Psychological Reactions to Perceived Stigma

MARIA DEL PRADO SILVAN FERRERO,

UNED Madrid, Spain

JOHN B. PRYOR & GLENN D. REEDER,

Illinois State University, USA

European Association for Experimental Social Psychology June, 2005

Stigma

• “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” (Crocker & Major, 1989).

Primary Research Questions for Today’s Presentation

What is the role of onset controllability in emotional reactions to stigmas?

How do different emotions relate to the approach/avoidance reactions to persons who are stigmatized that unfold over time?

Theoretical perspectives - people have both positive and negative

reactions to persons with stigmas

• Weiner’s (1993) attribution theory– Uncontrollable stigmas->pity->helping– Controllable stigmas->anger->not helping

• Katz’s (1977) ambivalence hypothesis– Stigmas simultaneously evoke both revulsion and

sympathy-emotional ambivalence.

Measuring Approach/Avoidance

Reactions over Time Using a Computer Analogue

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Personal Responsibility for Onset

legally blind

paralyzed by drunk driver

AIDS from a blood transfusion

breast cancer

obese due to glandular disorder

cancer

heart disease

depressed

AIDS

obese

obese & does not exercise

addicted to drugs

AIDS from unprotected gay sex

cancer & smoked for 20 years

abuses a child

Stigma

Mean Ratings of Personal Responsibility for the Onset of Stigmas

Mean Ratings of Personal Responsibility for the Onset of Stigmas

Personal Responsibility for Onset

Ratings of 15 stigmas selected using a pre-test: Ratings of 15 stigmas selected using a pre-test: 5 controllable, 5 neutral, & 5 uncontrollable onset5 controllable, 5 neutral, & 5 uncontrollable onset

Instructions to ParticipantsInstructions to Participants

Participants were instructed to imagine working Participants were instructed to imagine working with a variety of patients in a hospital setting.with a variety of patients in a hospital setting.

Transportation specialist Interviewing patients at intake

Legally Blind

Participants were asked to move a computer cursorParticipants were asked to move a computer cursortoward or away from each patient’s picture totoward or away from each patient’s picture toindicate how comfortable they felt in workingindicate how comfortable they felt in workingwith the patient. They were given 10 secondswith the patient. They were given 10 secondsto adjust the picture cursor distance. Distance wasto adjust the picture cursor distance. Distance wasrecorded in 500 ms intervals.recorded in 500 ms intervals.

Participants’ experimental taskParticipants’ experimental task

Approach/Avoidance Reactions to

uncontrollable, Neutral and Controllable Stigmas

over Time

Stigma Avoidance as a Function of Controllability and Time

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Time_01Time_02Time_03Time_04Time_05Time_06Time_07Time_08Time_09Time_10Time_11Time_12Time_13Time_14Time_15Time_16Time_17Time_18Time_19Time_20

Time (in 500 ms intervals)

Avoidance (distance in pixels)

Controllable

Neutral

Uncontrollable

Time X Controllability Interaction: F (38,7740) = 107.59, p < .01

How we measured specific emotional reactions to the 15

stigmas

To what degree did you feel each of these emotions when you thought about interacting with the people who had each of these conditions? Please rate your feeling of these emotions using this scale (i.e., write numbers in the boxes):

I did not feel this emotion 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 I felt this emotion very strongly

EMOTIONS CONDITIONS anger pity compassion fear disgust obese cancer addicted to drugs AIDS from a blood transfusion abuses a child obese & does not exercise breast cancer depressed AIDS from unprotected gay sex legally blind obese due to glandular disorder cancer & smoked for 20 years AIDS heart disease paralyzed by drunk driver

Example of ratings participants made after the computer task

Condensing the emotional reaction measures

• Principal components analyses were performed on the average ratings of the 19 emotions for each type of stigma:Controllable, Neutral, & Uncontrollable Onset.• Three factors emerged consistently: positive emotions,uncertain emotions, and negative emotions. Specific emotions that did not load consistently on the samefactor across the stigma types were eliminated.• For example, pity was eliminated because sometimesit loaded on a positive factor, while other times, it loaded on a negative factor.

Emotional Reactions to Stigma

• Negative Emotions:Negative Emotions: disgust, fear, disgust, fear, anger, unsafe, irritationanger, unsafe, irritation

• Uncertain Emotions:Uncertain Emotions: uncertainty, uncertainty, anxiety, surpriseanxiety, surprise

• Positive Emotions:Positive Emotions: empathy, empathy, compassion, sympathy, care, compassion, sympathy, care, tenderness, kindnesstenderness, kindness

Emotional Reactions to Stigma as a Function of Controllability

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Negative Uncertain Positive

Emotions

Degree Emotion was Felt

UncontrollableNeutral

Controllable

Correlations of distance measured at 500 ms.

intervals (greater distance means more stigma avoidance)

to self-reported emotions concerning neutral

onset stigmas

Relationship of Emotions to Avoidance of Neutral Stigmas over Time

-0.5

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

time_01time_02time_03time_04time_05time_06time_07time_08time_09time_10time_11time_12time_13time_14time_15time_16time_17time_18time_19time_20

Time (in 500 ms intervals)

Partial Correlations with Stigma Avoidance

Negative

Uncertain

Positive

Relationship of Emotions to Avoidance of Neutral Stigmas over Time

-0.5

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

time_01time_02time_03time_04time_05time_06time_07time_08time_09time_10time_11time_12time_13time_14time_15time_16time_17time_18time_19time_20

Time (in 500 ms intervals)

Partial Correlations with Stigma Avoidance

Negative

Uncertain

Positive

Uncertain statistically significant in the first 1.5 seconds

Degree of positive emotion Degree of positive emotion is significantly correlated to is significantly correlated to stigma movement after only 500 ms.stigma movement after only 500 ms.

Correlations of distance measured at 500 ms.

intervals (greater distance means more stigma avoidance)

to self-reported emotions concerning

uncontrollable onset stigmas

Relationship of Emotions to Avoidance of Uncontrollable Stigmas over Time

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

time_01time_02time_03time_04time_05time_06time_07time_08time_09time_10time_11time_12time_13time_14time_15time_16time_17time_18time_19time_20

Time (in 500 ms intervals)

Partial Correlations with Stigma Avoidance

Negative

Uncertain

Positive

Relationship of Emotions to Avoidance of Uncontrollable Stigmas over Time

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

time_01time_02time_03time_04time_05time_06time_07time_08time_09time_10time_11time_12time_13time_14time_15time_16time_17time_18time_19time_20

Time (in 500 ms intervals)

Partial Correlations with Stigma Avoidance

Negative

Uncertain

Positive

Statistically significant in the first 3.5 seconds

Only significant after 5 seconds

Degree of positive emotion Degree of positive emotion is significantly correlated to is significantly correlated to stigma movement after only 500 ms.stigma movement after only 500 ms.

Correlations of distance measured at 500 ms.

intervals (greater distance means more stigma avoidance)

to self-reported emotions concerning

controllable onset stigmas

Relationship of Emotions to Avoidance of Controllable Stigmas over Time

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

time_01time_02time_03time_04time_05time_06time_07time_08time_09time_10time_11time_12time_13time_14time_15time_16time_17time_18time_19time_20

Time (in 500 ms intervals)

Partial Correlations with Stigma Avoidance

Negative

Uncertain

Positive

Relationship of Emotions to Avoidance of Controllable Stigmas over Time

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

time_01time_02time_03time_04time_05time_06time_07time_08time_09time_10time_11time_12time_13time_14time_15time_16time_17time_18time_19time_20

Time (in 500 ms intervals)

Partial Correlations with Stigma Avoidance

Negative

Uncertain

Positive

UncertainNeverStatistically significant

Degree of positive emotion Degree of positive emotion is significantly correlated to is significantly correlated to stigma movement after only 500 ms.stigma movement after only 500 ms.

•Significant after 2.5 seconds•Much stronger connectionsto negative emotions overall

Summary of Study 2: Approach/avoidance reactions to perceived stigmas were correlated with a mixture of positive, uncertain, and negative emotions.

•Onset Neutral (ambiguous): An initial relationship of avoidance to uncertain emotions followed by stronger connections to positive emotions. Also, negative emotions were progressively more correlated.•Onset Uncontrollable: An initial significant relationship of avoidance to uncertain emotions followed by stronger connections to positive emotions. Correlations to negative emotions were significant after a time, but much lower.•Onset Controllable: After a pause, positive emotions were correlated to avoidance and then progressively negative emotions were correlated as well. Connections to uncertain emotions were not significant.

Research Questions for the Future

• What is ambivalence? Is it a mixture of positive and negative emotions? Is it a feeling of uncertainty? Is it both?

• What is the difference between a negative emotion and the absence of a positive emotion when you examine self-reports? Is "I did not feel compassion” a negative emotion?

• Is there a better measure of emotions than retrospective self-reports?