Stereotyping links

Not quite sure why these links didn't show so I will just copy and paste the URLs

NYT article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/arts/television/18boyle.html

Susan Boyle YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Paul Potts YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA

Stereotyping: Susan Boyle and Paul Potts

A recent New York Times article told the story (for about the millionth time in the past two weeks) of Susan Boyle, a middle-aged Church volunteer from Blackburn, Scotland that has become an internet sensation after her performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” on the UK television show Britain’s Got Talent. Boyle has been portrayed as the unlikely heroine that confounded several stereotypes held by the live and television audiences as well as the competition's judges. When she stepped on the stage and told the audience she was 47, raucous laughter erupted. When she said she wanted to have a career like Elaine Page, the same response. Everyone in the studio stereotyped Susan as an unmarried, unemployed, unappealing middle-aged woman who couldn’t possibly be talented enough to succeed in the competition…until she opened her mouth. The show’s host commented, “Bet you didn’t expect that did you.” One of the show’s judges Amanda Holden added after Susan finished, “I am so thrilled [be]cause I know that everybody was against you, I honestly think that we were all being very cynical and I mean that’s the biggest wake-up call ever.” Simon Cowell joked that he knew the minute she walked out on stage exactly what they were in for.
Social Psychologists define a stereotype as a cognition about the personal attributes of a group of people. A stereotype is different from prejudice because stereotypes are not always negative. Discrimination is also different because it involves negative action directed against a person because of his/her membership in a particular group. In Susan’s case, the audience’s laughter is a form of discrimination based on her physical appearance. The audience stereotyped her as a foolish and talentless and wow, were they wrong.
The stereotyping of Susan Boyle is not the first case in the history of Britain’s Got Talent. Season One’s eventual winner, Paul Potts, was stereotyped when he first walked on the BGT stage. When he said, “I’m here to sing opera” audience members exchanged skeptical glances, Simon Cowell sighed deeply. Once Paul began to sing worried looks were replaced by whistles, applause and the occasional tear; Simon’s sigh replaced by a big smile and a big lump in his colleague Amanda Holden’s throat. Again, just like after Susan performed the judges admitted they didn’t see that coming. Amanda called Potts a little lump of coal that is going to turn into a diamond, acknowledging the fact that the crowd and judges probably stereotyped Potts as just that, a little lump of talentless coal. Big props to Britain’s Got Talent for busting a couple of stereotypes on national television and globally on sites like youtube.

Links:
NYT article:


Susan Boyle Youtube:


Paul Potts Youtube:

Persuasion Techniques on TV

Hey all, I decided to use this post to analyze some of my favorite recent infomercials…that’s right…prepare for hilarity. Infomercials utilize some of the same persuasion tactics that companies use in their marketing campaigns and charitable organizations use in fundraising efforts. For this post I will examine two of the most common persuasion techniques, the “That’s Not All” technique and the “Legitimizing Small Favors” technique (Cialdini & Schroeder 1976).
First, let us discuss the “That’s Not All” technique. This is an infomercial favorite. Exhibit A: The Shamwow. America’s favorite German-born chamois/towel (probably the only German born chamois/towel actually) is featured in one of television’s most-played infomercials right now. In the infomercial the pitch man boasts that this cloth can absorb liquid better than anything on the market and that at 4 shamwows for $19.99, this product is a steal (“you’re going to spend $20/month on paper towels anyway” he says, “so call now we can’t do this all day.”) But wait, “That’s not all!” Shamwow offers an additional four cloths for the same price, now that’s 8 shamwows for just $19.99 wow! According to its Social Psychology definition, when using this technique a person begins with a somewhat inflated request ; then immediately decreases the apparent size of the request by offering a discount or bonus. In the case of the ShamWow, the additional 4 cloths are the bonus that reduces the size of the request. Again, this tactic is extremely popular in infomercials (if you call for the knife set now we’ll throw in a turkey baster and a stainless steel GARLIC PUSHER!)
The second technique, “Legitimizing Small Favors”, is more prevalent in charity drives than low-budget infomercials. With this technique, the excuse for not donating (I only have a little and it would be cheap to donate it) is taken away. Robert Cialdini conducted a study in which he collected money for a charity using either the standard request (“Will you donate”) or the standard request plus the claim that “even a penny will help.” The study showed that people were 20% more likely to donate when the claim that “even a penny will help” was added. Charities that support children struggling in impoverished countries use this technique (just a dollar a day could feed a child in South America)as do many pet rescue organizations like the one in Edmonton, Canada (see link below). In this case, the pictures of cute kittens don't hurt either, but the principle persuasion technique is the legitimization of small favors.

Links:
Sham Wow Infomercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns4mnmNBk1Y

Voice for Animals Society
http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-pets-dogs-puppies-for-sale-Help-save-an-animals-life-and-donate-even-a-penny-W0QQAdIdZ120520626

Nazi Revisionism and Terror Management Theory

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/22/berga.folo/index.html

Today is the 64^th anniversary of the liberation of American soldiers from Berga an der Elster, a slave labor camp in Germany during World War Two. On this 64^th anniversary, a new photo has surfaced depicting Nazi soldiers digging up mass graves of U.S. soldiers while American GIs who had just liberated the camp look on. As more and more pieces of physical evidence depicting the horrors of the holocaust surface, the case for Holocaust revisionists or denialists is weakened. Many Germans deny that the Holocaust ever happened out of embarrassment. One other explanation for Holocaust denial is the Terror Management Theory (TMT; Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon).

The Terror Management Theory states that when images of death (i.e. photos like this one and others from the Holocaust)or any other triggers remind us of death and heighten our mortality salience, people will use different terror management tactics to rid death thoughts from the mind and return to a composed psychological state. Since culture is vital to ward off death anxiety, people should defend their worldviews after mortality salience by either criticizing the world views of others or praising those that share the same worldview.

Terror Management Theory can explain why Holocaust Denialists blamed a Jewish conspiracy for fabricating the story of the holocaust when criticized by the international community following World War II. When reminded of the horrors of the war (both committed and suffered by the Nazis) and in turn their own mortality, Nazi officials clung to their German identity and denounced all criticism of “Father Germany.” Meanwhile, they discredited the Jews, who held an opposing worldview, by suggesting that the Holocaust was a hoax arising out of a deliberate Jewish conspiracy. Immediately following World War II, the recent memories of the war heightened mortality salience and boosted German nationalism, anti-Semitism and Holocaust Denialism. Terror Management Theory explains that as new evidence, such as this picture, continues to periodically heighten mortality salience among Holocaust revisionists, animosity between competing worldviews will continue to grow.