Lecture Outline

1
Lecture Outline

• Define Stigma
• Stigma classifications and characteristics
• Dissociation
• Functions of stigmas in culture

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Stigma

• Consensual beliefs about undesirable attributes
  or characteristics

the disabled
racial minorities
prostitutes
drug addicts
the elderly
the ugly
homosexuals
people with deformities
the obese
the homeless
paralyzed people
anorexics
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Stigma Classifications (Goffman, 1963)

• 1. Tribal identities
• 2. Abominations of the body
• 3. Blemishes of individual character

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Stigma Classifications (Goffman, 1963)

• Tribal identities
• Social groups into which individuals are born
• religious groups
• ethnic groups
• racial groups
• national groups

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Stigma Classifications (Goffman, 1963)

• Abominations of the body
• Physical ailments
• deformities
• illnesses
• paralysis

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Stigma Classifications (Goffman, 1963)

• Blemishes of individual character
• Moral transgressions, weakness of will
• drug addiction
• prostitution
• homosexuality
• mental illnesses

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Stigma Characteristics

• Dimensions along
• which stigmas can differ

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Concealibility
Extent to which a stigma can be hidden from
others
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Stability
Extent to which a stigma can change over time

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Disruptiveness
Extent to which a stigma disrupts social
interactions
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Aesthetic Qualities
Extent to which a stigma is physically
unappealing to others
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Responsibility
Extent to which a stigmatized person is seen as
personally responsible for their stigma
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What we do know...

• Stigma characteristics are
• not all-or-none

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What we do know...

• Stigma characteristics are
• not mutually exclusive

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What we do know...

• People can hold different beliefs about a
  stigmas characteristics

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Stigma

• According to Goffman (1963)
• Stigmatized groups
• regarded by many as flawed

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• People report that they do not emulate, or try to
  be like, the stigmatized
• Stereotypes about stigmatized groups are negative
• Individuals with stigmas are victims of
  prejudice, discrimination, hate crimes

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The Paradox

• The stigmatized are devalued
• Self-reported prejudice has declined over time

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Dissociation

• Lack of association between explicit self-reports
  and implicit measures of bias

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Causes of Dissociation

• Socially desirable responding
• Cultural norms

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Causes of DissociationSocial Desirability

• People lie about their prejudiced to appear
  unbiased to others

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Bogus Pipeline

• An experimental paradigm
• Experimenter claims to have access (a pipeline)
  to participants true reactions

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Bogus Pipeline StudySigall Page (1971)

• Participants seated in front of machine
  w/steering wheel attached

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Bogus Pipeline StudySigall Page (1971)

• Completed survey about self
• Rated African Americans on traits by turning
  wheel
• -3 (very uncharacteristic)
• 3 (very characteristic)

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Bogus Pipeline StudySigall Page (1971)

• Manipulation
• Bogus pipeline group
• Control group

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Bogus Pipeline StudySigall Page (1971)

• If people lie on self-report measures to appear
  unbiased then.
• Attributes
• Negative Positive
• Bogus Pipeline gt Control Control gt Bogus
  Pipeline

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Bogus Pipeline StudySigall Page (1971)

• Neg. Attributes Bogus Pipeline
  Control
• Happy-go-lucky .93 -.13
• Ignorant .60 .20
• Stupid .13 -1.00
• Physically dirty .20 -1.33
• Unreliable .27 -.67
• Lazy .60 -.73
• Aggressive 1.20 .67

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Bogus Pipeline StudySigall Page (1971)

• Pos. Attributes Bogus Pipeline Control
• Intelligent .00 .47
• Ambitious .07 .33
• Sensitive .87 1.60

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Explicit and Implicit Prejudice
Explicit Measures
Implicit Measures
Responses more easily modified
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Explicit and Implicit Prejudice
Explicit Measures
Implicit Measures
More vulnerable to social desirability
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Taxonomy of prejudice measures Maass, Castelli
Arcuri (2000)

• Controlling Responses
• Easy Difficult

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IAT Implicit Association Test

• The IAT measures RT
• how quickly people categorize stimulus words.
• Faster RT stronger association
• IAT responses correlate mildly with explicit
  responses

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Causes of PrejudiceCultural Norms
Cultural Norms
Protected Status
Comfort expressing prejudice
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Protected Status
Protected
Unprotected
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Measures of Protected Status

• Denial of prejudice
• Willingness to derogate publicly

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Denial of Prejudice StudyCrandall (1994)

• Purpose
• Examined denial of prejudice against African
  Americans obese

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Denial of Prejudice Study Crandall (1994)

• 2,406 participants
• Modern Racism Scale
• Measures prejudice against African Americans
• Dislike Scale
• Measures prejudice against the obese

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Denial of Prejudice Study Crandall (1994)
Percent Disavowing Prejudice Against
African Americans 10
Obese 3
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Derogation StudySmith (2001)
Purpose Examine willingness to derogate
various stigmatized groups
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Derogation Study Smith (2001)

• Participants indicated
• How comfortable they personally feel saying or
  thinking bad things about 41 different groups

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Derogation Study Smith (2001)
Some of the groups rated people with
acne white supremacists people with
AIDS schizophrenics amputees homosexuals the
blind child abusers people with
ADHD pedophiles alcoholics gamblers murderers
adulterers
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Derogation Study Smith (2001)
Willingness to derogate varied across the stigmas

• Least
• Comfortable
• cancer patients
• people w/leukemia
• paralyzed people

• Most Comfortable
• homosexuals
• prostitutes
• child abusers

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Protected Status StudyMadon, Smith, Guyll (in
press)

• Purpose
• 1. Test whether protected status contributes to
  dissociation b/t explicit and implicit prejudice

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Protected Status StudyMadon et al. (in press)

• Cultural norms operate
• at a conscious level

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Protected Status StudyMadon et al. (in press)

• Prediction
• A stigmas protected status will influence
  explicit but not implicit prejudice

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Protected Status StudyMadon et al. (in press)

1. Self-reported prejudice against stigmatized
   targets (Explicit Prejudice)
2. Completed IAT (Implicit Prejudice)

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Protected Status StudyMadon et al. (in press)

• Manipulation Protected status
• Protected Unprotected
• Depressed Prostitute
• Poor Thief
• Old Drug addict
• Homeless Adulterer

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Protected Status StudyMadon et al. (in press)
Result More prejudice against targets with
unprotected than protected stigmas on explicit
measures
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Protected Status StudyMadon et al. (in press)
Result Similar prejudice against targets with
unprotected and protected stigmas on implicit
measure
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Functions of Stigmas

• Self-enhancement function
• Social identity function
• System justification function
• Terror management function

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Self-Enhancement Function

• Based on Downward Comparison Theory
• Stigmatizing out-groups make people feel better
  about themselves

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Social Identity Theory

• Assumptions
• People categorize others into in/out groups
• Categorization creates a social identity
• People want to be in groups held in high esteem
• People sustain positive identity by derogating
  out-groups

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Self-Enhancement vs. Social Identity Theory

• Self-Enhancement

Derogate the stigmatized
Feel good about oneself
Social Identity Theory
Derogate the stigmatized
Feel good about oneself
Feel good about ones group
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Self-Enhancement Social Identity Functions
Limitations Consensual nature
Self-devaluation of stigmas
Self-Enhancement
Self-Enhancement
Social Identity
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Self-Devaluation StudyClark Clark (1939)

• 253 African American children
• Presented with 4 dolls
• 2 brown with black hair
• 2 white with yellow hair
• Children asked questions

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Self-Devaluation StudyClark Clark (1939)

• Identify actual color of doll
• Example questions
• Give me the brown doll
• Give me the white doll

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Self-Devaluation StudyClark Clark (1939)

• Result
• Children correctly identified the dolls color
• 93 gave the brown doll when asked
• 94 gave the white doll when asked

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Self-Devaluation StudyClark Clark (1939)

• Identify racial identity of doll
• Example questions
• Give me the doll that looks like an African
  American child
• Give me the doll that looks like a White child

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Self-Devaluation StudyClark Clark (1939)

• Results
• Children able to identify the dolls racial
  identity
• 93 gave the brown doll when asked for the one
  that looked like an African American child
• 93 gave white doll when asked for the one that
  looked like a White child

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Self-Devaluation StudyClark Clark (1939)

• Identify childs racial identity
• Example questions
• Give me the doll that
• looks like you

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Self-Devaluation StudyClark Clark (1939)

• Results
• Children not as good at identifying their own
  racial identity
• 66 gave the brown doll when asked which looked
  like them
• 33 gave the white doll when asked which looked
  like them

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Self-Devaluation StudyClark Clark (1939)

• Identify racial preference
• Example questions
• Give me the doll you like best
• Give me the doll that looks bad
• Give me the doll that is a nicer color

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Self-Devaluation StudyClark Clark (1939)

• Results
• Children devalued own racial identity
• 66 liked the white doll best
• 59 said the brown doll looked bad
• only 38 said the brown doll was a nice color

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System Justification TheoryAssumptions
Group inequalities in every society Advantaged
groups derogate stigmatized groups to justify why
they have more Justifications show how the
system is fair
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System Justification TheoryThrough system
justification people
1. Come to believe that they deserve their
privilege 2. The system under which their
culture operates is fair 3. Perception of
fairness reduces intergroup conflict
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System Justification Theory
Limitations Cannot explain social revolutions
that initially heighten intergroup conflict
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Terror Management Function Assumptions
People are aware of their own mortality This
awareness creates anxiety People protect self
from this anxiety by subscribing to a cultural
view that provides order meaning to an
otherwise random world
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Terror Management
Stigmatization serves to reject those who are
different and who violate and challenge cultural
views