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YouTube is a website which attracts children of different ages. Many children spend a lot of time watching YouTube every day. The interest in YouTube creates learning opportunities in children’s spare time and this knowledge is brought to school. Since the purpose of this essay is to analyze Youtubers’ speech variation and whether they reinforce gender stereotypes. We have chosen to carry out a sociolinguistic analysis of four Youtubers, and relate this to possible language learning, based on a sociocultural perspective on learning. Our analysis showed that these Youtubers actually reinforce gendered speech stereotypes, even though there were some deviations. These results indicate that YouTube and Youtubers could have a big influence on children because of the number of hours children spend on the website. Children may look up to these youtubers, identify with some of them, and imitate their language and attitudes. The language and attitudes children learn from watching YouTube will be brought to school, which means that teachers need to have this in mind when planning English lessons. This may help reinforce language learning and also keep the English subject interesting.

Stereotypical images of blacks have persisted throughout multiple forms of media for decades, with one of the most recent arenas being reality television programming. This study examines the Bravo Television network series The Real Housewives of Atlanta to consider the impact of reality television on the image of black women in America today. This increasingly popular show is the most viewed in The Real Housewives franchise, and demonstrates that black women in America do not embody any one historical or contemporary stereotype of black women in particular, but rather are a compilation of these stereotypes depending on the situation at hand. / Master of Science

There is plenty of research on effects of negative stereotypes on performance, but less is known about effects of positive stereotypes. Research examining effects of positive stereotypes on performance has found mixed, often competing, results; positive stereotypes have been shown to lead to performance decrements, performance boosts, both boosts and decrements, or neither. One goal of the current study was to examine how domain identification, mode of stereotype activation, group membership of social referents, and valence of performance feedback (i.e. threat salience antecedents) influence whether positive stereotypes harm or benefit performance. I asserted that different combinations of the aforementioned variables would result in differential levels of threat salience, which I define as feelings of stress or pressure that arise from a dynamic interplay between performance motivation, anxiety and self-efficacy. Furthermore, as threat salience increased performance boosts from the positively stereotyped identity were expected to decrease and eventually lead to performance decrements. I also aimed to pinpoint the exact condition, or level of threat salience, that would lead to the switch from performance boosts to performance decrements (i.e. a tipping point). The threat salience antecedents of social referent’s group membership and feedback valence were combined to create a 2 (male/negative feedback vs female/positive feedback) X 2 (implicit activation vs explicit activation) design with a measured causal antecedent (domain identification). Participants took part in a laboratory study utilizing the positive stereotype that females are better than males at verbal ability tasks. Before arriving to the lab, participants were required to complete measures of verbal ability domain identification. Upon arrival to the lab, participants completed one trial of verbal ability items before being exposed to one of the four combinations of threat salience antecedents; following the manipulations, participants completed a subsequent trial of verbal ability items. The results of the study did not support the hypotheses; greater threat salience was not found to lead to worse performance nor was there support for a tipping point whereby performance boosts shifted to performance decrements. Possible reasons for null findings are discussed along with implications of exploratory analyses. / Master of Science / Research on the impact of positive stereotypes on performance has often resulted in mixed conclusions, with some research finding evidence for performance boosts, some finding evidence for performance decrements, and some finding both or neither. The current study sought to demonstrate that certain variables (i.e. domain identification, mode of stereotype activation, group membership of social referents, and valence of performance feedback) impact whether positive stereotypes lead to increases or decreases in performance outcomes through presenting differential threat salience. Threat salience essentially being feelings of pressure or worry about contradicting a positive stereotype; said feelings are believed to be the result of a dynamic interplay between motivation, self-efficacy, and anxiety about performance outcomes. I hypothesized that as threat salience increased then performance would decrease, eventually causing performance boosts from positive stereotypes to switch to performance decrements. Furthermore, I aimed to identify the exact level of threat salience that resulted in a switch from performance boosts to performance decrements (i.e. a tipping point). The study results did not provide support for the hypotheses, nor was I able to identify a tipping point whereby performance switched from boosts to decrements. Implications of exploratory analyses are discussed, along with possible explanations for null findings.

This research posed the question "How does racism in the gay community and homophobia in the Black community restrict gay Black male's life chances and life opportunities?" Previous research has uncovered racist attitudes within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community as well as homophobic attitudes within the Black community. Because of conflicting social identifiers (Is it possible for one to be both homosexual and Black?) and the invisibility of a gay Black voice, it is imperative to deconstruct the relationship between gay Black men and the communities they are a part of. I utilized qualitative in-depth interviewing techniques interviewing 15 Black men aged 18 and older who identified themselves as homosexual. The questions revolved around three primary questions designed to center the researcherâ ¦How do gay Black men describe their lives, How do gay Black men describe what their lives ought to be, and What obstacles do gay Black men see effecting their opportunity to live the lives they feel they ought to be living. The gay Black male research participants disclosed that because of Black stereotypes, gay stereotypes, acceptance with stipulations in the gay community and the black community, racism in the gay community, homophobia in the Black community, and perceptions of blackness and masculinity's affect on gay Black menâ ¦gay Black men live their lives with various restrictions. In other words, gay Black men do not appear to be living their lives the way they feel they ought to be living it. This work is important because a majority of the participants stated they wished to live restriction free lives. They are not able to fully be themselves in their daily lives and often have to assimilate to be accepted. / Master of Science

Popular culture texts such as films have become increasingly prevalent and powerful in dictating what we believe and know to be true. Throughout history, Asians and Asian Americans have been represented through disempowering portrayals that have evolved into stereotypes perpetuated in films. However, Asians and Asian Americans have worked to reclaim their identities and transform how they are portrayed in movies. Thus, this thesis examines four American films including "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961), "Memoirs of a Geisha" (2005), "Minari" (2020), and "Everything Everywhere All at Once" (2022). By conducting a modified critical discourse analysis of how these films portray Asian and Asian American identity, this thesis depicts how disempowerment in films is connected to negative stereotypes and representations, and how empowerment in films can provide prototypes that are more authentic representations of Asian and Asian Americans. / MACOM / This study uses a modified critical discourse analysis to examine the representation and portrayal of Asian and Asian American identity in four popular films, Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961), "Memoirs of a Geisha" (2005), "Minari" (2020), and "Everything Everywhere All at Once" (2022). In the past, Asians and Asian Americans have been featured in stereotypical roles to disempower them. However, Asian and Asian American actors, actresses, writers, and filmmakers have joined Hollywood on and off-screen to rewrite their stories, reclaim their identities and portray themselves in holistic and empowering ways. A modified critical discourse analysis is used to look at these four films and how these films portray Asian and Asian American identity. The thesis shows that negative stereotypical roles lead to the disempowerment of Asians and Asian Americans, while authentic representation leads to the empowerment of Asians and Asian Americans further providing prototypes that are more strong, authentic portrayals.

The retail sector spends millions of dollars each year advertising to consumers. This is a considerable investment for companies seeking effective ways to inform and persuade the consumer. Consequently, retailers need to develop creative message strategies and tactics that will positively affect consumer attitudes. One particular tactic available to retailers is the use of a spokesperson in the advertisement. Salespersons are used in numerous advertisements and can provide key benefits to an advertiser. However, to maximize these benefits, retailers need to carefully select the spokesperson that will be most effective for their store and product. This purpose of this research is to examine the characteristics that influence consumers' perceptions of print advertisements that include a spokesperson in the advertisement. Most of the past literature concerning spokespersons has concentrated on the consumer perspective of meeting and interacting with a living, breathing person. This research seeks to use the past research on salespeople to examine the spokesperson as a cue in a print advertisement. In this perspective, the consumer views the spokesperson from a visual-only perspective. The proposed experiment will utilize print advertisements from two retail businesses. More specifically the study will investigate how consumers react if the individual viewed in the advertisement is typical (matches with their preconceived stereotype) or if the salesperson is atypical (does not match with their preconceived stereotype). This research also examines how men and women are viewed differently in the spokesperson role and how changes in physical appearance may impact consumers' perceptions. The research also studies the influence of spokesperson stereotypes on consumers' cognitive responses.

The current thesis explored participants' stereotypes and auto-stereotypes of old age within the UK, and the consequences of auto-stereotype activation on older adults' memory performance and well-being. Study 1 employed a questionnaire design to explore young (aged 17-25 years) and older adults' (aged 60-75 years) experiences and stereotypes of ageing. Older participants demonstrated high subjective age bias, reporting subjective ages significantly below their chronological age. Older adults also demonstrated a greater understanding of positive aspects of old age than young adults, although no significant differences emerged between cohorts over the valence of generated stereotype content. Study 2 modified the questionnaire to further differentiate between more positive versus less negative aspects of ageing. Findings indicated that although older adults displayed less negative perceptions of old age than young adults, they did not demonstrate more positive representations. Study 3 explored the structure (as opposed to content) of age-related stereotypes using a free-sorting task, and included old-old adult participants (aged 75-91 years). Confirming previous findings, subtype structure formed two high level clusters, consisting of positive or negative categories. Old-old adults demonstrated the most complex subtype structure from the three groups, with no significant differences emerging between young and older adults. Finally, Study 4 employed a subliminal priming paradigm to examine the impact of positive or negative auto-stereotype activation on older adults' memory performance and well-being. Findings suggested that negative auto-stereotype activation had a detrimental impact on participants' memory performance, although the low power of the study means additional work is required to confirm this effect pattern. No significant effects of priming emerged for young adults. In summary, the current findings suggest that stereotypes and auto-stereotypes of old age are complex, consisting of both positive and negative elements, and point to the importance of considering subjective, rather than chronological age when assessing age-related identity.

Stereotypes associating men more strongly with science compared to women have harmful implications for women’s science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) outcomes. Exposure to successful female STEM role models can buffer women from the effect of these stereotypes and lead to better performance and greater interest in STEM fields. Moreover, role model identification is especially important for improving women’s STEM outcomes. The current study posits that encouraging women to reflect on the ways in which they identify with a role model will improve women’s STEM identification, STEM sense of belonging, weaken explicit STEM stereotypes, and will strengthen implicit associations between women and science over the course of a semester, which will then lead to increased desire to pursue STEM opportunities and improved STEM GPA. Seventy-two incoming freshmen women interested in majoring in STEM completed the study. Participants read two role model biographies at different time points during the semester, and at both time points were asked to either write about the ways in which they identified with the role model, asked to write facts about the role model, or asked to write facts about a woman whose hobbies they read about (i.e., control condition). Results revealed that encouraging women to identify with a role model weakened explicit stereotypes and strengthened implicit women-science associations compared to merely exposing women to a role model. Furthermore, encouraging women to identify with a role model and merely exposing women to a role model tended to increase STEM sense of belonging compared to not exposing women to a role model. These findings suggest that encouraging women to identify with a role model is important for improving women’s STEM attitudes. / acase@tulane.edu

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iii, 64 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-64).