Do Stereotypes in the Media Impair Members of Stereotyped Groups? A Meta-Analysis on Stereotype Threat

• In Event: Advances in Audience Research

Abstract

Stereotypes in the media – the prevalence and the consequences – are an important topic for communication scholars and the general public. This presentation is about the consequences of negative stereotypes and devaluing content on members of the negatively portrayed groups (e.g., women, Latino Americans, older adults). More specifically, we focus on stereotype threat, a detrimental, stress-related state which leads to performance decrements and disidentification from negatively stereotyped topics and career options.
We introduce the first meta-analytic summary of existing findings that relate negative cognitive performance and disidentification to mediated stereotypes (such as gender-stereotypical TV-ads or newspaper articles). Our search in databanks (Communication MMC, PsycINFO, etc.) and through mailing lists and social media yielded 182 potentially relevant references. A further inspection of full texts revealed 25 independent studies that are relevant, with requests for four additional studies currently pending. The results will include analyses of publication bias and several moderator analyses.

Authors

• Markus Appel, University of Koblenz-Landau

• Silvana Weber, University of Koblenz-Landau