Counterstereotype

Background Minority groups within society are often portrayed negatively within popular media. Through psychological processes such as priming, this reinforces consumers' negative stereotypes toward those groups. Bombarding consumers with these stereotypes causes implicit attitudes - which occurs in the absence of conscious thought - to be negative towards those groups. This has a wide range of consequences, with the most profound effects being seen in exposure to the "negative" group in ambiguous situations. Counter-stereotypes work by presenting media consumers with a member of a "negative" group who does not act stereotypically. This challenges consumers' existing attitudes towards that group, and has been shown to reduce existing prejudices toward them. Exposing consumers to counter-stereotypes may also lead to increased support for policy options aimed at addressing racial disparities, such as affirmative action. When encountering counter stereotypical events, if a perceiver is motivated to engage in elaborative processing involving stereotype suppression and generative thought, that with multiple experiences resulting in elaborative processing, the perceiver will develop generalized cognitive flexibility. This would mean the use of elaborative thought over heuristics based thinking, and weakens reliance on quick mental representations such as stereotypes. == Applications ==

Stereotypes play a major role in daily life, and can affect one's judgement and behaviour without conscious awareness. Once stereotypes are established, they can be difficult to change, as the brain will fit information per an existing stereotype. This can manifest by changes in perception of skin tone or facial emotion expression. A lot of the misattribution is due to the lack of accurate information. This can arise from not receiving proper education on a subject or failures in memory. By presenting counterstereotypical exemplars, some research has found a short-term reduction in stereotypes. It was successful in reducing bias by linking in-group members with negativity and out-group members with positivity, or by presenting counterstereotypical exemplars that participants strongly identified with. Interventions have not been useful in reducing healthcare workers' implicit biases toward patients with a certain weight. In educational settings, counterstereotype interventions have been used to counteract the effects of gender stereotypes. Math performance by women improved when the test administrators were women competent in math, and more female students enrol in STEM subjects when female role models are presented. Besides counterstereotypic exemplars, other interventions to implicit biases are often examined, such as perspective-taking, stereotype replacement, individuating, and evaluative conditioning. == Limitations ==

Selection bias One major limitation of the Counterstereotype effect is that it may not reach the audience which would benefit most from exposure because that audience chooses not to view content with minority characters. In the last few decades, the ability for audiences to be selective with their choice for media consumption has increased rapidly and led to the rise of the echo chamber. Individuals who hold an explicit negative stereotype of a certain group have the option to avoid all content which contains that group, preventing exposure to the counter-stereotype altogether. is where violation of stereotypes may potentially lead to social or economic consequences. Although these counterstereotypical people may be perceived as unique, the backlash effect and its consequences often limit their success, and can lead to a reinforcement of stereotypes. A 2004 study by Rudman and Fairchild modeled the backlash effect and stereotype maintenance stemming from perceivers and actors, their justification or fear of backlash, and the importance in the maintenance of self-esteem. From the perceivers view, if it is justified by a threat to their self-esteem, backlash towards counter stereotypical people may restore their sense of worth, however this only further reinforces societal stereotypes. The backlash effect can also lead counter stereotypical individuals to fear the potential consequences and thus be more likely to hide their counter stereotypical behavior, maintaining their self-esteem. This also leads to the maintenance of cultural stereotypes. Examples of backlash effects • Women being underrepresented in high level roles in some industries resulting from withholding promotions to women who display counter stereotypical behaviour, or women not wanting to exhibit counter stereotypical behaviour as a fear of backlash. • The marvel character Miles Morales whom is a version of Spiderman that is often the white Peter Parker as had several waves of backlash directed at the character and creators • Minority actors in Hollywood despite showing great talent, being typecast in cheap caricature roles, and backlash towards their success in the industry as a whole ==Notable examples==

• An example of a counter-stereotype is the Fifteenth Doctor, a character in the British TV series Dr. Who. Previously played exclusively by white actors, the inclusion of a black actor for this role served to combat existing stereotypes in British society. • In the film Slumdog Millionaire, the main character displays exceptional intellectual abilities and wins a large monetary prize. This challenges the stereotype that those living in poverty are not intelligent. • American popular literature in the 19th century contained stereotypical images of black people as grotesque and servile. In protest, a counter-stereotype arose which showed black people as graceful and wise. • In the United States during the 1970s, in response to feminist criticism, advertising agencies chose to display counter-stereotypical images of women as sexually assertive and intellectual. • In the film Legally Blonde, the main character, Elle Woods, acts as a counter-stereotype displaying how a blonde, conventionally attractive and fashion-loving woman is also intelligent and successful at attending law school. ==See also==