Stereotyping in the Mass Media

A collection of key terms and definitions related to the role of media in shaping perceptions of race, identity, and social norms.

I Am Not Your Negro

A movie that talks about how racism has affected Black people in America, based on a book by James Baldwin.

Scenario: Imagine watching a movie in history class that shows how Black people were treated unfairly a long time ago and how it still affects things today. That's like "I Am Not Your Negro."

Social Justice Attainment

Making sure everyone, no matter who they are, gets treated fairly, has the same chances, and is respected.

Scenario: If a school makes sure that all students, whether they use a wheelchair or speak a different language, can participate in all activities and feel welcome, that's working towards social justice.

Differences Between People

Realizing that everyone is special and unique because they come from different families, cultures (like how they celebrate holidays), and have different life stories. And it's important to respect these differences!

Scenario: In your class, some kids might celebrate Christmas, others Diwali, and some Eid. Understanding and respecting these different traditions is valuing the differences between people.

The Power of Words

The words we hear or read in news, songs, or social media can really change how we think about things and what we believe.

Scenario: If a news story uses words like "hero" to describe someone, you might start to think that person is really great. But if it uses words like "troublemaker," you might think differently, even if it's the same person. This shows the power of words.

Media Racial Representations

How different races (like Black, White, Asian, Hispanic people) are shown in TV shows, movies, or ads. Sometimes, these pictures or stories can make people believe old, untrue ideas about those groups.

Scenario: If every time you see a certain racial group on TV, they are always shown as being poor or bad, it can make people start to believe that stereotype, even though it's not true for everyone in that group.

Priming and Cognitive Accessibility

When you see or hear something (a "stimulus"), it can sometimes make other related thoughts or memories pop into your head more easily, like getting a hint for a puzzle.

Scenario: If you just watched a scary movie, and then you hear a creak in your house, you might immediately think of a monster or ghost because the movie "primed" your brain to think scary thoughts.

Entertainment Images

The way people are shown in fun stuff like movies, cartoons, or video games. What we see there can change how we think about real groups of people.

Scenario: If superhero movies always show men as strong leaders and women as needing to be saved, it could make some people think that's how it is in real life, even though it's not.

Advertising Images

The pictures and videos of people used in commercials and ads. These can either make old, untrue ideas about groups stronger, or they can help show new, more accurate ideas.

Scenario: If all toy commercials for building blocks only show boys, it might make kids think that girls don't play with blocks. But if an ad shows both boys and girls playing with them, it challenges that old idea.

Music Images

The messages and pictures in music videos, especially about race (like if a certain race is always shown as tough) or identity (like what it means to be a "cool" teenager), can change how people in society see these things.

Scenario: If many popular music videos always show a certain type of person as rich and successful, it might make young viewers believe that's the only way to be happy or cool, which isn't true for everyone.

News Constructions of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity

How TV news, newspapers, and online articles talk about different cultures (like people from different countries), races, and ethnic groups. The way they talk about them can make people believe certain things about these groups.

Scenario: If the news only shows stories about one culture during a crisis, it might make people think that culture is always in trouble, even if there are many good things happening too.

Stages of Portrayal

Imagine how a certain group of people (like women or people of color) might be shown in movies or TV shows. Over time, this portrayal can change, going through different "stages" from bad to good.

Scenario: In old cartoons, female characters were often shown as helpless princesses. Later, they became more active, then powerful heroes. These are different "stages of portrayal" for women.

Discursive Practices

The special ways that media (like TV shows or news) use certain words, phrases, and pictures to build up and spread untrue ideas (stereotypes) about groups of people.

Scenario: If a news channel always uses scary music and dark lighting when showing a story about immigrants, that's a ??? making people feel nervous about immigrants, even without saying anything directly negative.

Stereotypes

An idea about a whole group of people that is too simple, usually not true, and often not very nice. It assumes everyone in that group is the same.

Scenario: Saying "all teenagers are lazy" is a stereotype. It's an oversimplified, negative idea about an entire group, and it's definitely not true because many teenagers work hard!

Prominent Media Stereotypes

Those old, untrue ideas about groups of people that appear a lot in movies, TV, and news, and many people recognize them.

Scenario: The stereotype of a "dumb jock" or a "nerdy smart kid" are prominent media stereotypes because you see them in many shows and movies.

Priming

When seeing or hearing something (a "prime") makes you more likely to think or feel a certain way about something else, even if you don't realize it.

Scenario: If you see an ad for a new video game with only boys playing, when you later think about who plays video games, you might be "primed" to think it's mostly boys.

Cultivation Theory

The more time you spend watching TV or movies, the more you might start to believe that what you see on screen is how the real world works.

Scenario: If someone watches a lot of crime shows, they might start to think that crime rates are much higher in their city than they actually are because the TV shows have "cultivated" that belief in them.

Social Identity Theory

The idea that who we are (our "identity") is partly based on the groups we belong to (like being a student at your school, or part of a sports team), and this affects how we act and get along with others.

Scenario: If you're part of the Drama Club, you might feel a stronger connection to other Drama Club members and act differently with them than with people from the Math Club, because your "social identity" as a Drama Club member influences you.

Children as a Special Audience

Kids (especially younger ones) watch and understand TV, games, and social media in ways that are different from grown-ups. Because of this, media can affect them differently.

Scenario: A commercial for a sugary cereal might affect a young child more strongly and make them want the cereal immediately, whereas a grown-up might understand it's just an ad and make a healthier choice.

Recommendation Algorithms

Smart computer programs (like those on Netflix or YouTube) that suggest new videos, songs, or products for you to watch or buy, based on what you've liked or clicked on before.

Scenario: If you watch a lot of videos about video games on YouTube, the "recommendation algorithm" will suggest more video game channels or trailers for you based on what you usually watch.

Censorship

When someone (like a government or a school) decides to stop certain information, books, movies, or websites from being seen or heard by others because they think it's bad, dangerous, or inappropriate.

Scenario: A school library might decide not to carry a certain book if parents complain that it has inappropriate language, which is a form of censorship.

Shadow-Ban

On social media, when your posts or comments become harder for other people to see, but nobody tells you it's happening. It's like your content is being hidden in "shadows."

Scenario: If you post something on TikTok, but it doesn't get many views or show up on people's "For You" pages, even though you usually get a lot of engagement, you might be "shadow-banned" without knowing it.

Permanently Online

Always being connected to the internet, like having your phone or tablet with you all the time and checking it often.

Scenario: If you spend most of your day with your phone in hand, checking social media, texting, or playing games, you are pretty much "permanently online."

FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

That feeling of worry or anxiety when you see what your friends are doing online (like at a party or on a trip) and you feel like you're missing out on something fun or important.

Scenario: You scroll through Instagram and see all your friends at a concert, and you suddenly feel sad or anxious that you're not there. That's FOMO.

Cognitive Development Theory

A big idea describing how kids' brains grow and learn to think, understand, and solve problems better as they get older, like leveling up in a game.

Scenario: A toddler might think that if you hide a toy, it's completely gone. But an older child understands "object permanence" – that the toy is still there even if they can't see it. This change in thinking is part of cognitive development.

Assimilation and Accommodation

- **Assimilation**: When you learn something new and it fits perfectly with what you already know, so you just add it to your brain's existing files.
- **Accommodation**: When you learn something new, and it doesn't fit with what you thought before, so you have to change your old ideas to make room for the new information.

Scenario:
- Assimilation: You know a dog has four legs and barks. You see a new dog. You "assimilate" it into your "dog" category because it fits.
- Accommodation: You think all birds fly. Then you learn about penguins, which are birds but don't fly. You have to "accommodate" this new information by changing your idea of "birds" to include some that don't fly.

Attention Theories

Ideas that try to explain why we pay attention to some things and not others, and how our brain picks what to focus on, like a spotlight.

Scenario: When you're in a crowded hallway, but you can still hear your friend talking to you through all the noise, that's explained by an "attention theory" called the "cocktail party effect."

Agenda Setting

When news channels or websites decide which stories to show a lot and which ones to skip. By showing certain stories more, they make us think those topics are more important.

Scenario: If every news channel keeps talking about climate change for weeks, you'll probably start to think climate change is a super important issue, even if you hadn't thought much about it before. The media "set the agenda."

Mirror Image Theory

The idea that TV shows, movies, and news just show us what society (what people believe and how they act) is already like. It doesn't change our society, it just holds up a mirror to it.

Scenario: If a TV show features characters who are very environmentally conscious, the "mirror image theory" would say that the show isn't making people care about the environment, but rather it's reflecting that many people in society already care about it.

Partisan Bias Theory

When a news channel or website tends to show a stronger preference for one political party or way of thinking, making it seem like that side is always right or better.

Scenario: If a news channel always praises one political party's actions and criticizes the other party's, it shows "partisan bias."

Diversity

Making sure that many different kinds of people (from different races, cultures, genders, ages, abilities, etc.) are shown and heard in movies, TV, books, and news. It means showing a variety of different viewpoints.

Scenario: If an advertisement features people of different skin colors, speaking different languages, and using wheelchairs, that ad is showing "diversity."

Media Campaigns

A planned effort, like a big project, to spread a specific message to lots of people using different types of media like TV, radio, internet ads, and social media posts.

Scenario: A campaign to get people to eat healthier might have TV ads, posters in schools, and social media challenges all promoting healthy eating.

Need for Cognition

How much a person likes to think hard about things, analyze problems, and figure out complex ideas, rather than just taking things at face value.

Scenario: If your friend loves figuring out tricky puzzles or complicated math problems for fun, they have a high "need for cognition." They enjoy thinking deeply.

Spiral of Silence

When someone has an opinion that they think most people don't agree with, they often stay quiet about it because they don't want to feel alone or be criticized.

Scenario: If everyone in your class is excited about a new movie, but you secretly think it looks boring, you might not say anything because you don't want to be the "only one" who doesn't like it. This is the "spiral of silence."

Selective Exposure

When you mostly look for or pay attention to information that already matches what you believe, and you tend to ignore information that says something different.

Scenario: If you really love a certain sports team, you might only read articles that praise your team and avoid articles that criticize them or say the opposing team is better. This is selective exposure.

Social Relations Between Sender and Receiver

How the relationship between the person sending a message (like a TV show creator) and the person getting the message (the viewer) can change how the message is understood and taken in.

Scenario: If your favorite YouTuber recommends a product, you're more likely to trust that recommendation than if a random stranger on TV tells you to buy it, because of your "social relationship" (even if it's just one-sided) with the YouTuber.

User-Generated Content

Any kind of media (like videos, photos, blogs, or comments) that is made by regular people, not by big companies or professional producers.

Scenario: A TikTok video made by your friend, a picture you uploaded to Instagram, or a review you wrote on a website are all examples of "user-generated content."

Produsers

People who don't just watch or read content online (consumers), but also create their own content (producers) at the same time. Think of them as "producers + users" = "produsers."

Scenario: Someone who watches YouTube videos, but also makes their own YouTube videos and uploads them, is a "produser."

Crowdsourcing

Getting ideas, help, or information for a project from a lot of different people, usually online, instead of just a few experts. It's like asking a "crowd" for "sources."

Scenario: If a video game company asks its fans online to vote on features for their next game, or if a charity asks many people to donate a small amount of money, that'