A social cognitive theory approach to the effects of mediated intergroup contact on intergroup attitudes

This research applies a social cognitive theory perspective to the study of mediated intergroup contact. It was hypothesized that exposure to positive intergroup contact on television would be associated with more positive intergroup attitudes. Some support for this hypothesis was found for exposure to gay-straight and Black-White interactions. It was also hypothesized that identification with a character belonging to the viewer's ingroup and perceived typicality of a character from an outgroup would be associated with more positive intergroup attitudes. Some support for these hypotheses emerged with regard to associations between exposure to televised gay-straight interactions and homophobic attitudes.