The aim of this strategy is to inhibit social categorisation and stereotype activation by depicting the outgroup character as an individual human being. This blurs the social boundary between viewer and character, preventing the outgroup from being seen as a homogenous and generalised group. Outgroup stigma can thus be reduced.

There are two conditions for making the viewer perceive the character through an individual identity: differentiation and personalisation.

Differentiation renders the character unique by combining at least five social categories that are conceptually unrelated to each other.

Personalisation evokes a personal connection between viewer and character through self-other comparison and self-disclosure. The character becomes relatable through perspective-taking, and they disclose intimate information about themselves.

For example, Chella Man’s Youtube channel emphasises at least five of his identities, including disabled (deaf), transgender, male, boyfriend, artist, Asian-American and Jewish. Most of these categories (e.g. disability and Jewishness) are unrelated to each other. This makes it very hard for any viewer to categorise Man into one social group, which would lead to stereotype activation.

In addition, most of his first-person videos use perspective-taking techniques, such as emphasising particular situations and material contexts. These help the viewer to understand his physical and psychological perspective. Man also shares highly intimate information with the viewer, such as his struggle to juggle so many identities or his relationship with his girlfriend.

Differentiation by Contrast

For multiple outgroup characters a documentary can achieve differentiation by contrast. Each character has the outgroup identity, but they also have additional, conceptually different identities. This makes them appear unique within the outgroup, as the image below shows. The result is that the outgroup appears less homogenous and more diverse, which can reduce stereotype activation.

For example, Zanzibar Soccer Queens aims to reduce Western prejudice towards African women. One strategy is the surprising identity combination of football players and Muslim-African women. The second strategy is to represent the multiple characters as unique individuals within the general outgroup of African women (see images below).

Amina is a defender and housewife who defies her conservative husband by playing football in secret. Warda is a midfielder, market seller and respectful daughter. Nassra is a coach, mother and immigration officer. Ferouz is a defender, football club founding member and pool player. Lightness is a midfielder, Christian and gospel singer. Zuwena is a goalkeeper, divorcee and cook.

For a Western ingroup viewer, this differentiation by contrast illustrates that the outgroup of African women is not a rigid, homogenous community that can be easily categorised, stereotyped and stigmatised.

The representation of individual identities is the most potent strategy in reducing prejudice and stigma. At the same time, it is the hardest to achieve because both above conditions need to be fulfilled.

Unfortunately, it is also the riskiest strategy because the individualised outgroup character may be perceived as an exception who proves the stereotypical rule. So, like all other stigma reduction strategies, one documentary is not enough to reduce stigma. It requires a multitude of factual media contents that use a variety of strategies to sustainably mitigate the activation of stigmatising stereotypes.

Read more about the intricacies, potentials and risks of individual identities in Chapter 11.