresentation can distort our impressions of representation in reality. This all leads to questions on how much influence does these media effects actually have on us as a society over decades of time? It may be indeterminable but to ponder on it can almost leave you speechless.
