University Presentation Showcase: Undergraduate Poster Gallery
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Creation Date
2024
Major
Psychology
Department
Psychology
Degree
Undergraduate
Mentor
Sara Incera
Mentor Department
Psychology
Abstract
Language is one of many mechanisms that reinforces social stigma. Prior research has found that the label used to describe a stigmatized population can have serious consequences for people’s perceptions of those populations. A person’s familiarity with stigmatized traits has also been shown to have a huge effect on their impressions of stigmatized populations. The goal of this study is to examine and compare the effects of noun labels (e.g., “addict”) versus postmodified noun labels (e.g., “person with addiction”) on the perceptions of people with mental illness, addiction, and incarceration history. We collected data from 168 participants in this study. We found that the use of noun labels did not elicit more stigmatized attitudes than the use of postmodified noun labels. We also found incarceration to be more stigmatized than addiction or mental illness regardless of label choice. Lastly, we found that familiarity did not modify the relationship between labels and stigmatized perceptions. The results of this experiment indicate that stigma may arise from broader sources, rather than choice of label or personal experience.
