A Social Cognition Perspective of Stigma

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A Social Cognition Perspective of Stigma

• A presentation at Lawrence University
• on May 18, 2006
• by JOHN B. PRYOR, Ph.D.
• Illinois State University

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• Outline of Todays Talk
• 1) What is a stigma? Some basic concepts.
• 2) Some theories about stigma Evolutionary
  Psychology Socio-Cultural Approaches
• 3) A dual process model of reactions to stigma
• 4) Study 1 A time course in reactions to a
  variety of different stigmas - the roles of
  disgust sensitivity, motivational to control
  prejudice, and attributions about onset control
• 4) Study 2 Evidence for two factors in reactions
  to children with HIV/AIDS
• 5) Study 3 The unfolding impact of reflexive and
  rule-based processes in reactions to PWAs over
  time
• 6) Conclusions

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According to Crocker, Major, and Steele (1998) "a
person who is stigmatized is a person whose
social identity, or membership in some social
category calls into question his or her full
humanity--the person is devalued, spoiled or
flawed in the eyes of others (p. 504)."
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Erving Goffman (1963) identified several types of
stigma.
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an abomination of the body
mastectomy
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an abomination of the body
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blemishes of individual moral character
Drug addict
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blemishes of individual moral character
Homeless man
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tribal stigma of race, nation, religion, family,
or other social group
Muslim cleric
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courtesy stigma - acquired through chosen
affiliation
Girlfriend of Klansman
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Theories of Stigma
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The Evolutionary Psychology Perspective on Stigma
Kurzban Leary (2001)

• The social exclusion of the stigmatized is found
  across all cultures and even in many non-human
  animals. Stigma avoidance may have helped our
  ancestors survive.

• Evolutionary psychologists suggest that human
  beings evolved to avoid
• Poor social exchange partners
• Members of lower status or conflicting groups
• People likely to carry communicable pathogens.

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Socio-Cultural Perspectives on Stigma
Crandall Eshleman, 2003

• People learn to associate negative evaluations
  with group labels. Negative reactions to persons
  with stigma essentially represent a form of
  prejudice.
• People also learn that it is socially acceptable
  to express negative reactions to some groups and
  not others (a form of political correctness).
• The perceived onset controllability of a stigma
  is crucially related to whether prejudice is
  socially acceptable or not.

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The Case of Obesity

• According to BMI analyses, 31 of Americans are
  obese. Only 19 describe themselves as such.
• Obesity has been shown to relate to negative
  employment decisions in hiring, promotion,
  firing.
• Obesity is a more powerful stigma for white
  women. Mildly obese white women make 5.9 lower
  wages than their standard weight counterparts
  morbidly obese white women make 24.1 lower.
• Parents are less likely to financially support
  their heavyweight daughters college educations.

• In a study of adolescent overweight girls, 96
  percent reported perceived negative experiences
  because of their weight, including hurtful
  comments, weight-related teasing, jokes and
  derogatory names.

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Source Pew Research Center (2006)
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The blame game

• People have less negative reactions to obese
  people when they are told that the person has
  genetic disorder
• Cross-cultural studies show that the tendency to
  blame obese persons for their conditions varies
  across cultures. More negative reactions are
  found in cultures where there is an ideology of
  blame.

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The Dual Process Model

• People have both
• REFLEXIVE
• RULE-BASED
• psychological reactions to stigmas.

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A dual-process model of reactions to perceived
stigma

• Reflexive Processes
• Immediate reactions
• Often emotional, often negative, often involve
  avoidance
• May reflect instinctual processes
• May reflect associative processes

• Rule-based Processes
• Thoughtful, deliberative reactions
• Take time to unfold
• Control processes
• May involve approach or avoidance
• Bring into play attributional considerations
  why questions

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The Psychological Impact of Rule-based and
Reflexive Processes Over Time
Rule-based processes
Reflexive processes
Psychological Impact
Time
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Study 1 Reflexive and rule-based factors
predict reactions to a variety of different
stigmas
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Study 1 Hypotheses

• Social norms about blame will be related to how
  people react to stigmas. The relationship between
  blame and negative reactions to stigmas will be
  more pronounced after people have had time to
  think about their reactions.

• Sensitivity to certain emotions will enhance
  initial avoidance toward stigmas.

• As people have time to think about their
  reactions to stigmas, they will be more likely to
  adjust them according to their motives to be
  politically correct.

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Mean Ratings of Personal Responsibility for the
Onset of Stigmas
Personal Responsibility for Onset
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Instructions to Participants

• Imagine that you have a summer job working at
  a hospital. The title of your job is
  "TRANSPORTATION SPECIALIST." The hospital is very
  large and has many different units. Units include
  an emergency room, critical care, drug/alcohol
  rehabilitation, oncology (cancer unit), cardiac
  unit, psychiatric unit, and counseling services.
  Your primary task is to transport patients from
  each unit to the discharge area. This task
  includes physically moving patients--helping them
  to get in and out of a wheelchair. Every patient
  is required to leave the hospital in a wheelchair
  irregardless of whether the person is capable of
  walking. You are also expected to initiate
  conversation with the patients. In this
  experiment you will be introduced to a variety of
  different people. Imagine that these individuals
  are the patients you have to transport to the
  discharge area.

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AIDS
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Approach/Avoidance Reactions to Persons with
Stigmas Perceived to have Controllable, Neutral,
or Uncontrollable Onsets
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Sensitivity to Disgust ScaleHaidt, McCauley,
Rozin (1994)
8 domains of disgust (Coefficient Alpha .82)

• Food - I might be willing to eat monkey meat
  under some circumstances.
• Animals - It would bother me to see a rat run
  across my path in a park.
• Body Products - It bothers me to hear someone
  clear a throat full of mucous.
• Sex - I think homosexual activities are immoral.
• Envelope Violations - You see a man with his
  intestines exposed after an accident.
• Death - It would bother me tremendously to touch
  a dead body.
• Hygiene - You discover that a friend of your
  changes underwear only once a week.
• Magic - A friend offers you a piece of chocolate
  shaped like dog doo.

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Motivation to Control Prejudice Against Persons
with Stigma QuestionnairePryor, Reeder, Yeadon,
Hesson-McInnis (2004)

• Coefficient Alpha .88
• 1) I attempt to act in non-prejudiced ways
  towards people with AIDS (people who have cancer,
  people who are obese) because it is personally
  important to me.
• 2) I am personally motivated by my beliefs to
  be non-prejudiced towards people with AIDS
  (people who have cancer, people who are obese) .
• 3) Being non-prejudiced towards people with AIDS
  (people who have cancer, people who are obese) is
  important to my self concept.
• 4) My personal beliefs and values determine how
  I respond to people with AIDS (people who have
  cancer, people who are obese) more than my
  concern with others reactions.
• 5) My personal beliefs and standards are more
  important in my decision for how to act towards
  people with AIDS (people who have cancer, people
  who are obese) than is my concern for how others
  will react.

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Percent of Variance in Relationships between
Distance and Disgust Sensitivity vs. Motivation
to Control Prejudice regarding Stigma over Time
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Study 2 Can arbitrary associations produce
reflexive reactions to a stigma?
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A Stigma Evokes a Collection of Associations
death
homosexuality
affect
affect
H I V
affect
misfortune
illness
drug use
affect
affect
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Can reflexive reactions to a stigma be activated
by an arbitrary associative chain?
HOMOSEXUALS
affect
x
x
x
x
x
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Attitudes toward lesbians and gay men

• EXAMPLE ITEMS
• Female homosexuality is bad for society because
  it breaks down the natural divisions between the
  sexes.
• State laws against private sexual behavior
  between consenting adult women should be
  abolished.
• Female homosexuality is a sin.
• I think male homosexuals are disgusting.
• If a man has homosexual feelings, he should do
  everything he can to overcome them.
• Male homosexuality is merely a different kind of
  lifestyle that should not be condemned.

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Motivation to Control Prejudice Against PWAs
Questionnaire

• (Coefficient Alpha .76)
• 1) I attempt to act in non-prejudiced ways
  towards people with AIDS because it is personally
  important to me.
• 2) I am personally motivated by my beliefs to
  be non-prejudiced towards people with AIDS.
• 3) Being non-prejudiced towards people with AIDS
  is important to my self concept.
• 4) My personal beliefs and values determine how
  I respond to people with AIDS more than my
  concern with others reactions.
• 5) My personal beliefs and standards are more
  important in my decision for how to act towards
  people with AIDS than is my concern for how
  others will react.

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Step 1
Hierarchical Multiple Regression for 98
Undergraduates
Attitudes toward Lesbians Gay Men
R .37
F (1,97)14.93, p lt.01
Attitudes toward having lunch with Child with HIV
Step 2
Motivation To Control Prejudice
R .46
F (1,96)9.89, p lt.01 (for change)
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Step 1
Hierarchical Multiple Regression for 98
Undergraduates
Motivation To Control Prejudice
R .32
F (1,97)10.79, p lt.01
Attitudes toward having lunch with Child with HIV
Step 2
Attitudes toward Lesbians Gay Men
R .46
F (1,96)13.96, p lt.01 (for change)
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Study 3 A time course in the impact of reflexive
and reflective factors on reactions to someone
with HIV/AIDS
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The Psychological Impact of Rule-based and
Reflexive Processes Over Time
Rule-based processes
Reflexive processes
Psychological Impact
Time
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Participants were told they would be going on a
trust walk with the other participant they
rated most positively
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Online Questionnaire Completed by Participants
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Screen used by participants to react to
information concerning the other participants.
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Questions Answers

• Where are you from and how long have you been at
  ISU?
• Do you belong to any organizations on campus or
  do you work?
• List your three favorite hobbies?
• What do you feel makes you unique?
• Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

• I am from Peoria and I am a freshman
• I pledged a fraternity this year
• sports, going to frat stuff, computer games (like
  Tomb Raider)
• After a car accident, I had a blood transfusion.
  From that transfusion I got HIV/AIDS.
• I want to get a Masters work for a large
  software company. I want to develop software and
  some day have my own company and be filthy rich

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Distance from all 3 Persons Over Time on the
Fourth Trial
450
400
Distance from Person
350
Burglar
Honors Student
300
PWA
250
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
6
6.5
7
7.5
8
8.5
9
9.5
Time (secs.)
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Relationships of Avoidance of a PWA to Internal
Motivation to Control Prejudice and
Heterosexuals' Attitudes toward Homosexuality on
the 4th Trial
Time (500 ms. intervals)
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• Conclusions of Todays Talk
• Psychological reactions to perceived
• stigma involve two processes an immediate,
  reflexive
• process and a more thoughtful, rule-based
  process.
• These two processes do not seem to function in
  some discrete stage-like fashion, rather they
  interact dynamically to influence
  approach/avoidance reactions over time.
• Anti-stigma interventions could attempt to alter
  either or both processes. Interventions that have
  incorporated contact with stigmatized persons
  have been shown to be effective in reducing
  negative reactions to persons with HIV, persons
  with mental illnesses, and other stigmatized
  groups. Contact interventions may reduce
  reflexive negative reactions.