The Effects of Gender Neuroessentialism on Transprejudice: An Experimental Study

This experimental study examined the impacts of gender neuroessentialism on stereotyping and prejudice against transgender people. We randomly assigned 132 Chinese, mostly heterosexual college students to read one of three fictitious articles in which the first article explained sex differences in personality and social behavior by neurological factors (biological determinist), a second article questioned this deterministic claim (interactionist), and a third article was unrelated to gender (neutral baseline). The biological determinist condition aimed to foster essentialist beliefs by priming the deterministic ways that the brain relates to personality and behavior, whereas the interactionist condition highlighted the interactive roles of the brain and environments on people’s personality and behavior. We found that participants in the biological determinist condition showed more negative stereotypes and stronger prejudicial attitudes toward transgender people compared with participants in the interactionist condition and those in the control condition. There were no significant differences in transprejudice between the interactionist and control conditions. The present study represents one of the few studies that examined the connection between gender essentialism and transprejudice. The findings suggest that essentialist claims that ground the male/female binary in biology may lead to more transprejudice.     

College Students' Attitudes Toward Mental Illness: An Examination of the Stigma Process1

Undergraduate students (96 female, 72 male) read 3 scenarios depicting either male or female characters with symptoms of depression, alcohol abuse, and common stress. Participants then completed measures assessing their attitudes about the character in the scenarios, as well as their level of social dominance orientation, empathy, adherence to traditional gender roles, and familiarity with mental illness. As predicted, participants who labeled the target mentally ill were more likely to view the target as dangerous. This, in turn, led to an increased desire for social distance. In contrast, empathy, although associated with increased likelihood of labeling, was associated with decreased desire for social distance. Implications of the results for reducing the social stigma of mental illness are discussed.     

Catharsis, aggression, and persuasive influence: self-fulfilling or self-defeating prophecies?

Does media endorsement for catharsis produce a self-fulfilling or a self-defeating prophecy? In Study 1, participants who read a procatharsis message (claiming that aggressive action is a good way to relax and reduce anger) subsequently expressed a greater desire to hit a punching bag than did participants who read an anticatharsis message. In Study 2, participants read the same messages and then actually did hit a punching bag. This exercise was followed by an opportunity to engage in laboratory aggression. Contrary to the catharsis hypothesis and to the self-fulfilling prophecy prediction, people who read the procatharsis message and then hit the punching bag were subsequently more aggressive than were people who read the anticatharsis message.     

Stigma as framed on YouTube: Effects of personal experiences videos on students’ beliefs about medicalizing intersex

People with physical intersex characteristics can be subject to medical interventions that risk human rights to bodily integrity and self‐determination. Proponents and opponents of medicalization use personal narrative videos on YouTube to frame intersex as a stigma best understood through a medical or social identity frame. Ninety‐nine psychology students watched one of two YouTube videos with either a medical or social identity frame, or participated in a comparison group who watched no video. Participants extracted the videos’ medical or social identity framing in their own words. The social identity video increased participants’ sense that medicine was more harmful and less beneficial, and the medical video decreased participants’ sense that medicine was harmful. Although the videos aimed at bringing about social understanding of intersex people, neither video impacted stigmatizing beliefs about intersex people as a group. Rather, effects of the videos on beliefs about harms of medicalization were moderated by two stigma measures; social distance and gender binary beliefs. Medical intervention on intersex has been justified, in part, on grounds that stigma is inevitable. While intersex stigma has rarely been empirically examined, the present study shows that people with less propensity to stigmatize see less benefit from medicalizing intersex traits and are more open to learning few framings from personal experience videos.     

The Stigmatising Implications of Presenting Schizophrenia as a Genetic Disease

This study aimed to investigate the hypothesis that belief in a genetic aetiology of schizophrenia will increase the stigma associated with the disorder. Levels of five potentially stigmatising attitudes were compared in two groups of participants who had read a vignette describing an individual who has schizophrenia. In one group the disorder was explained as being caused by ‘genetic’ factors, and in the other by ‘environmental’ factors. This study found that three of the five potentially stigmatising attitudes measured were increased when participants read a vignette with a genetic causation rather than an environmental causation. Firstly, genetic attributions increased levels of associative stigma towards close relatives (p < 0.001). Secondly, participants viewed recovery as less likely when genetic factors were implicated as causative (p < 0.001). Finally, there was also an increased perception of the character’s “dangerousness” when the condition was explained by genetic factors (p < 0.05). Contrary to previous research was the finding that perceived aetiology had no effect on participant’s desire for social distance from an affected individual. Neither did perceived aetiology influence beliefs about moral accountability. The implications of these findings suggest that genetic counsellors and other health professionals, who are providing genetic information to those affected by schizophrenia should be aware of the possibility that a genetic explanation of schizophrenia could increase potentially stigmatising attitudes towards their clients and their clients’ families. It is also possible that individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia may themselves form deterministic interpretations of the genetic information they receive and subsequently be less likely to adopt behavioural advice or adhere to treatment. Counsellors and health professionals should strive to present information in a balanced manner, ensuring recipients understand the multi-factorial causes of the disease.     

Weight beliefs and messages: Mindsets predict body‐shame and anti‐fat attitudes via attributions

In two samples (N = 247, N = 291), we examined the link between beliefs and messages about the changeable (incremental theory) vs. fixed (entity theory) nature of weight, attributions for weight, and body shame. We recruited participants using online sampling, employing a correlational design in Study 1 and an experimental design in Study 2. Across both studies, we found evidence for the stigma‐asymmetry effect—incremental, relative to entity beliefs/messages of weight predicted both (a) stronger onset responsibility attributions, indirectly increasing body shame and (b) stronger offset efficacy attributions, indirectly decreasing body shame. Study 2 replicated the stigma‐asymmetry effect with anti‐fat attitudes. We discuss implications for public health obesity messages with the goal of reducing stigma.     

Religion and Medicalization: The Case of ADHD

As a medicalized condition, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) sparks considerable public controversy. Previous research has highlighted the importance of examining the factors that influence attitudes toward ADHD. This article examines an understudied factor, religion, and its relationship with ADHD attitudes. Using data from the 2002 General Social Survey National Stigma Study‐Children, this research finds that compared to the rest of the population, evangelical Christians are less likely to view ADHD as a real disease and to believe children with ADHD should be treated with medication. Results also demonstrate that evangelicals are more likely to think doctors are overmedicating children with common behavior problems and to think medication prevents families from working out problems themselves. On the other hand, church attendance is unrelated to beliefs about ADHD treatment but is positively associated with thinking ADHD is a real disease. These findings add new insights to the existing literature on religion and medicalization.     

A test of the effectiveness of a list of suicide warning signs for the public

In this study we examined the effect that reading a list of warning signs for suicide has on beliefs about suicide, including the belief that one can recognize a suicidal crisis. All participants read two sets of warning signs (with only the experimental group reading the suicide warning signs) and then answered questions concerning beliefs related to three health problems. Results indicate that participants who read the suicide warning signs reported greater abilities to recognize if someone is suicidal but did not report stronger beliefs that suicidal individuals are partly to blame, nor did they report lower likelihoods of befriending suicidal individuals. Results suggest that reading the list of warning signs may be effective in increasing the public's ability to recognize suicidal crises without creating or magnifying stigmatizing beliefs about suicidal individuals.     

Belief in a just world and social perception: evidence for automatic activation

The authors tested the hypothesis that beliefs in a just world are automatically activated and used in social perception. Under the guise of a perceptual vigilance task, the authors exposed 34 undergraduate women preconsciously to words that were either rape-related or neutral. Immediately after the exposure, participants read a date scenario that was ambiguous with respect to the man's aggressiveness and the extent to which the woman was responsible for the man's behavior. Afterwards, all participants evaluated the target man and woman on an impression task. The primary finding was that participants holding stronger beliefs in a just world perceived the target woman more negatively after experiencing the rape-related prime words than after experiencing the neutral words. This pattern is consistent with a research literature that shows that believers in a just world will often "blame the victim" in cases of rape. The present findings are important because they provide evidence that general, orienting beliefs are automatically activated in a manner similar to that shown by stereotype beliefs. The authors discussed implications for social perception.     

Socioeconomic Status and Belief in a Just World: Sentencing of Criminal Defendants1

The present study investigated whether defendants' socioeconomic status (SES) and jurors' beliefs in a just world affected punishment and blame decisions. The study's 273 participants completed the Just World Scale ( Rubin & Peplau, 1975 ) and read a case scenario describing an aggravated murder. Participants rendered a verdict and answered questions concerning confidence, responsibility, and degree of guilt. Analyses partially supported the hypothesis. High believers in a just world were more likely to assign higher degrees of guilt and to sentence low SES defendants more severely than high SES or no SES information defendants.     

Derogating obese individuals: the role of blame,contempt, and disgust

Weight stigma is pervasive and has profound negative consequences for obese individuals. The attribution‐emotion approach of stigmatization holds that blame attributions relate to derogation stigmatized groups indirectly through anger and pity. Other research suggests that disgust is related to weight stigma. In the present studies, we investigate whether contempt is a reliable predictor of biases against obese individuals. Study 1 (N = 297) shows that contempt partially mediates the relation between blame and both prejudice and support for weight related discrimination policies. Studies 2 and 3 (total N = 406) added disgust and show that both contempt and disgust relate to social distance and prejudice. Contempt mediated the relation between blame and negative reactions toward obese individuals, even after controlling for other emotions, while disgust only mediated these relations in Study 2. Anger and pity did not show this mediating role, but pity was moderately associated with weight bias. Contempt is likely to play an important role in how people react to members of this stigmatized group.     

Screening for ADHD in an adult social phobia sample

Objective: Recent studies have suggested a link between a primary anxiety disorder and ADHD. Method: A total of 39 participants with a primary diagnosis of social phobia were compared with 178 patients with ADHD and 88 patients with other psychiatric disorders on measures for childhood and adult ADHD (the Wender Utah Rating Scale and the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale). Results: Childhood symptoms of ADHD were reported by 7.8% of the social phobia participants, and 5.1% scored within the range of adult ADHD. The social phobia group reported significantly fewer ADHD symptoms than both of the comparison groups, who frequently reported social anxiety. Conclusion: Participants with social phobia recruited from the general population are less likely to suffer from ADHD. In contrast, patients with ADHD and patients with other psychiatric disorders appear to be likely to suffer from social anxiety.     

Just world beliefs, causal beliefs, and acquaintance: Associations with stigma toward eating disorders and obesity

The current study investigated the relationship between just world beliefs and stigmatizing attitudes toward eating disorders and obesity. Further, the associations between stigma and causal beliefs, and between stigma and acquaintance with these conditions, were examined. Participants (n = 447) read four vignettes describing an individual with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, or obesity. After each vignette, participants completed questionnaires assessing stigmatizing attitudes, just world beliefs, causal beliefs, and acquaintance with the condition depicted in the vignette. Stronger just world beliefs were associated with greater stigma toward all three eating disorders, as well as obesity (rs ranging from −.11 to −.18). More stigmatizing attitudes were associated with greater attribution of individual responsibility for the development of the disorder. However, participants with personal experience or who knew someone with the depicted problem did not have lower stigma scores than those who did not. The current study suggests that justification ideologies such as just world beliefs and controllability beliefs may underlie the stigmatization of eating disorders and obesity. These findings provide support for stigma reduction efforts aimed at targeting justification ideologies and altering causal beliefs.     

The correlates and consequences of newspaper reports of research on sex differences

Correlates and consequences of newspaper accounts of research on sex differences were examined. In Study 1, articles from high-circulation newspapers were coded for the degree to which biological factors were used to explain sex differences. Results showed that political conservatism and traditional attitudes toward gender roles coded from other newspaper sections predicted greater use of biological explanations than did political liberalism and less traditional attitudes toward gender roles. In Studies 2 and 3, participants read a fictional newspaper article reporting research on a gender difference that cited either biological or sociocultural factors as explaining the difference. Results showed that exposure to biological explanations significantly increased participants' endorsement of gender stereotypes. Moreover, exposure to social explanations significantly increased participants' belief in the mutability of human behavior. Together, these studies show that political ideology influences how the popular press reports research findings and that such reporting in turn affects readers' beliefs and attitudes.     

Factors associated with mothers' obesity stigma and young children's weight stereotypes

Parents and children hold negative attitudes about obesity, but little is known about individual differences in obesity stigma. The current study examined authoritarian parenting style, beliefs about the controllability of weight and fear of fat in relation to mothers' dislike of overweight individuals. Factors related to children's weight stereotypes were also investigated. Forty-nine mothers and children (43% girls) participated. Mothers showed more dislike and blame toward adults who are overweight than children who are overweight; parents were most often blamed for children's weight status. Authoritarian parenting and beliefs about controllability were related to mothers' anti-fat attitudes, but fear of fat was not. However, mothers' fear of fat was the best predictor of children's negative stereotypes toward overweight peers. The current study provides some preliminary insight into the role of mothers in children's attitudes about weight. Examining individual difference factors is also useful in planning targeted interventions to lessen obesity stigma.     

Mothers of transgender youth experience stigma-by-association

The current research investigated whether mothers of transgender youth experience stigma-by-association. Mturk participants (N = 489) were randomly assigned to read a vignette about a family in which the social identity (transgender, gay/lesbian, cisgender/heterosexual control) and gender (girl, boy) of a child was manipulated, while all other information was held constant. Results revealed stigma targeting mothers as a function of children's social identity (but not gender), such that mothers of transgender girls and boys were viewed substantially more negatively than identical mothers of cisgender/heterosexual youth. Moreover, this stigma was particularly robust among politically conservative participants. In contrast, mothers of gay/lesbian youth did not encounter systematic stigma, though they were sometimes perceived more negatively than mothers of cisgender/heterosexual youth. Results provide novel experimental evidence of stigma-by-association targeting mothers of transgender youth and raise serious concerns about the treatment of parents who seek to affirm their transgender children.     

The Role of Maternal and Child ADHD Symptoms in Shaping Interpersonal Relationships

The current study investigated the influence of maternal ADHD symptoms on: (a) mothers’ own social functioning; (b) their child’s social functioning; and (c) parent–child interactions following a lab-based playgroup involving children and their peers. Participants were 103 biological mothers of children ages 6–10. Approximately half of the children had ADHD, and the remainder were comparison youth. After statistical control of children’s ADHD diagnostic status and mothers’ educational attainment, mothers’ own inattentive ADHD symptoms predicted poorer self-reported social skills. Children with ADHD were reported to have more social problems by parents and teachers, as well as received fewer positive sociometric nominations from playgroup peers relative to children without ADHD. After control of child ADHD status, higher maternal inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity each predicted children having more parent-reported social problems; maternal inattention predicted children receiving more negative sociometric nominations from playgroup peers. There were interactions between maternal ADHD symptoms and children’s ADHD diagnostic status in predicting some child behaviors and parent–child relationship measures. Specifically, maternal inattention was associated with decreased prosocial behavior for children without ADHD, but did not influence the prosocial behavior of children with ADHD. Maternal inattention was associated with mothers’ decreased corrective feedback and, at a trend level, decreased irritability toward their children with ADHD, but there was no relationship between maternal inattention and maternal behaviors for children without ADHD. A similar pattern was observed for maternal hyperactivity/impulsivity and mothers’ observed irritability towards their children. Treatment implications of findings are discussed.     

An experimental examination of alcohol consumption,alcohol expectancy,and self‐blame on willingness to report a hypothetical rape

This study experimentally examined the role of victim alcohol intoxication, and self‐blame in perceiving and reporting rape to the police using a hypothetical interactive rape scenario. Participants (N = 79) were randomly assigned to consume alcohol (mean BAC = 0.07%) or tonic water before they engaged in the scenario. Alcohol expectancy was manipulated, and participant beliefs about the beverage they thought they had consumed and their feelings of intoxication were measured. Alcohol consumption and expectancy did not affect the likelihood that the nonconsensual intercourse depicted in the scenario was perceived and would be reported as rape. Participants with higher levels of self‐blame were less likely to say they would report the hypothetical rape. Self‐blame levels were higher for participants who believed they had consumed alcohol, and were associated with increased feelings of intoxication. The implications are discussed.