PhD defence B.G. (Bartosz) Zerebecki

Below is a brief summary of the dissertation:

Scholars have long examined how media influences its users. This dissertation extends that line of research by investigating the causal effects of watching entertainment content that features characters from diverse backgrounds on viewers’ diversity attitudes. Much prior work has emphasized potentially harmful media effects, for instance, whether violent content promotes real-world aggression. In contrast, this project explores whether contemporary television can also produce beneficial outcomes, specifically by improving diversity attitudes and fostering more harmonious intergroup relations. The central research question guiding this work is: What is the role of watching entertainment TV with media characters from diverse backgrounds in causing more positive diversity attitudes among media audiences?
Drawing on cultivation theory and the mediated contact perspective, the findings suggest that exposure to multiple TV shows with diverse characters can foster more positive diversity attitudes. Specifically, I found that among Polish TV viewers LGBTQ empathy and LGBTQ media diets shape each other. Audiences may respond positively to diverse characters when they are represented in an engaging manner, for instance, by having LGBTQ experiences, recognizable experiences, attractive personality traits, psychological depth, counter-stereotypical experiences, and friendly intergroup interactions. Importantly, cultivation effects are stronger when audiences report exposure to the identified strategies. Next to these results, evidence for selective exposure emerged as well: viewers tend to choose media that reflect their preexisting diversity attitudes. Therefore, media effects and selective exposure may coexist with each other. Finally, engagement with diverse characters, through recognizing personalities, attitudes, and experiences, is itself influenced by viewers’ prior diversity attitudes, consistent with uses and gratifications and biographic resonance theories.