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

[H.sub.3]: The associations hypothesized in [H.sub.1a] and [H.sub.1b] will be moderated by ingroup character identification: Stronger associations between viewing and the outcome variables will be observed with higher levels of ingroup character identification.

Finally, the concept of group typicality discussed earlier must be incorporated. Hewstone and Brown's (1986) model says that generalization from a specific intergroup interaction to outgroup attitudes overall is moderated by group typicality. That is, the more the outgroup character is perceived as representative of his or her group, the more likely exposure to positive intergroup contact will translate into positive intergroup attitudes. The Hewstone and Brown effect is consistent with the present theoretical perspective. Social cognitive theory states that viewers categorize events (including other individuals) on shared attributes (Bandura, 1986). The more shared attributes between situations, the greater the likelihood that a learned experience such as positive intergroup contact will generalize to other similar situations (stimulus generalization: Segrin, Taylor, & Altman, 2005). Extending this argument to the intergroup context, exposure to media characters perceived as representative of a specific group should be more influential in future intergroup situations than exposure to contact featuring atypical outgroup members. Exposure to the typical outgroup member results in more shared attributes between the media exposure and the subsequent intergroup situation than exposure to the atypical member, and hence greater generalizability of the media encounter to more general attitudes. Therefore, typicality of an outgroup member in a mediated portrayal of positive interaction should be associated with more positive attitudes. Similarly, perceived typicality should moderate the association between exposure and the outcome variables described in [H.sub.1]--that association should be more intense among those who see the character as typical of the outgroup.

[H.sub.4a]: As perceptions of outgroup members' group typicality increase, levels of intergroup anxiety are predicted to decrease.

[H.sub.4b]: As perceptions of outgroup members' group typicality increase, more positive attitudes toward the outgroup will be reported.

[H.sub.5]: The associations from [H.sub.1a] and [H.sub.1b] will be moderated by outgroup character typicality: Stronger associations will be observed with higher typicality levels.

Thus, the goal of the current study was to extend Schiappa et al.'s (2005) parasocial contact hypothesis by (a) integrating the effect into social cognitive theory and testing links derived from that perspective (the identification hypothesis), (b) examining effects of observing intergroup interaction rather than merely outgroup representations, and (c) incorporating additional hypotheses derived from contact theory (Hewstone and Brown's group typicality effect).

Method

Pilot Study

A pilot study was conducted to discover which televised intergroup interactions were seen most often by the subject population. Participants for the pilot study (N = 25) were drawn from the same population as the main study (none participated in both studies). They were asked to think of a current TV show involving a friendship or romance between a Black and a White character, and to write the name of the show and the relevant characters (or a description of the characters if they could not think of their names). This procedure was repeated for Latino-White, gay-straight, and young-old interactions. The most popular relationships reported were those between Will and Grace from NBC's Will & Grace (N = 17: gay-straight) and between Nehemiah and Wes from MTV's Real World: Austin (N = 4: Black-White). These relationships were used for the study.

Main Study: Participants and Procedure

Undergraduate student volunteers (N = 253, 61.30% women; age M = 21.24, SD = 1.76) were recruited from communication courses at a large southwestern university. Participants received extra credit. Only responses from subjects who identified themselves straight (N = 248; 61.30% women; age M = 21.17, SD = 1.54) or White (N = 210; 61.90% women; age M = 21.17, SD= 1.78) were used for the analyses involving Will & Grace and Real World: Austin, respectively. For hypotheses [H.sub.1a] and [H.sub.1b], responses from all such participants were used. All other analyses require familiarity with the show (e.g., they involve character identification), and so only responses from straight/White participants who were familiar with the show in question were used (Will & Grace: N = 187; 71.10% women; age M = 21.01, SD = 1.16; Real World: Austin: N = 161; 62.10% women; age M = 20.93, SD = 1.07).

Independent Variables

TV Exposure. Five items assessed respondents' total TV exposure (Mastro, Behm-Morawitz, & Ortiz, 2007). Participants indicated the amount of hours they spent watching TV the previous night, afternoon, and morning, and, on average, how many hours of TV they watch in a day. Responses to these questions were summed and divided by 2 to get a measure of average daily TV exposure. Two items assessed exposure to Will & Grace and Real World: Austin on 6-point scales, 1 (never watched it); 6 (watch it multiple times a week).

Ingroup Character Identification. Identification while viewing was measured for the ingroup characters in each intergroup dyad using items from Eyal and Rubin's (2003) character identification scale. Participants indicated how much they agreed with six statements (e.g., "At key moments in the show, I feel like I know exactly what Grace is going through,"), on a 1-5 scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree). (1) Responses were averaged (Cronbach's [alpha] = .93 for Grace, .91 for Wes). Respondents who had never seen the program featuring the character skipped this section.

Group Typicality. This was measured by averaging four items from Harwood et al. (2005). Items assessed perceptions of each outgroup character (Will and Nehemiah) as representative members of their respective group, and how similar they are to others within their respective group (e.g., "How similar is Will to other gay people?"). Responses ranged from 1 (very little)to 7 (a great deal) ([alpha] = .91 for Will and .94 for Nehemiah).

Dependent Variables

Intergroup Anxiety. A short version of Stephan and Stephan's (1985) intergroup anxiety scale was used. The scale measures how much participants would feel six different anxiety-related states interacting with an outgroup stranger (i.e., a Black or gay person). The terms used in this study were: relaxed, awkward, comfortable, threatened, at ease, and tense. Response options ranged from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely) with high scores indicating more anxiety. Items were reverse coded where necessary and responses averaged (anxiety with gay contact, [alpha] = .89; Black, [alpha] = .89).

Attitudes Regarding the Outgroup. Participants completed a modified version of Esses and Dovidio's (2002) social distance scale, which asked participants their willingness to engage in a series of behaviors with outgroup members (e.g., confiding in an outgroup member; having an outgroup member as a boss). Social distance is one of the earliest measurements used as an indicator of attitudes toward others (Aiken, 2002; Bogardus, 1925). Response options ranged from 1 (extremely willing) to 5 (not at all willing). Scores on the items were averaged to create composite scores for attitudes toward Black people ([alpha] = .82) and gay people ([alpha] = .94).

Control Variable

Quality of Intergroup Contact. The quality of non-mediated contact with outgroup members was assessed with 12 items, 6 focused on contact with Black people and 6 for contact with gay people (Mastro et al., 2007). First, respondents were asked to think of the outgroup member with whom they have the closest relationship. On a scale ranging from 1-5, respondents indicated how close they felt to this person, how much they value the time they have spent with this person, how much they valued their relationship with this person, and the quality of their relationship. Additionally, respondents were asked to indicate how pleasant and friendly, in general, their contact has been with members of the outgroup. (2) Responses were averaged (Black, [alpha] = .88; gay, [alpha] = .92). Descriptive statistics for all variables are in Table 1.

Results