Mauro Bianchi [e-mail: maurobbianchi@icloud.com; ricevimento: venerdì 14h-15h, tramite appuntamento e-mail]

Diversità, Stigma e MinoranzeDipartimento di Scienze della Vita Università degli Studi di Trieste

STIGMA

MARCHIO

Stigma [from Ancient Greek στίγμα (stígma, “brand”, “mark”)]

…as an attribute that extensively discredits an individual, reducing him or her “from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one.” (Goffman; 1963, p. 3).

…occurs when a person possesses (or is believed to possess) “some attribute or characteristic that conveys a social identity that is devalued in a particular social context” (Crocker, Major, & Steele; 1998; p. 505).

Stigma [from Ancient Greek στίγμα (stígma, “brand”, “mark”)]

✓is relationship- and context-specific

✓it does not reside in the person but in a social context

✓becomes associated with discrediting dispositions (negative evaluations and stereotypes)

✓usually shared and well-known among members of a culture

Barreto, 2015

Goffmann, 1963

Stigma dimensions

✓Abominations of the body

✓Individual fault

✓Tribal, racial or religious stigmas

Jones et al. (1984)

Stigma dimensions

✓Concealability

✓Course of the mark

✓Disruptiveness

✓Aesthetics

✓Origin

✓Peril

Crocker et al. (1998)

Stigma dimensions

✓Visibility

✓Controllability

Barreto (2015)

Outcome of stigmatisation

✓Self-concept

➡ e.g., self-esteem and protective strategies (Crocker & Major, 1989):

Attribution to prejudice, in-group comparison, selective values to comparison dimension.

Barreto (2015)

Outcome of stigmatisation

✓Self-concept

✓Psychological well-being

✓Health and physical well-being

✓Effect on performance

Major & O’Brien (2005)

Mechanisms of stigmatisation

✓Negative Treatment and Discrimination

✓Expectancy Confirmation Processes

✓Automatic Stereotype Activation

✓Stereotype Threat / Identity Threat

Snyder et al. (1977)

Expectancy Confirmation Processes: Stereotypes as Self-fulfilling Prophecies

• 51 Male and 51 female participants talked on a phone conversation exercise (dyadic social interaction) • The male participants received biographical info and a photo of the female participants (attractive versus unattractive) - the female participants received nothing. • In a pre-evaluation of the female participants, male participants expected the attractive ones to be more sociable/friendly. • Women believed to be attractive were treated more warmly than women believed to be unattractive. These women also responded with more friendliness.

Stereotypes: Expectations Our own behaviours Another person’s behaviour

Steele & Aronson (1995)

Stereotype threat

The threat of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one’s group.

• Racial disparities in IQ test and academic achievement may be PARTLY explained by negative racial stereotypes

• After a lifetime of exposure to society's negative images of their ability, Black students are likely to internalise an "inferiority anxiety”

Threat to confirm the stereotype

Inefficiency of processing (e.g.,

anxiety)Performance

Situation where the stereotype is applicable

Steele & Aronson: Study 1(1995)

Stereotype threat

•White and Black students took a brief test based on Graduate Record Examination (Standardised test used in US to enter Graduate Programmes/Universities)

•3 conditions: Diagnostic condition (“The test is diagnostic of intellectual ability”); Non-diagnostic condition (The test is a tool for studying problem-solving or “The test is on problem solving”)

• Results: ✓ Diagnostic: Significant differences in score between Black and White participants✓ Both Non-diagnostics: Black and White participants scored comparably

Steele & Aronson: Study 3 (1995)

Stereotype threat

•White and Black students

• 2 conditions: Diagnostic condition versus Non-diagnostic condition

• Measures: Stereotype activation (_ _ CE / RACE; LA_ _ / LAZY) / Self-doubt activation (DU_ _ / DUMB; W_ _K / WEAK)

• Results: ✓Significant differences in both Stereotype activation and Self-doubt for Black students depending on condition (higher in Diagnostic versus Non-diagnostic)✓No differences for White students

Schmader et al. (2008)

Stereotype threat

Schmader et al.’s Integrated Process Model of Stereotype Threat Effects on Performance:

Stereotype threat a)heightens physiological stress

responsesb)influences monitoring processesc)influences suppression processes

➡depleting working memory efficiency➡self-regulation impaired

Inzlicht et al. (2006)

Stigma as Ego-Depletion

Stigma diminish people’s ability to control their behaviour

Threatening environment/

situation

Regulatory Pressure: Uncertainty

Worries about one’s own image

Mental load

Ego-depletion: Impaired self-control

Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Miller & Kaiser, 2001; Talfel & Turner, 1986

Coping with stigma

✓Approaches based on Social Identity Theory

✓Approached based on transactional models of stress

Talfel & Turner, 1986

Coping with stigma

✓Strategies based on Social Identity Theory:

• Individual mobility

• Social creativity

• Social competition

Lazarus & Folkman, 1984

Coping:

Efforts to regulate emotion, behaviour, physiology and the environment in response to event or circumstances appraised as stressful.

Miller & Kaiser, 2001

Disengagement Coping:

✓Avoiding or withdrawing from problematic situations✓Avoiding social comparison with the non-stigmatised✓Denial of prejudice/discrimination✓Disguising or concealing

Engagement Coping

➡Primary-control coping: ✓Compensation✓Collective action✓Emotional Regulation and expression

➡Secondary-control coping: ✓Distraction✓Attribution of Prejudice✓Disidentification✓Acceptance

Major & Townsend (2010)

Coping with stigma

✓Goal and motives

✓Identity centrality and Group identification

✓Stigma sensitivity

✓Individual’s beliefs on the nature and structure of intergroup relations

✓Situational factors

✓Dimensions of stigma

Mendoza-Denton et al. (2002); Pinel (1999, 2002); Shelton et al. (2005)

Prejudice expectations and individual differences

✓Stigma consciousness

✓Sensitivity rejection

✓Chronic expectations of stigmatisation