Discrimination against facially stigmatized applicants in interviews: an eye-tracking and face-to-face investigation

Drawing from theory and research on perceived stigma (Pryor, Reeder, Yeadon, & Hesson-McInnis, 2004), attentional processes (Rinck & Becker, 2006), working memory (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974), and regulatory resources (Muraven & Baumeister, 2000), the authors examined discrimination against facially stigmatized applicants and the processes involved. In Study 1, 171 participants viewed a computer-mediated interview of an applicant who was facially stigmatized or not and who either did or did not acknowledge the stigma. The authors recorded participants' (a) time spent looking at the stigma (using eye tracker technology), (b) ratings of the applicant, (c) memory recall about the applicant, and (d) self-regulatory depletion. Results revealed that the participants with facially stigmatized applicants attended more to the cheek (i.e., where the stigma was placed), which led participants to recall fewer interview facts, which in turn led to lower applicant ratings. In addition, the participants with the stigmatized (vs. nonstigmatized) applicant depleted more regulatory resources. In Study 2, 38 managers conducted face-to-face interviews with either a facially stigmatized or nonstigmatized applicant, and then rated the applicant. Results revealed that managers who interviewed a facially stigmatized applicant (vs. a nonstigmatized applicant) rated the applicant lower, recalled less information about the interview, and depleted more self-regulatory resources.     

Cumulative consequences of stigma: Possessing multiple concealable stigmatized identities is associated with worse quality of life

Large health disparities exist between stigmatized and nonstigmatized groups. In addition to experiencing and anticipating greater discrimination, members of stigmatized groups also tend to demonstrate greater ruminative tendencies in response, which may lead to these poor health outcomes. Even among stigmatized groups, differences in the visibility of stigma lead to different mechanisms through which stigma takes its toll. Previous work has primarily focused on the impact of belonging to a single marginalized group; however, people often belong to multiple marginalized groups, and this likely affects both their health outcomes and their anticipation of stigma. In the current study, we focused on individuals with concealable stigmatized identities (CSIs)—socially stigmatized identities that are not immediately apparent to others—and created a measure of concealable marginalization that captures multiple group memberships. We predicted that those possessing a greater number of CSIs would anticipate more stigma from others, and, in turn, ruminate more about the stigma, which would negatively impact the health. Surveying N = 288 adults with CSIs, we found that possessing a greater number of marginalized concealable identities predicted worse self-reported physical quality of life. These relationships were partially mediated by greater anticipated stigma and brooding rumination in regard to their CSI. This work illuminates a more complete picture of how living with CSIs can take its toll on health.     

The persistence of welfare stigma: Does the passing of time and subsequent employment moderate the negative perceptions associated with unemployment benefit receipt?

People receiving welfare payments are stigmatized. However, previous studies of welfare recipient stereotypes have not examined whether the stigma endures after payments are no longer received and have rarely considered the stigma associated with specific categories of welfare payments. We examined whether welfare stigma endures in three experiments (total N = 873) focused on one category of welfare recipient, people receiving government income support due to their unemployment. To test if this stigmatized identity marked or scarred how people are perceived, we compared evaluations of currently unemployed benefit recipients to currently employed people who either previously received this benefit or who had no stated history of benefit receipt. Across the three experiments, we found that current recipients of unemployment benefits were evaluated as much less conscientious, less human, and poorer workers, but as somewhat more extraverted than currently employed individuals irrespective of their welfare history. Moreover, we found that currently employed individuals were evaluated similarly, regardless of whether they had a prior history of benefit receipt, and the recency of this prior benefit experience. This pattern of results suggests that receiving unemployment benefits does not scar how a person is perceived by others, but only temporarily marks how they are perceived. These findings suggest that welfare stigma may create an evaluative barrier to returning to work, but that if this barrier can be overcome there are no negative evaluations of former recipients’ character. Overall, community members seem accepting of prior benefit receipt once a person returns to work.     

Imagined contact and mental illness stigma in an Asian context: Bolstering the effect and examining the impact of factual information

Imagined contact can be effective at reducing social stigma. However, the effect may depend on the strength of the stigma held. We tested the robustness of imagined contact in an Asian setting where stigmatization of mental illness is stronger than in Western countries. In Experiment 1 (n = 167) with five conditions, only an enhanced version of positive imagined contact was able to decrease stigma towards people with schizophrenia through decreasing intergroup anxiety. Given the potential discrepancy between imaginations and reality about experiences with stigmatized groups, in Experiment 2 (n = 121), we tested the hypothesis that after presenting participants with factual information about a mental illness group, imagined contact might backfire, resulting in more negative perceptions. However, enhanced imagined contact alongside factual message about schizophrenia did not increase stigma. The backfiring hypothesis was therefore not supported. Nevertheless, providing realistic information did negate the positive effects of enhanced imagined contact on stigma reduction. In both experiments, we also showed that intergroup anxiety mediated the effect of enhanced imagined contact on various measures of stigma.     

Perceiver threat in social interactions with stigmatized others

The extent to which stigmatized interaction partners engender perceivers' threat reactions (i.e., stigma-threat hypothesis) was examined. Experiments 1 and 2 included the manipulation of stigma using facial birthmarks. Experiment 3 included manipulations of race and socioeconomic status. Threat responses were measured physiologically, behaviorally, and subjectively. Perceivers interacting with stigmatized partners exhibited cardiovascular reactivity consistent with threat and poorer performance compared with participants interacting with nonstigmatized partners, who exhibited challenge reactivity. In Experiment 3, intergroup contact moderated physiological reactivity such that participants who reported more contact with Black persons exhibited less physiological threat when interacting with them. These results support the stigma-threat hypothesis and suggest the utility of a biopsychosocial approach to the study of stigma and related constructs.     

Stigma as ego depletion: how being the target of prejudice affects self-control

This research examined whether stigma diminishes people's ability to control their behaviors. Because coping with stigma requires self-regulation, and self-regulation is a limited-capacity resource, we predicted that individuals belonging to stigmatized groups are less able to regulate their own behavior when they become conscious of their stigmatizing status or enter threatening environments. Study 1 uncovered a correlation between stigma sensitivity and self-regulation; the more Black college students were sensitive to prejudice, the less self-control they reported having. By experimentally activating stigma, Studies 2 and 3 provided causal evidence for stigma's ego-depleting qualities: When their stigma was activated, stigmatized participants (Black students and females) showed impaired self-control in two very different domains (attentional and physical self-regulation). These results suggest that (a) stigma is ego depleting and (b) coping with it can weaken the ability to control and regulate one's behaviors in domains unrelated to the stigma.     

A New Stigmatized Identity? Comparisons of a “Food Addict” Label With Other Stigmatized Health Conditions

This research assessed public perceptions of a “food addict” label in comparison to stigmatized conditions including obesity, addiction, and disability. Study 1 found this label was perceived similarly to obesity, but more favorably than other addictions, and had an exacerbating effect on weight stigma. Study 2 experimentally replicated the latter effect but demonstrated no weight-related effects for the food addict label. This evidence suggests that food addiction may be less vulnerable to public stigma than other addictions but may increase the stigma associated with obesity. Food addiction as a stigmatized identity is discussed.     

Managing a stigmatized identity—evidence from a longitudinal analysis about people with mental illness

Previous research about coping with the stigma of mental illness mostly relied on cross‐sectional or qualitative research designs. In the present study, the consequences of ten identity management strategies for mental illness stigma were observed in a longitudinal design. Cross‐lagged analyses were used to describe the influence of the strategies on the frequency of stigma experiences and on mental health in a two‐wave panel of people with mental illness (n = 367, 79% repeated response rate). Selective disclosure and information seeking emerged as adaptive identity management strategies, whereas overcompensation and withdrawal led to lower mental health. Results were mostly unaffected by demographic and psychiatric variables. The results support an empowerment model of stigma resilience that portrays stigmatized people as active constructors of their social world.     

Dehumanization of dirty workers and attitudes toward social support

In lay perception, dirty work is a type of labor that degrades human dignity. Work can be perceived as dirty on three bases: social (related to the subordinate position or associated with contact with stigmatized people), physical (related to direct contact with garbage and waste), and moral (related to jobs considered sinful, dubious, or defying social norms). “Dirty” stigma makes workers objects of dehumanization and discrimination, in particular, people distance themselves from dirty workers and are not ready to help and support them. In the experimental study (N = 340), we investigated how certain types of dirty workers are dehumanized compared to nondirty workers and the indirect effect of the type of dirty work on attitudes toward the social support of dirty workers via animalistic (attribution of uniquely human traits) and the mechanistic (attribution of human nature traits) dehumanization. The results show that individuals are willing to offer more social support to a low status but not dirty worker rather than to social or moral dirty workers. At the same time, less social support is provided to nondirty than to physical dirty worker. Animalistic and mechanistic dehumanization mediates the relationship between the types of dirty work and the attitudes toward social support. In particular, less dehumanization leads to more positive attitudes toward social support. The limitations and future directions of the obtained results are discussed.     

Recasting Stigma as a Dialogical Concept: A Case Study of Rural‐to‐Urban Migrants in China

The present study explores stigma against rural‐to‐urban migrants in China, drawing on a dialogical approach. It investigates the processes of stigmatization from two sides: that of the stigmatizer and that of the stigmatized. Open‐ended individual interviews were conducted with 138 participants (60 urban residents and 78 rural‐to‐urban migrants) in Tianjin, China. Findings from this study indicate that migrants were stigmatized by urban residents as having an unattractive physical appearance, potential perils of disease or crime, and discredited places of origin. Such stigma was embedded in China's unique hukou system and generated from a social categorization of superior and inferior groups. Migrants reported a number of coping strategies to counter such stigma: blaming fate, stigma reversal and upward mobility. However, migrants did not view themselves contemptuously and expressed positive feelings about their lives as migrants. They regarded internal migration as a way of pursuing happiness. Overall, urban residents stigmatized migrants legitimated by the hukou system, while migrants were surprisingly resilient against stigma, and did not internalize it, due to their economics‐driven internal migration. This study underscores that stigma in a given society is dialogically interdependent with its socio‐cultural context and that the perspectives of both the stigmatizer and the stigmatized need to be taken into consideration. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

AIDS‐Related Stigma in Individuals With Other Stigmatized Identities in the USA: A Review of Layered Stigmas

AIDS‐related stigmas have profound negative impacts on people living with and those affected by HIV/AIDS. While a considerable body of work examines AIDS‐related stigma, it is less clear how AIDS stigmas affect individuals in relation to other stigmatized identities, particularly ethnic minorities. This review examines the literature on AIDS‐related stigma among these groups. The limited available research indicates that AIDS stigmas can seriously interfere with HIV testing, treatment, and care. In addition, prevention studies conducted with incarcerated adolescents, a group characterized by stigmatized identities and high risks for HIV, indicate that interventions for this population do not address stigmatized identities and demonstrate limited effects on risk reduction outcomes. Research is needed to examine stigma in primary prevention of HIV with an at‐risk stigmatized group.     

A dual-process model of reactions to perceived stigma

The authors propose a theoretical model of individual psychological reactions to perceived stigma. This model suggests that 2 psychological systems may be involved in reactions to stigma across a variety of social contexts. One system is primarily reflexive, or associative, whereas the other is rule based, or reflective. This model assumes a temporal pattern of reactions to the stigmatized, such that initial reactions are governed by the reflexive system, whereas subsequent reactions or "adjustments" are governed by the rule-based system. Support for this model was found in 2 studies. Both studies examined participants' moment-by-moment approach-avoidance reactions to the stigmatized. The 1st involved participants' reactions to persons with HIV/AIDS, and the 2nd, participants' reactions to 15 different stigmatizing conditions.     

流动儿童歧视知觉与心理健康水平的关系及其心理机制

为了探讨流动儿童所感受到的歧视对他们心理健康水平的影响, 以及应对方式和自尊在其中所起的作用, 从北京市公立学校和打工子弟学校选取1164名流动儿童、从公立学校选取525名北京儿童、从流动儿童主要来源地的农村选取568名农村儿童作为被试, 采用问卷调查的形式, 测查了流动儿童感受到的歧视、他们的心理健康水平(社交焦虑、孤独感、抑郁)、应对方式和自尊。研究发现: (1) 流动儿童所感受到的社会歧视在学校类型、流动性上存在显著的差异, 打工子弟学校的流动儿童得分显著高于公立学校的, 流动性高的儿童得分显著高于流动性低的, 但在性别上不存在显著差异, 也不存在学校类型与性别和流动性的交互作用; (2) 流动儿童的心理健康水平在性别、学校类型和流动性上存在显著的差异, 女孩、来自公立学校的流动儿童、流动性高的儿童的心理健康水平显著差于与之相对应的被试, 除在社交焦虑和抑郁上存在学校类型和性别的交互作用外, 在孤独感上不存在学校类型和流动性的交互作用; (3) 不同类别儿童在心理健康水平上存在显著差异, 流动儿童在社交焦虑、孤独感上最差; (4) 除消极应对与自尊、积极应对与抑郁相关不显著外, 歧视、心理健康水平、应对方式、自尊两两之间都相关非常显著; (5) 歧视知觉对心理健康水平有显著的直接影响, 也通过应对方式和自尊对心理健康水平产生显著的影响。自尊不仅在歧视知觉与心理健康水平之间起到显著的部分中介作用, 在应对方式和心理健康水平之间也起到了显著的部分中介作用。     

Dirty work, clean hands: The moral psychology of indirect agency

When powerful people cause harm, they often do so indirectly through other people. Are harmful actions carried out through others evaluated less negatively than harmful actions carried out directly? Four experiments examine the moral psychology of indirect agency. Experiments 1A, 1B, and 1C reveal effects of indirect agency under conditions favoring intuitive judgment, but not reflective judgment, using a joint/separate evaluation paradigm. Experiment 2A demonstrates that effects of indirect agency cannot be fully explained by perceived lack of foreknowledge or control on the part of the primary agent. Experiment 2B indicates that reflective moral judgment is sensitive to indirect agency, but only to the extent that indirectness signals reduced foreknowledge and/or control. Experiment 3 indicates that effects of indirect agency result from a failure to automatically consider the potentially dubious motives of agents who cause harm indirectly. Experiment 4 demonstrates an effect of indirect agency on purchase intentions.     

Stigma Consciousness and the Race Gap in College Academic Achievement

Stereotyped individuals vary in how chronically self-conscious they are of their stigmatized status, a variable called stigma consciousness. The present study examined whether stigma consciousness was negatively related to academic achievement in college for academically stigmatized (Black and Hispanic) students, but not for academically non-stigmatized (White and Asian) students. Results revealed that stigmatized students who were high in stigma consciousness had lower GPAs than stigmatized students who were low in stigma consciousness. Moreover, GPAs of stigmatized students who were low in stigma consciousness did not differ from those of non-stigmatized students. These results complement recent laboratory investigations of stigma consciousness among women and contribute to the literature on stereotype threat by extending the phenomenon to real-world academic performance.     

An Exploration of Stigma in the Lives of Sex Offenders and Heroin Abusers

Research was conducted on variations and commonalities of sexual offenders and heroin abusers and how they manage stigma in their everyday lives. Interviews with 13 sex offenders (SOs) and 44 heroin abusers (HAs) were conducted in New York City. Results suggest that both SOs and HAs disclose or conceal their stigmatized status based on their relationship to others and the situations in which they anticipate social condemnation. Both groups have formed intra-group hierarchies based on status, where child molesters and heroin abusers receive the most disdain. Some heroin abusers manage their stigma by engaging in behavior that we term redemptive passing, in which stigmatized individuals attempt to pass as non-stigmatized through deceptive means in order to make amends for prior harms they have caused. The stigmatization of sex offenders and heroin abusers has important implications for health, as members of these groups are less likely to seek treatment in order to distance themselves from their stigmatizing status.     

Neural response to evaluating depression predicts perceivers’ mental health treatment recommendations

Nonstigmatized perceivers’ initial evaluations of stigmatized individuals have profound consequences for the well-being of those stigmatized individuals. However, the mechanism by which this occurs remains underexplored. Specifically, what beliefs about the stigmatized condition (stigma-related beliefs) shape how nonstigmatized perceivers evaluate and behave toward stigmatized individuals? We examined these questions with respect to depression-related stigmatization because depression is highly stigmatized and nondepressed individuals’ behavior (e.g., willingness to recommend treatment) directly relates to removing stigma and increasing well-being. In Study 1, we identified common stigma-related beliefs associated with depression (e.g., not a serious illness, controllable, threatening), and found that only perceptions that depression is a serious condition predicted nondepressed perceivers’ willingness to recommend mental health treatment. Moreover, perceivers’ beliefs that depression is a distressing condition mediated the relationship between perceived seriousness and treatment recommendations (Study 1). In Study 2, we used fMRI to disentangle the potential processes connecting distress to nondepressed perceivers’ self-reported treatment intentions. Heightened activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC)—a region widely implicated in evaluating others—and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC)—a region widely implicated in regulating negative emotions—emerged when nondepressed perceivers evaluated individuals who were ostensibly depressed. Beliefs that depression is a distressing condition mediated the relationship between dmPFC (but not vlPFC) activity and nondepressed individuals’ self-reported treatment recommendations.     

Stigma and Psychological Distress in People With HIV/AIDS

Using a community sample of 197 people living with HIV/AIDS, we examined how awareness of societal stigma (felt stigma) and negative feelings toward oneself as a member of a stigmatized group (self-stigma) are related to psychological well-being. Both felt stigma and self-stigma were significantly correlated with symptoms of depression and anxiety, but controlling for felt stigma reduced self-stigma's association with depressive symptoms to nonsignificance. Global self-esteem and social avoidance fully mediated the associations between self-stigma and distress but only partially mediated the associations between felt stigma and distress. Felt stigma mediated the relationship between distress and HIV-related changes in physical appearance.     

Psychological distance reduces the effect of internalized stigma on mental health treatment decisions

Although stigma is a major barrier to treatment for those with mental health concerns, it is poorly understood when stigma is more or less influential in mental health treatment decisions. In the current work, we examined whether psychological distance—the removal of an event from direct experience—reduced the influence of internalized stigma on willingness to seek treatment. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that psychological distance versus proximity (e.g., seeking treatment in three months vs. in two days, respectively) decreases the negative influence of stigma on willingness to seek treatment. We focused on a population for whom mental health treatment decisions are personally-relevant: individuals who had previously sought mental health treatment. Experiment 1 showed that the extent to which these individuals internalized (i.e., personally endorsed) stigma about mental illness predicted lower intentions to make an appointment with a mental health care provider for themselves (but not another person). Experiment 2 replicated this result using a different measure of psychological distance (temporal distance) and extended this finding to behavior (time spent reading mental health resources). Overall, this research demonstrated that internalized stigma disrupts mental health treatment-seeking intentions and behaviors when they are psychologically proximal, but not when they are distant. Potential applications of these results are discussed.     

The Psychological and Physical Health Effects of Stigma: The Role of Self‐threats

Being a member of a group that is stigmatized (i.e., low status, devalued, negatively stereotyped, and victimized by prejudice and discrimination) can affect health. In this paper, I consider threats to the social self as a mediator in the relationship between stigmatizing experiences and health. I discuss experiences associated with stigmatization that can pose a potential threat to the sense of self and how each of these aspects of stigma relates to health. Our current knowledge is heavily centered on how discrimination experiences relate to health. More research is needed on how other aspects of stigma affect health. In addition, research addressing coping strategies, and especially how they influence health behaviors, will be useful in gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms through which stigma affects health.