Experimental Studies of Media Stereotyping Effects

Media portrayals often form the primary, if not only, source of social and interactive information about various groups in society. Mainstream mass media have historically marginalized, trivialized, demeaned, and underrepresented minority groups. Consequently, media effects scholars have expressed concern with ways in which audiences use stereotypic media content when forming opinions of people across group affiliations. Given this impact, media stereotyping studies are germane to understanding the formation and maintenance of cultural stereotypes and prejudicial feelings toward out-groups. In this chapter, we review methodological and theoretical advances in lab-based experimental research in media stereotyping scholarship. Key concepts, standard experimental designs, stimuli, and dependent variables are elaborated upon. We further highlight the advantages of experimental methods in investigating how variations in media type and media content influence viewers' attitudes, evaluations, and feelings relating to members of the out-group, especially based on gender, race, and sexual orientation.