Author(s)

Katherine Aumer, Devin Blas, Kelsea Huston, Christine Mabuti, Ning Hsu

Hawai’i Pacific University, Honolulu, HI, USA.

Current media attention on the lack of racial diversity in the movie and TV industry in the US suggests that there is an innate bias of Whitewashing in the US media by media executives (Jones, 2016). However, some have suggested that the Whitewashing is an audience preference. Is the preference for White actors a product of bias by media executives or driven by audience preferences? This study tested whether social identity theory or the mere-exposure effect would have an impact on the racial preference of actors for monoracial People of Color, Multiracial, and White individuals. We found a preference for White actors and Whitewashing, but this preference was only found for Western stories and by monoracial People of Color Minorities when they were exposed to Asian actors. These findings suggest that other factors, specifically cultural values may be important in understanding preference for White actors in the media.

Whitewashing, Mere-Exposure, Social Identity Theory, Asian, Movies, Diversity, Casting

Aumer, K. , Blas, D. , Huston, K. , Mabuti, C. and Hsu, N. (2017) Assessing Racial Preferences in Movies: The Impact of Mere-Exposure and Social Identity Theory. Psychology, 8, 1314-1325. doi: 10.4236/psych.2017.89085.