For some, though, these "positive" portrayals are themselves problematic. .
Successful Blacks on primetime .
television are depicted as unique .
and attractive individuals who accomplish.
their goals through hard work, talent, .
discipline, and determination The .
successful images of African Americans .
are increasingly visible in the.
entertainment context,43 but many .
assert that values and beliefs .
expressed by African American characters.
(e.g., individual accomplishment) are .
not their (Black American) own, but .
rather the mainstream (White) American .
values.' African Americans on soap .
operas, for example, are those .
individuals who are socially adjusted and .
integrated into the White community and.
"indistinguishable from their White .
counterparts, except for color.".
(Fujioka 1999 54). .
This suggests that these "positive" portrayals make blacks acceptable to whites by making them essentially white, rather than by making actual blackness or African-American-ness better accepted. This does not really combat negative stereotypes, since it suggests that successful blacks have achieved success by eliminating their own negative blackness.
Some research discounts the effect of positive portrayals of blacks in entertainment. One study found that perceived negative portrayals affected white subjects' stereotypes, but perceived positive portrayals did not. This is explained by the "negativity effect," in which .
unlikable or negative information receives more weight.
in observers' formation of impressions. So, although subjects can remember both positive and negative television portrayals, negative portrayals may substantially affect their opinions of blacks. This could explain why perceived negative portrayals of African Americans were significantly related to white respondents' stereotypes .