The impact of stereotypes on African American self perception - Essay Example

1 Introduction "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" (Luther-King & King, 2007) At first glance, the message drawn from a line of Martin Luther's King's renowned "I have a Dream" speech seems straightforward and one-dimensional. This implies that character, rather than the hue of the skin should be the measurement for human worth. Moreover, it is clear that the purpose of Dr. King’s speech was to foster a spirit of unity that communicates the ideals of equality among the races. However, on close examination, one might also discern the subtle, covert insinuation that “black skin” is fundamentally flawed. Consequently, this statement exposes the double-edged nature of the social and psychological dysfunction associated with race and skin color in Western Culture. 1.2 The notion of Stereotyping Racial stereotyping has been a common cause of stereotyping since time immemorial. Research suggests the two most common paradigms of stereotyping are the cognitive and affective dimensions (Schneider, 2004). The cognitive component delineates on the fact that stereotyping results from an oversimplification of information that is processed by our mental templates which allows us to skip the specific facts and jump to generalizations (Schneider, 2004). It is a common fallacy to define stereotyping as a negative phenomenon, when it can be positive or even neutral depending on the nature of generalizations made. Several theories have been offered to describe the information processing phenomenon leading to stereotyping; the schema, group prototype and exemplar theory (Tan, Dalisay, Zhang, Han, & Merchant, 2010). 1.3 The African American Stereotyping Most pertinent to the African American phenomenon of racial stereotyping is the fact that stereotyping pertaining to members of the out-group is a directly influenced by direct interaction with members of the out-group (Pettigrew, 1998). However, when such modes of direct communication are absent, the media plays a significant role in shaping these attitudes (Rada, 2000). The cultivation theory sheds light on the fact that the audiences’ perceptions are formed, to a large extent, by the content the media displays regarding these out-groups (Tan, Dalisay, Zhang, Han, & Merchant, 2010). Pettigrew has argued that the fact whether a racial stereotype is positive or negative depends on how the group’s members have evaluated the interaction with the out-group’s members (Pettigrew, 1998). If the interaction is perceived as positive then the racial stereotype is likely to be positive and vice versa. According to Allport (1954), “what humans see, what they interpret, and what they sense becomes blended with cognitive act” (Cosby, 1994). Therefore, cultural messages received in a social context contribute to the mental framework used to organize knowledge and create generalization about race. The nature of intrinsic value ascribed to black skin has its genesis in slavery and thus is the foundation for the mental framework of beliefs about African Americans. Many empirical studies indicate that the internalization of European standards of beauty, result in ---many African Americans struggle with inferiority and self hate. Consequently, Jackson et al 2000 maintains that the social construction of whiteness creates a complex racial caste system that negatively affects nonwhites. In fact, it has been expressed by various researchers that the supervisor of the slave owning family showed preferential treatment towards children who belonged to African American backgrounds simply on the basis that they were the offspring of the white slave owner (Schneider & Schneider, 2006). Many empirical studies indicate that the internalization of European standards of beauty is the root of "colorism" or color bias that has plagued the African American community since slavery. Furthermore, Collins notes “historically in the American context, young women with milky white skin, long blond hair and slim figures were deemed to be the most beautiful and therefore the most feminine women” (Lacey, 2011). Internalizing these beauty standards, light skinned African Americans have always had a perceived aesthetic leg up on the dark skinned African Americans. Consequently, the overt color dichotomy privileged the light skinned blacks over the darker skinned blacks and generated intra-racial hatred and discrimination. For example, paper bag tests and comb tests in the early part of the 20th century were used for membership in churches, attendance to black colleges and membership in black Greek organizations (Doane & Bonilla-Silva, 2003). Those who were darker than a paper bag and whose hair could not easily get through a comb were considered inferior (Doane & Bonilla-Silva, 2003). This line of demarcation continues to plague the African American community. Moreover, the legacy of preference toward lighter skinned African Americans continues to be seen in current media programs. This conforms to the point made earlier that the media has had a significant role to play in the creation of African American stereotypes. Where the darker skinned African Americans were shown in the labor class, the lighter skinned counterparts were portrayed as more successful in the society and as being more educated than their dark skinned counterparts. This forms the basis of most stereotypes concerning the African Americans today. Chapter 2 2.1 Introduction Theories regarding the way people view themselves and how they feel about themselves are aplenty in psycho-sociological literature. Since what we perceive about ourselves is kernel to what we think we are, what we think we can do, and how best we think we can do it (Tan, Dalisay, Zhang, Han, & Merchant, 2010), one can find a vast number of studies regarding the nature of self-perception and its relation to other constructs. Because studies in this field focus on the basic human need to understand who they are and why they exist, self-perception is arguably one of the most significant cognitive structures organizing an individual's experience and, thus, has been represented as an appropriate starting point for developing a cognitive theory of how individuals learn from their past experiences (Tan, Dalisay, Zhang, Han, & Merchant, 2010). 2.2.1 Self-Perception In general, self-perception is defined as an awareness of the characteristics that constitute one's self and is used interchangeably with self-knowledge (Riding & Rayner, 2001). Correspondingly, self-concept, a term used interchangeably with self-perception, refers to self-perception in terms of self-evaluation and represents the sum of an individual’s beliefs about his or her own attributes (Riding & Rayner, 2001). The dimensions of a person’s social identity and self-concept derive from knowledge, values, attitudes, sense of belonging and the emotional significance associated with membership in a particular ethnic group (Wylie, 1979) Early theorists considered "the self" to be the main component of human personality and personal adjustment. Furthermore, he describes the self as a social product, developing out of interpersonal relationships and striving for consistency (Riding & Rayner, 2001). Thus, Allport believed that individuals’ only real guarantee of personal existence was self-perception (Cosby, 1994). Initially theorists considered self-perception a one-dimensional entity that reflects a general view of the self . Based on this view, Marx & Winne (1978) argued that "self-concept seems more of a unitary concept than one broken into distinct subparts or facets”. However, current theories of self-perception suggest a multidimensional mul·ti·di·men·sion·al   adj. Of, relating to, or having several dimensions multi·di·men construct that encompasses self-evaluations of specific competencies or attributes (academic, social, athletic, physical appearance) (Riding & Rayner, 2001). Therefore, it is possible to have concurrent positive and negative perspectives of the self . In fact, many empirical studies show that positive views of one’s abilities in a certain domain are likely to lead one to engage in and succeed in that area. For example, a positive academic self-concept should lead to gains in academic achievement, whereas, a negative view will lead to disinterest in a specific academic area and ultimate failure. Though conceptually distinct, most theorists consider self-esteem and self-efficacy to be positively correlated with self-perception (Tan, Dalisay, Zhang, Han, & Merchant, 2010). However, there are some marked differences. Specifically, self-perception is regarded as the totality of self-knowledge that one possesses about oneself that emerges as a result of comparisons among different characteristics within an individual (internal), such as a person's academic self-concept versus an athletic self-concept, and comparisons to other people (external) (Riding & Rayner, 2001). On the other hand, self-esteem is a personal judgment of worthiness that is expressed in terms of the attitudes the individual holds towards himself that are most strongly influenced by micro-social relations with family, friends, and community (Mecca, Smelser, & Vasconcellos, 1989). On the contrary, self-efficacy has been described as a person’s beliefs about his/her abilities and capacity to accomplish a task. This includes self-regulatory processes such as goal setting, self-monitoring and self-evaluation (Schwarzer, 1992). Nonetheless, various researchers have concluded that descriptive and evaluative perceptions of the self have not been empirically separated in research studies and may not be empirically separable (Riding & Rayner, 2001). Primarily for this reason, researchers typically use the terms interchangeably, although most current authors prefer the term self-concept. 2.2.2 Schemas Self-perception is also defined in terms of schemas or mental structures that people use to organize their knowledge about the social world around them (Nevid, 2008) a process which, according to Piaget , begins early in childhood (Nevid, 2008). Consequently, schemas influence the information people notice, think about and remember. Hence, schemas are networks of associations used by the individual to organize and process information (Nevid, 2008). These mental templates are our windows to the world; we interpret information in the context of our mental schemas. Fundamental to schema theory is the construction of stereotypes that are attributed to certain ethnic groups. Thus, schema theory helps to explain how groups of people can be reduced to mere negative depictions that can manifest into stereotypes (Nevid, 2008). As a result, rather than consider each interracial interaction independently and thoroughly, one is likely to use schemas to explain behavior of that said group These findings are collaborated in the studies of Fiske (2005) and Williams (2007), who assert that stereotypical information regarding African American cultural norms, learnt early in life and reinforced many times over, is resistant to change once it is internalized. Consequently, stereotypical portrayals of African Americans have serious and lasting effects on African American self-perception. Thus, the roots of stereotyping lie in the human tendency to characterize objects into groups based on heuristics. Negative information often leads to negative stereotypes, whereas, positive information leads to positive ones. 2.2.3 The role of media in framing self-perception The primary social environments where information is culturally transmitted and acquired are the family, community, schools etc. In these social milieus, people learn norms, customs, cultural values and form attitudes and perceptions towards specific groups. Through this process (social learning theory) people learn from one another by imitation, modeling, and observation (Nevid, 2008). Today, however, because of its availability and ability to capture viewers' attention, mass media stands as the most effective influencer of cultural norms including race perception (Cosby, 1994). To illustrate this point, Gibner and Gross (1979) describe the television as a means of socializing people into "standardized roles and behaviors”. This standardization provides people with a broad "background of assumptions" and contributes to the "biasing of social reality." Moreover, studies show that people often believe that what they see on the television is a true representation of the world and the people around them, especially when they have no other frame of reference or experience in their own lives with which to compare or contrast what they have seen (Schneider D. J., 2004). For the African American community, this is of particular concern as statistical data reveals that they watch nearly 213 hours of television per month which is more than twice as much as Asians and roughly 57 hours more than their White counterparts (Neilson, 2011). Given that ethnic information about African Americans takes place within social units or communities and communicated through social interactions, the starting place for understanding the psychological influence of cultural cues on African American self-perception begins with the analysis of the myriad of messages gleamed from the environment and how this information influences the construction of racial identity and self-perception. From a historical perspective, the process of African American identity exploration begins with deciphering decades of information constructed for them around skin color and/or notions of second class citizenry (Lacey, 2011). This legacy of information is reinforced in the overwhelming media focus on crime, drug use, gang violence, and other forms of anti-social behavior among African-Americans. Consequently, the media continues to foster a distorted and pernicious public perception of African-Americans. Studies indicate that the association of seeing African Americans as criminals reinforces the stigma of stereotypes found that the more people watch either local or network news, the more likely they are to draw on negative stereotypes about blacks (Cosby, 1994). Consequently, media programs help to determine and develop sets of beliefs values and attitudes that serve as a template for perceptions of African Americans. Not surprisingly, research also suggests that African American children often see media images as authentic reflections of African American identity including how they speak, walk and dress (Cosby, 1994). Consequently, internalizing these images may foster feeling of inferiority. This notion was affirmed in a recent study in 2010 which concluded that "White and black children were biased towards lighter skin" (CNN, 2010). This study demonstrated that white children have an overwhelming white bias. It also demonstrated that black children also have a bias toward whites (CNN, 2010). According to the study, white children, as a whole, responded with a high rate of what researchers call “white bias,” identifying the color of their own skin with positive attributes and darker skin with negative attributes (CNN, 2010). Moreover, the study showed that black children, as a whole, have some bias toward whiteness, but far less than that of white children. In conclusion, Spencer states, “All kids on the one hand are exposed to the stereotypes” …. “What’s really significant here is that white children are learning or maintaining those stereotypes much more strongly than the African-American children. Therefore, the white youngsters are even more stereotypic in their responses concerning attitudes, beliefs and attitudes and preferences than the African-American children”(CNN, 2010). Spencer said the study points to major trends but is not the definitive word on children and race (CNN, 2010). It does lead her to conclude that, even in 2010, “we are still living in a society where dark things are devalued and white things are valued.” Therefore, the media has played a significant role in shaping perceptions about the African American community; this is in sync with the findings of researchers that exposure to positive information results in a positive perception about the individuals, whereas, exposure to negative perceptions results in a negative perception. An important development in this regard has also been the fact that researchers have gone at lengths to prove the point that it is not frequency of interaction but the evaluation at receiver’s end regarding the information that ultimately determines the impact of media on stereotyping. 2.2.4 The Physical Domain Physical appearance is a major dimension of self-perception known to be positively correlated with self-perception and personal efficacy (Gordon, 2008). In fact, studies show that facial attractiveness of children and adolescents , as judged by peers or teachers, has been positively associated with grade point average, positive peer relations, and social acceptance (Valentine, DuBois, & Cooper, 2004). In essence, measures of physical appearance assess the degree to which an individual is happy with the way he/she looks (Valentine, DuBois, & Cooper, 2004). Since salient physical characteristics, such as hair skin color facial features, are assessed according to European standards, it is not surprising that African Americans have relatively low efficacy in this domain (Valentine, DuBois, & Cooper, 2004). Africa American women, in particular, struggle with the present culturally sanctioned exclusionary images of beauty because expectations of physical attractiveness are applied more heavily on women . Research has also proven that African American women, who do not associate beauty with physical appearance initially, do come to associate the two eventually after being exposed to media for too long (Gordon, 2008). More aggressive projections of the African American women have instilled beliefs in this community regarding their sole identity as sex objects (as shown in pop music). To add to the plight, this group is one of the most dominant users of media (Gordon, 2008). Negative appraisal of African American women was recently reflected in a controversial blog entitled “Why Are Black Women Ugly” (Kanazawa, 2011).This study was a social comparison of various races of women to determine the race that was most and least attractive. Consequently, the study concluded those African American women are the least attractive of all (Kanazawa, 2011). Because the study was met with a storm of controversy from irate readers as well as scrutiny from the scientific community, the blog was taken down. However, even after removing the post, the damage was already done as this social comparison reinforces the prevalent notion that black women do not match up to the acceptable standards of beauty and thus, serves as a mechanism for perpetuating self-hatred amongst this community. References: CNN. (2010, May 13). Study: White and black children biased toward lighter skin. 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