Previous research indicates stereotypes of minorities are persistent in television news stories. Can personal familiarity with different racial/ethnic groups influence the selection of non-stereotypical news images? Supported by theories of the personal contact hypothesis, framing, priming, schema, and stereotyping, this study hypothesized that student journalists with a high level of personal contact with different races/ethnicities would select non-stereotypical images to help illustrate television news stories focusing on social issues and hypothesized that student journalists with a low level of personal contact would select non-stereotypical images for the same texts when primed to think about facts countering common misconceptions of racial/ethnic stereotypes. Also, will the level of personal contact with different races/ethnicities and the self-identified race of the student journalist influence non-stereotypical image selection? A two-part experiment tested 128 student journalists with an online pre-test measuring the level of personal contact in social activities with different races/ethnicities. Later, a substantive in-person experiment required participants to select from a set of four photographs, the photo that they believed best represented the content of a news story in which race played a possible role. This task was conducted five times with five different news stories and five different sets of photographs. The independent variables were the level of personal contact and whether or not the participant was first primed to think about facts countering common racial/ethnic misconceptions. The dependent variable was the selection of either a non-stereotypical or stereotypical photo. A two-way between-subjects analysis of variance was used. Results showed no significant difference in photo selection attributed to the level of personal contact or to prior priming to think non-stereotypically. There was no significant difference between prior priming and photo selection. Additionally, the race of the participant made no difference in photo selection. While these results are contrary to existing theory, research, pedagogy and intuition. It is worth noting that finding no statistical significance does not necessarily mean that the phenomenon is not happening in reality. Responses to open ended questions within the manipulation tests were qualitatively analyzed and showed that although the 14 participants enrolled in a university liberal arts course were able to recognize the racial stereotypes within the news stories, some chose stereotypical images contrary to their stated criterion for selecting a non-stereotypical image. Future research should test the hypotheses with subjects from more heterogeneous regions of the country, and recruit professional and student journalists as study participants and compare generational differences in cultural, racial, and ethnic understanding, education, and tolerance. / text

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Transracial adoption continues to be a widely debated and controversial subject matter. The purpose of this study was to complete an examination of what adoption social workers do to teach adoptive parents regarding their adoptees' differing cultural and ethnic background. A questionnaire was sent to all adoption social workers employed by Children's Aid Societies in Ontario; 90 responded. The questionnaire included questions regarding demographic information, opinions of transracial adoption and also explored the actual actions taken to teach adoptive parents about their adoptees' differing cultural and ethnic background. Findings were that the majority of adoption social workers in Ontario are Caucasian, and that they have a high level of agreement with the appropriateness of transracial adoptions. The total actions taken by social workers to educate adoptive parents were found to be quite low; a higher number of actions taken was associated with: (1) The social workers being older; (2) The fact that they adopted transracially themselves; (3) Longer experience in social work, and specifically in adoption; (4) More transracial adoptions facilitated.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-161).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2008. / Principal faculty advisor: Samuel L. Gaertner, Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 2002. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-85).

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1954. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [394]-444).

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 56 p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-43).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1954. / Typescript. Vita. Title from title screen (viewed May 9, 2006). Includes bibliographical references (leaves [394]-444). Online version of the print original.