Title
Exposure to Muslims in Media and Support for Public Policies Harming Muslims.
Abstract
Few studies have empirically examined how media stereotypes of Muslims influence Americans' support for public policies exclusively harming Muslims. Across three studies, we tested the short-term and long-term effects of news portraying Muslims as terrorists on Americans' support for public policies harming Muslims domestically and internationally. Study 1 revealed that exposure to news portraying Muslims as terrorists is positively associated with support for military action in Muslim countries. Study 2 revealed that exposure to news portraying Muslims as terrorists is positively associated with support for public policies that harm Muslims domestically and internationally; this effect was fully mediated by perceptions of Muslims as aggressive. Experimental results from Study 3 revealed that exposing participants to negative Muslim media footage, relative to neutral or no-video footage, increased perceptions of Muslims as aggressive, increased support for harsh civil restrictions of Muslim Americans, and increased support for military action in Muslim countries. Exposure to positive Muslim footage yielded opposite results. We discuss the importance of media in exacerbating aggressive attitudes and public policies in the context of intergroup relations.
Year
DOI
Venue
2017
10.1177/0093650215619214
COMMUNICATION RESEARCH
Keywords
Field
DocType
media effects,Muslims,terrorism,stereotypes,public policy
Social psychology,Terrorism,Harm,Psychology,Public policy,Perception
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
44.0
6.0
0093-6502
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
1
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Muniba Saleem111.16
Sara Prot200.34
Craig A. Anderson3132.34
Anthony F. Lemieux400.34