Meghan S. Sanders

An Examination of African Americans' Stereotyped Perceptions of Fictional Media Characters

An extensive body of research has already illustrated the myriad ways in which media help form perceptions of various social groups. Theories such as cultivation, stereotype theory, social learning, and social identity theory all discuss how audiences can internalize what they see presented in the media, and project that information onto their beliefs about reality. However, many of these theories pay less attention to both negative and positive stereotypes, as well as how multiple social groups are perceived within the same context. Likewise, research has neglected thoroughly to examine the perceptions of African American media viewers regarding other marginalized social groups. This study examines the underlying dimensions of stereotypes by applying the stereotype content model (SCM) to African Americans’ perceptions of media representations of their own and other marginalized groups. The results of the study provided mixed support for the SCM; however, perceptions of African American characters were favorable.

Fandom and the search for meaning: Examining communal involvement with popular media beyond pleasure.

The present study expands on current theorizing about fandom by considering how communal involvement with popular media extends beyond pleasure and is more strongly associated with the search for meaning. Using the context of one of the most widespread media phenomena dominating popular culture—the Harry Potter franchise, results of an online questionnaire (N = 235) indicated that individual differences among fans (i.e., narrative exposure and eudaimonic motivation or the desire to seek meaning from entertainment) predicted involvement in fan communities. Further, perceived membership in fan communities enhanced enjoyment, appreciation, physiological reactions, knowledge acquisition, and intentions to seek fan-related materials. Implications for expanding entertainment scholarship in the study of meaningful media related to fandom and our understanding of contemporary forms of fandom in light of new technological affordances are discussed.

Beyond Heroes and Villains: Examining Explanatory Mechanisms Underlying Moral Disengagement

In recent years, theorizing regarding the role and importance of media entertainment in everyday life has garnered much serious attention by media effects scholars. The role of moral judgments, sanctions, and lack thereof are areas in which theoretical development has expanded. The present study examines narrative exposure, identification, and moral judgment as indicators of the degree to which individuals may morally disengage during mediated entertainment experiences. In addition, this study attempts to further expand disposition theory and theorizing about the role of moral disengagement by moving beyond conceptualizations of good, bad, and morally ambiguous characters to explore more subtle moral distinctions between characters as they exist within the same narrative and along a continuum. Results suggest that identification and moral judgment serve as important mediators predicting moral disengagement; however, the nature of these relationships are moderated by the perception of the character’s moral fortitude.

Seeing Through the Avatar’s Eyes: Effects of Point-of-View and Gender Match on Identification and Enjoyment:

This study examines the mediating role of identification in the relationship between gameplay point-of-view, gender-swapping, and enjoyment of the gaming experience, taking a multidimensional perspective of identification. In a 2 × 2 factorial experiment, we manipulated avatar point-of-view and gamer-avatar gender match and measured the influence on physical similarity, homophily, customization, perspective-taking, wishful identification, and liking. In addition, we tested both how the independent variables influence enjoyment and how each identification dimension may predict enjoyment. Results provided initial support for a multidimensional view of gaming identification. In addition, some of the identification dimensions were found to mediate the relationship between game point-of-view and enjoyment, but the nature of these relationships depended on gender match. Implications for conceptualizations of identification and video game experiences, as well as the theoretical implications for understanding awareness, are discussed.