Social Sciences

The Effect of Media Bias and Race on Public Opinion of Black Violence

In today’s societal consciousness, the Black American is widely perceived as being more likely to commit crimes than their White American counterparts. However, this fear is misplaced when looking at data and factors affecting criminal reporting. Studies on American news consistently find that Black criminal suspects are frequently portrayed in a more menacing, violent light than White suspects on news stories on violent crime. In this study I seek to: A)  Draw a link between the belief that Black Americans are violent-prone to news and race; and B)  Explain why these relationships exist, faulting both news media bias and the incentives news viewers gain by viewing biased news.

Cognitive and Emotional Evaluations of Congress

It should come as no surprise that the United States Government is currently being held in low regard by the American public. Today, Congress is disliked by most Americans. I aim to evaluate the public’s evaluations of The United States Government, with a concentration on Congress and its interworking’s. In their article, entitled, The Media’s Role in Public Negativity Toward Congress: Distinguishing Emotional Reactions and Cognitive Evaluations, authors, John R. Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse formulate an expansive theory about media and public opinion. The two theorize that “The nature of political news as presented by the mass media in the modern United States is such that it affects people’s emotional reactions more than their cognitive evaluations of political actors and institutions (Hibbing and Theiss-Morse, 475, 1998). I plan to test this theory to see if it withstands the test of time, with a few modifications. I hypothesize that Americans who rely on electronic or social media for their news and people who consume a great deal of news from the modernized mass media will not be more likely to evaluate Congress negatively but will be more likely to have a negative emotional reaction to Congress.

“Mis/Under” Representations in Media

Racial stereotyping is a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given racial group, their status, and society and cultural norms. Stereotyping arises out of the need to generalize in order to make sense out of a very complicated environment. It allows people to easily categorize unfamiliar ideas or realizations into comfortable spaces already defined by their experiences. We analyzed how marginalized groups are represented in three different types of media: movies / TV shows, protests / riots, and sports. Through our analysis, we decided to narrow in on these three media avenues because we believe each category builds upon teaching and developing racial stereotypes in society. In turn, we examined how the Social Cognitive theory and priming theory are found within these media’s teachings of roles to society. We used these theories to explain why there are contrasting ways that the media portrays racial groups, and therefore why those representations flow into societal portrayals. For example, media illustrations about protest and riots amongst Whites and Blacks is problematic, and we believe that has much to do with how blacks and whites are portrayed in movies, TV shows, and sports. In each media venue, we found Blacks are commonly referenced as “thugs” who riot and commit acts of violence; while Whites are often portrayed as successful individuals and given excuses for their flaws. We hope to portray this misrepresentation of blacks in the media in order for society to challenge media representations of marginalized groups.

How Does Ethnocentrism Explain
Anti-Immigrant Sentiment and Islamophobia?

Ethnocentrism is the act of assessing and comparing of one’s own culture, beliefs, and practices with those of others. Essentially, it is the psychological aspect of creating in-groups and out-groups and without always realizing it, people tend to favor their in-group over the out-group(s). In America, the diverse society it has is caused by immigration. What it means to be “American” is debatable but historically it has meant being a Caucasian with Protestant Christian beliefs. As populations of various religious groups, ethnicities, races, and other orientations have grown, there have been periods of backlash against them. Acts and policies of nativism, racism and xenophobia have resulted in the humiliation, discrimination, and violence towards apparent out-groups. This research will outline how ethnocentrism is the underlying principle of negative perceptions and what the repercussions of those perceptions are in relation to Muslims (and those perceived to be Muslim) and the issue of immigration as it has evolved in America.

Effects of a Single Meditation on State Mindfulness and Working Memory

The present study tests the hypothesis that a single 20-minute session of mindfulness practice is enough to induce a mindful state, and improve performance on a working memory task.  34 undergraduate students at Davidson College were recruited and assigned to either a meditation or control group.  Participants completed a self-report mindfulness scale in addition to a working memory Stroop task.  Meditators did not demonstrate significantly reduced Stroop interference or better conflict adaptation than controls.  Meditators did increase significantly in state mindfulness from before to after intervention when compared to the control group, who did not.  Though extant literature demonstrates positive outcomes for attention and working memory after both long- and short-term meditative interventions, it is likely that a single session of meditation is not sufficient to affect these cognitive networks.