Editing Counterstereotype (section)

=== Background ===
Minority groups within society are often portrayed negatively within popular media. Through psychological processes such as priming, this reinforces consumers’ negative stereotypes toward those groups.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Mustafaj |first1=Matea |last2=Dal Cin |first2=Sonya |date=2023 |title=Preexisting Stereotypes and Selection of Counter-Stereotypical Genius Representations in Entertainment Media |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000377 |journal=Journal of Media Psychology |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=1–14 |doi=10.1027/1864-1105/a000377 |issn=1864-1105|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Ramasubramanian |first=Srividya |date=2011-01-10 |title=The Impact of Stereotypical Versus Counterstereotypical Media Exemplars on Racial Attitudes, Causal Attributions, and Support for Affirmative Action |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0093650210384854 |journal=Communication Research |volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=497–516 |doi=10.1177/0093650210384854 |issn=0093-6502|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dixon |first1=Travis L. |last2=Azocar |first2=Cristina L |date=2006-03-10 |title=Priming Crime and Activating Blackness: Understanding the Psychological Impact of the Overrepresentation of Blacks as Lawbreakers on Television News |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2007.00341.x |journal=Journal of Communication |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=230 |doi=10.1111/j.1460-2466.2007.00341.x |issn=0021-9916|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Bombarding consumers with these stereotypes causes implicit attitudes - which occurs in the absence of conscious thought - to be negative towards those groups. This has a wide range of consequences, with the most profound effects being seen in exposure to the “negative” group in ambiguous situations.<ref name=":1" /> An example of this can be seen with the over-portrayal of African-Americans as criminals in American media: the psychological literature shows that through media reinforcement of a criminal stereotype, consumers of this content evaluate African-Americans as more dangerous than other groups even in ambiguous situations.<ref name=":1" /> This demonstrates how media depiction of stereotypes can lead directly to prejudice. This is consequential because it can affect not only inter-group interactions, but the [[Self-concept|self-identity]] of the “negative group” (see: [[Self-fulfilling prophecy]]). Psychological research has shown that the stereotype associated simply with one’s name can cause changes in behavior and cognition.<ref>{{Citation |title=Personal Name Stereotypes Personennamen-Stereotypen Stéréotypes des noms de personnes |date=1996-01-11 |work=Namenforschung / Name Studies / Les noms propres, Part 2 |editor-last=Eichler |editor-first=Ernst |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110148794.2.21.1744 |access-date=2024-11-29 |place=Berlin • New York |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |doi=10.1515/9783110148794.2.21.1744 |isbn=978-3-11-020343-1 |editor2-last=Hilty |editor2-first=Gerold |editor3-last=Löffler |editor3-first=Heinrich |editor4-last=Steger |editor4-first=Hugo|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Counter-stereotypes work by presenting media consumers with a member of a “negative” group who does not act stereotypically. This challenges consumers’ existing attitudes towards that group, and has been shown to reduce existing prejudices toward them. Exposing consumers to counter-stereotypes may also lead to increased support for policy options aimed at addressing racial disparities, such as affirmative action.<ref name=":1" />