Assimilation and Contrast Effects in the Priming of Asian American and African American Stereotypes through TV Exposure

This study applied theoretical propositions of the assimilation and contrast perspectives of social psychology to investigate the effects of exposure to TV portrayals of Asian Americans on judgments regarding Asian and African Americans. Experimental participants exposed to TV-mediated messages reinforcing the Asian American “model minority”‘ stereotype were more likely to positively evaluate Asian Americans and to negatively evaluate African Americans than participants exposed to messages countering the “model” stereotype or to a control stimulus. Exposure to the “model” reinforcement also led to disagreement with affirmative action.