Intergroup Relations: How the Media Can Play a Role

Have you ever had to work with someone you wouldn’t consider “your type of person”? Perhaps it is in the workplace or maybe at school, but if you didn’t have to interact with them there is a good chance you never would. Maybe you never got along with them, or maybe there was just something about them that you didn’t like, but for some you just didn’t like them.

Despite the fact that you didn’t like them, you may have had to work with them. You might have found out that by working together and interacting with them, you may have learned that you actually have more in common with them than you would have thought or maybe they aren’t the person you perceived them to be. Intergroup research suggest that implementing contact hypothesis, where positive contact between groups is increased, can help reduce negative stereotypes as long as both groups consider themselves to be equal and share a common goal (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). As positive contact between each group increases, attitudes about the out-group change.

Over the years, the media has had their fair share of criticism, being blamed for putting unrealistic images in peoples’ heads, such as the way they should look, how they should act, what’s popular and what’s not. However, researchers suggest the media can be used to improve intergroup relations. Using an extended contact hypothesis framework (Lienemann & Stopp, 2013) conducted a study investigating the association between the media and intergroup relations, in this particular case interracial relations and interracial attitudes. The results showed that prolonged contact of Black-White relationships via the media increased favorable attitudes toward Black-White relationships. This was a result of more positive attitudes toward interracial relationships.

This is an interesting idea because it showing that the contact doesn’t have to be physical and that the media can play a role in improving intergroup relations. The media is in our daily lives, what we see on TV or in magazines becomes “normal” to us. If you were to constantly see Black-White relationships somewhere in the media, there is a better possibility of it becoming normal and accepting to us without even realizing it.

 

References

Lienemann, B. A. and Stopp, H. T. (2013), The association between media exposure of interracial relationships and attitudes toward interracial relationships. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43: E398–E415. doi: 10.1111/jasp.12037

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2012). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

6 comments

  1. improve relationship

    Intergroup Relations: How the Media Can Play a Role | Applied Social Psychology (ASP)

  2. Keli Elaine Barnes

    I found the beginning of your post quite funny because I recently had the experience of working with someone that was not “my type of person”. She has started at my work as one of the favorites of the management so that gave me a bad perception of her before I even met her. Once I met her I found everything to not like about her. A few months later we began to work at the same house during the same shift and we actually became friends and now we are really good friends. I believe that neither of us felt as if we were any better than each other, I think we felt pretty much equal due to the fact that I had been at the job a lot longer but she had known all the management and was well liked. We also were in the same position at our job. I think by us working to the goal for having a positive life for the guys (and by complaining about our management) we became really close and my opinion definitely changed about her.
    I do agree with you that bringing the media into this would make positive changes. A really positive way I think they could use this would be to have an influence on self image. I believe that the media has made us think that skinny women, as an example, are the only acceptable women. Sadly I believe is the reason so many girls have eating disorders. A good way they could fix this is by making the women in movies “think” per say. These thick girls should have the good looking boyfriends, have a lot of friends, and most important be able to convey that they are happy with who they are. Not only do I think it will help girls accept themselves or others if they are heavy, but it will also help men see the beauty in all different sizes of women. Like race, size is discriminated against a lot and I believe with medias help this type of norm can be changed or at least accepted.

  3. Using the media to improve intergroup relations is an example of an indirect influence. The media has a great opportunity to use its influence to reduce prejudice by appealing to the public’s emotions. This might be accomplished by exposing the public to the reality of atrocities committed because of prejudice. It might also be accomplished by showing television programs with more diversity. The key however might be the addition of changing society’s norms. Watching a television show that portrays diverse relationships is less apt to change an individual’s negative attitudes if the attitudes coincide with society’s norms. Perhaps one way of changing society’s social norms is through social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. This type of social media allows individuals to reach out to a diverse population in a non-threatening way. Without direct contact, individuals can get to know each other and break the barriers caused by social norms. This indirect contact could lead to direct contact with people that you would ordinarily not consider associating with due to preconceived ideas caused by stereotyping or simply lack of knowledge.

    I remember watching The Godfather for the first time. I grew up in an area with little diversity. I had no contact with cultures other than my own. My first impression of Italians came from that movie. I now consider it a negative portrayal, but as a young person with no prior contact with Italians, I thought all Italians were violent. It is easy for the media to have a negative influence in many ways. Contributing to stereotyping has been one of those ways. But it also has the chance to turn things around. The media is a powerful tool and if used correctly it could help people learn about each other. While this indirect influence is utilized, social media outlets can further the process. My daughter met a friend on Facebook. They discovered they have a lot in common. After a couple of weeks of communicating, my daughter found out her new friend was a Native American. This was the first time my daughter had ever talked to a Native American. She had a picture in her mind of what the girl looked like, including moccasins, and was surprised when she received a picture of the girl wearing clothes from Old Navy and a pair of Reeboks. This was a good experience for both girls. They learned about each other, and accepted each other’s differences in spite of preconceived ideas.

  4. I think the study you provided would be particularly helpful with children who live in rural areas. Rural areas typically consist of a population that is predominantly white, and the only times that many of these kids get exposed to children of other races is when they are competing in sports against other schools. I think growing up in a rather homogenous area (like the rural south), produces the similar-to-me effect. The similar-to-me effect occurs when people perceive those who are like them in a more favorable way than they do those who are different (Schneider et al, 2012). It is also normal that people of a certain race typically prefer television shows that consist of actors that are similar to themselves. I think that by utilizing the study you provided, and increasing the exposure of these rural children to actors of differing races interacting with actors of their own race, that possibly the similar-to-me effect would disappear. I have witnessed situations where a predominantly white school plays a predominantly black school in a particular sport and often the athletes are not accepting (and are often mean) to the rival school. This of course can be attributed partially to the culture in which these children are raised, but by widening their horizons and increasing their exposure to differing races and cultures, just maybe could we prevent these children to carry their views with them to college where diversity is expected.

    References:

    Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

  5. Jamie Lynne Wilson

    The overall premise of your post is a great one – that it is possible to still elicit positive feelings between races even when the interaction is not face to face. I believe this is also the case when we interact through the media with another race, without watching a person of that race interact with one of our own. Allow me to explain. In watching the Food Network recently, it was apparent that a massive effort has been orchestrated to obtain cooks of many different origins to bring new faces to the network. There was a show on this particular day showcasing a woman of Indian decent, and immediately afterward, a cook of Hispanic origin. It is possible, in my opinion, to draw similarities between our own nationality and that of others we may view on television and feel a kind of camaraderie with them. Perhaps it is almost preferable to initiate this kind of media interaction among groups as it will likely result in less stress for the target audience. In media viewing, it isn’t necessary for the viewer to try to interact with the other group or to have any kind of awkward conversation at all. It is possible for the viewer to simply watch and learn from the other group and possibly even develop a feeling of common interest with the person on the screen. In my Food Network example, it was possible to see that the chef used the same brand of pasta that I purchase to cook for my own family every week. With enough common experiences like that, it may be possible to help eliminate feelings of racial superiority.

    It would be interesting to test this theory by using only media interaction between races. Before and after watching a show or speech given by a member of another racial group, the target audience should be given a questionnaire to answer to assess their overall impression of members of another group. This questionnaire should include common stereotypes and conflicts between the two groups at hand, if any exist. The media should then be geared in some way toward eradicating these feelings from the viewers. A study like this could pinpoint where racial tension exists and shed light on further solutions that may help minimize negative feelings between all racial groups.

  6. Ana Luisa S Taboa

    There have definitely been times where I’ve worked in group projects with people whom I didn’t consider to be, in a manner of speaking, “my type of person.” They were people who didn’t seem to have any interest whatsoever in school or learning of any kind and would often make fun of others. Just as you said, if I didn’t have to interact with them for group projects, I wouldn’t have spoken to them at all. Unfortunately I’ve never had an instance with such people in a group project where I learned to do well with them through our journey of working for the same goal (but that’s because most of the time they weren’t interested in doing any work at all, which only led them to resent them more.) I understand what point you’re attempting to make, however.
    We’ve learned during this lesson that contact hypothesis states that with a common goal to be reached and an environment that proves that working together will be beneficial and the movement toward that mutual goal is supported, individuals can engage in cooperation towards the goal and decrease negative relations with one another through their journey as their attitudes towards one another change (Schneider et al., 2012, p 343). Your spin on bringing the media into this was very good. It makes me think of the popular show Glee that attempts to break social barriers constantly, with some episodes that are a bit more risqué or controversial than others (Krule, 2011; Manning, 2011; Sperling, 2013).
    Your research on extended contact hypothesis framework was really interesting. That’s amazing that the media has so much effect on how we view our relationships in our personal lives that we can feel closer to people outside of groups other than our own because the media portrays it as normal. I liked that the study focused on black and white relationships particularly because it’s a commonly fought battle for blacks and whites to see one another as friends and equals. We learned in our lesson that African Americans do not readily perceive themselves as equal to Caucasian individuals (Bikmen, 2011), and that was something that intergroup contact hypothesis theory couldn’t handle and fix on its own (Schneider et al., 2012, p 343). It’s interesting to learn that the extended contact hypothesis framework can bypass the perceived difference in hierarchical relations.
    I’ve learned throughout my studies that the media has a great effect on us, but I wanted to know why it does. In order to delve a little bit on why media affects us so much, I turned to our textbook and looked up a few of the theories and frameworks that we’ll be dealing with throughout the course. I found that the social norm theory worked really well to expand on why the media has so much power. Social norm theory emphasizes the fact that norms play a really big part in our lives. Norms, as we learned before, are the shared beliefs that we hold as what our behavior should be in certain situations and what is acceptable (Schneider et al., 2012, p 71). The media is one of the social factors that play a part in shaping what we view as normal as well as our social behavior. From a functionalist perspective, the most powerful groups and institutions in our society play a huge part in shaping our beliefs about reality, and media is included as one of these powers along with family, education, and religion (Schaefer, 2004). People’s behaviors are guided by what they perceive to be the norm (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004), and if the media has the power to influence us from a young age and far into our adult lives, it makes complete sense that it can be successfully utilized to remold social norms.

    Thanks for your post! It was an interesting read.

    Works Cited:

    Bikmen, N. (2011). Asymmetrical effects of contact between minority groups: Asian and black students in a small college. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17(2), 186-186-194. doi:10.1037/a0023230
    Cialdini, R.B., & Goldstein, N. J. (2004). Social influence: Compliance and conformity. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 591-621.
    Krule, M. (2011, February 16). Attempted Humor Gone Awry: Did ‘Glee’ Go Too Far?. NPR.
    Retrieved February 24, 2014, from
    http://www.npr.org/2011/02/16/133805615/attempted-humor-gone-awry-did-glee-go-too-
    far

    Manning, K. (2011, November 10). Glee’s “The First Time” Went Too Far. NextGen Journal
    Glees The First Time Went Too Far Comments. Retrieved February 24, 2014, from
    http://www.nextgenjournal.com/2011/11/glees-the-first-time-goes-too-far/

    Schaefer, R. T. (2004). Sociology: a brief introduction (5th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

    Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2012). Applied social psychology:
    Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

    Sperling, D. (2013, April 12). Digital Spy.Digital Spy. Retrieved February 24, 2014, from http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/s57/glee/recaps/a472685/glee-did-shooting-star-twist-go-too-far.html

Leave a Reply


Skip to toolbar