Third-Person Perception and Racism

Abstract

The study documents third-person perception regarding media depictions of other races and cultures. Results from a small-scale survey of adolescents indicate that third-person perception provides a useful framework to understand how adolescents perceive media depictions of racial and ethnic groups. The study also draws from the health psychology literature, finding optimistic bias and personal experience both predicting third-person perception.

Keywords: adolescence, media effects, racism, third-person perception