Media Portrayals, Effects, and Interpersonal Relationships

Vocabulary practice flashcards focusing on media representations of minority groups, psychological effects, industry codes, and interpersonal relationship concepts.

Stage 1: Non-recognition (Clark's Model)

The initial stage in Cedric Clark's (1969) model of minority portrayals in which a minority group is simply absent from television and media representation.

Stage 2: Ridicule (Clark's Model)

The second stage in Clark's model where minority groups are included in media but subjected to belittlement, mocking, and harmful stereotyping.

Stage 3: Regulation (Clark's Model)

The third stage in Clark's model where minority group members appear primarily as protectors of the established social order, such as police officers or detectives.

Stage 4: Respect (Clark's Model)

The final stage in Clark's model in which minority characters are cast in the same full range of diverse roles—both positive and negative—as members of the majority group.

The Cosby Effect

A media effect investigated by Matabane and Merritt (2014) examining the relationship between television exposure and increased African American college attendance.

Identification Theory

A psychological theory positing that individuals identify more strongly with media characters whom they perceive to share characteristics or similarities with themselves.

Distinctiveness Theory

A theory suggesting that belonging to a minority group increases the psychological salience of an individual's distinct group attributes.

Distorted Reflections (Rivadeneyra et al., 2007)

Research documenting that heavy television-viewing Latino adolescents exhibit significantly lower self-esteem than their light-viewing counterparts due to pervasive negative media stereotypes.

Tokens on the Small Screen (Chin et al., 2017)

A comprehensive content analysis of $242$ television shows during the 2015–2016 season demonstrating that $155$ shows lacked any Asian American or Pacific Islander characters, and $87\%$ of regular AAPI characters received less than half an episode of screen time.

Model Minority Portrayal

A recurring media portrayal of Asian Americans as exceptionally hardworking, intelligent, and prosperous, which places intense societal pressure on individuals within that group to succeed.

Hays Code

A set of strict industry moral censorship guidelines enforced from 1934 into the 1960s that restricted depictions of sexuality, suggestive costumes, vulgarity, and double-entendres in American cinema.

CSI Effect

A phenomenon wherein jurors conditioned by television crime dramas demand definitive scientific or DNA evidence in trials, despite approximately $40\%$ of the forensic technologies depicted on television being nonexistent.

Cultivation Theory

A media effects framework stating that recurring media representations construct and shape the perceived real-world reality for audiences, particularly regarding groups or classes of people with whom viewers have limited direct personal experience.

Rumination

A repetitive, passive, and persistent focus on one's own distress, negative feelings, and problems, contrasting with healthy self-reflection and solitude.

Friends of Utility

One of Aristotle's three types of friendship, established primarily on the basis of practical benefit, mutual usefulness, or material advantage derived from one another.

Friends of Pleasure

Aristotle's category of friendship rooted in shared enjoyment, pleasant company, recreation, and immediate emotional gratification.

Friends of Character

The highest category of friendship in Aristotle's taxonomy, grounded in mutual admiration of each other's virtue, shared values, and authentic concern for the other's well-being.

Close Relationships

Interpersonal connections characterized by deep self-disclosure, interpersonal trust, and ongoing concern for the well-being of the other party (e.g., parents, close friends, significant others).