Television+Images

Alexandrin, Julie R. "Television Images: Exploring How They Affect People's View of Self and Others." //Multicultural Perspectives// 11.3 (2009): 150-52. Web. 26 Aug. 2010. - “The majority of people in this country are raised watching television, with statistics stating that children watch almost 3 hours per day of TV (Graves, 1999)” (150) - “Not only can television teach people about different groups; it also can validate false ideas a person has about a group (Mastro, 2000; Coltrane & Messineo, 2000).” (150) - “This means that people view what happens on TV as a reflection of what is “normal” in society.” (151) - “Black Americans are shown in two different groups: (1) successful educated people in the middle class and (2) poor, unemployed, or criminals. Within these middle-class Black families, the adults, especially the males, are usually presented as immature, insecure, and powerless.” (151) - “It is hypothesized that invisibility might create feelings of low self-esteem for children of groups limitedly seen or not seen at all.” (151) - “Through television, many different images of ethnic, cultural, and ability groups are presented. Different people perceive these images in different ways. These perceptions affect how people value themselves and judge and interact with others.” (150) - “Conflicting characteristics sometimes arise when discussing certain group images. Different people can watch the same program and walk away with different images of the same character based on their own personal backgrounds and viewpoints.” (153) -“’When groups are absent from the television curriculum, there is the implication that the missing groups are unimportant, inconsequential, and powerless’ (Graves, 1999, p. 709).” (151) - “Television is a lifelong educator and shapes people’s beliefs and attitudes, values, perceptions, and knowledge of themselves and others. Decisions and actions people make are also influenced by TV (Cortez in Yosso, 2002; Graves, 1999; Coltrane & Messineo, 2000).” (150) -“Besides influencing how people view groups of people, Albada (2000) found in her study “that television family immature, insecure, and powerless. This dichotomizing of Blacks has led to the belief that it is not society that has kept Black Americans where they are, but their lack of innovation and motivation (Busselle & Crandall, 2002).” (151) -“This article first summaries research on TV images and people’s meaning and reaction to them. Second, it presents an exercise during which participants realize the meanings and values of themselves and others they acquire from TV images and the meanings as well as values others can learn from TV images.” (150) -““Consciously and unconsciously, people rely on television imagery to interpret and understand their daily lives” (Coltrane & Messineo, 2000, p. 385)” (150) -“Television is the media source that is most widely watched by people in the United States (Gentile &Walsh, 1999).” (150) -“The images seen on television have become part of people’s daily lives as seen through many examples: (a) the theme to Jeopardy that is heard being sung when people are waiting for answers, and (b) conversations at workplaces that focus on the previous night’s shows.” (150) -“People learn about other groups of people that they never have met or have had limited exposure to through watching these groups of people on TV, resulting in the formation of biases (Graves, 1999; Coltrane & Messineo, 2000).” (150)