This study applies priming, framing, and exemplification theories to examine the ways in which photos published with a news story influenced readers’ judgments about the ethnicities of the people receiving emergency hunger services. Of particular interest were the perceptions of Caucasian respondents about minorities, and Hispanic perceptions about African Americans and other Hispanics. A sample of 506 college students was randomly assigned to read one of three versions of an online news article about emergency hunger services in Central Florida. One version included two photographs of African American adults receiving food at a food bank. The second version included two photographs of Hispanic adults receiving food at a food bank. The third version was text-only and included no photographs. All three articles included base-rate statistics of ethnicities using emergency hunger services. Results showed images influence the way Caucasians and Hispanics perceive those people suffering from hunger. Key findings included that Caucasians in the study were susceptible to Hispanic primes, which altered their views on their perceptions about the number of Hispanics receiving emergency food services. However, Caucasians’ perceptions of African Americans did not change. Additionally, Hispanic participants were affected by primes in such a way that limitations on societal advancement were perceived more strongly than those of the Caucasian participants. The difference between Caucasians’ stereotypes regarding African Americans and Hispanics is an interesting development. The role of priming stereotype in relation to social issues is discussed
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd-3665 |
| Date | 01 January 2013 |
| Creators | Morris, Meredith |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
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