Topic > Racial stereotypes in sport and the role of sports media successful actions of black athletes and white athletes. The authors are dealing with an age-old debate between brains and brawn. While there is believed to be no direct evidence linking race to athletic experience, the authors believe sports media perpetuates stereotypes that suggest it exists. Whether or not media commentary shapes how viewers think, and to what extent, are the questions that remain. While previous articles have been written about studies involving sports stereotypes, none have gone as far as evaluating the effect on spectators. This journal article delves into both participants' explicit thoughts and their implicit reactions to the images. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Hypothesis Kobach and Potter (2013) believe that a combination of surveys and tests will support their belief that people associate Black athletes with natural ability and White athletes with effort and intelligence. Furthermore, these findings will be further supported by participants with increased daily exposure to sports media. Simply put; people who watch and listen to more sports events, shows and commentary will more often than not show evidence of a shared belief system with commentators when it comes to sports-related stereotype associations. Method Initially, a sports consumption survey is completed to determine the amount of sports media the participant is exposed to on a daily basis. Participants consisted of 65 males and 49 females, and all but 7 identified as White. Additionally, a unique computerized version of the implicit association test is used to show images of both white and black athletes. Participants are asked to connect certain words with images that appear on their screens. On the screen, participants saw images in two categories that separated black and white athletes. The descriptive words that participants must connect to the images are divided into two categories; intelligent words and natural words. Smart, prepared, and coachable are examples of smart words, while strong, fast, and quick are words that would be associated with the natural athlete. Importantly, the response time it takes for the participant to attach the words to the pictures plays an important role in determining the degree to which they believe their answer. To create an accurate score, a formula involving standard deviation and a basic average response time was devised. Results The authors' hypotheses were supported by the test results. Furthermore, when the results of the Sports Consumption Survey were taken into account, these findings also supported the belief that those who have greater exposure to sports media would have an even stronger association with stereotypical beliefs. Test results demonstrate that spectators, at least implicitly, are influenced by sports media and perceptions of both white and black athletes. Furthermore, the study results found a strong connection between automatic stereotype associations and the amount of sports broadcasts participants watched. Interestingly, those with very little exposure to sports media still responded in a way that supported the hypotheses..
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