answer questions

Notes

Classism: refers to negative stereotypes, prejudice, and discriminatory behavior toward poor people or people who are perceived to be poor. ⁃ Institutional classism ⁃ Interpersonal classism Family status In the U.S Divided by status, expectations, location and power ⁃ Working class ⁃ Middle class ⁃ Wealthy Social class membership ⁃ Reliably predicts the degree to which one can obtain and benefit from society

resources ⁃ Correlated with a wide array of life experiences ⁃ Mediates and influences what a person is likely to learn, believe, anticipate and

seek after Unequal access to resources ⁃ 40% of black children and more than 33% of nation children living in poverty

(Fletcher, 2011) ⁃ National poverty rate: 16% (2021 census) ⁃ 60 million+households living just above the poverty line.

Coping with prejudice: Stigma management

⁃ Stigma management: individual strategies for coping with social stigma ⁃ Strategies for: ⁃ Gaining social acceptance ⁃ Protecting psychological well-being

Strategies for gaining social Acceptance ⁃ Withdrawal: avoiding people who treat you stereotypically ⁃ Increase one’s acceptance and social opportunity ⁃ By associating with similarly stigmatized individuals ⁃ Social and political activism ⁃ Disadvantages: ⁃ Physically and socially isolating

Strategies for gaining social acceptance ⁃ Passing: methods and strategies for concealing one’s stigmatizing attribute or

condition from others ⁃ Advantages: ⁃ Acceptance, known as normal, full range social opportunities ⁃ Disadvantages: ⁃ Takes a lot of energy ⁃ Sense of disloyalty or divided loyalties

⁃ Capitalizing on stigma ⁃ Self-promotion: demonstrating to other people that you, as a stigmatized person,

are multidimensional and competent in several domains ⁃ Advantages: ⁃ Proactively changes one’s virtual identity. ⁃ Allows others to see one’s positive strengths and attributes ⁃ Compensation: stigmatized people deliberately presenting to others behavior that

contradicts the assumptions held about their abilities or character ⁃ Reshapes virtual identity, reduces…

Strategies for protecting psychological well-being ⁃ Attributing negative outcomes to prejudice ⁃ Stigmatized individuals chronically experience negative events and receive

negative feedback from others ⁃ If due to prejudice—— protects self-esteem and self concept ⁃ Most effective when prejudice is very clear ⁃ Negative implications ⁃ Overuse may dismiss constructive criticism ⁃ May be seen as defensive and paranoid ⁃ Seen as complanainers ⁃ Devaluing negative outcome dimensions ⁃ “When you receive criticism in an area that is not important to you, it doesn’t hurt

as much” ⁃ Stigmatized people experience more criticism and negative experiences than

nonstigmatized people ⁃ Less likely to be able to change the outcome than non stigmatized people ⁃ Disadvantages: ⁃ Simplifies one’s self concept, leaving stigmatizing person fewer and more

vulnerable dimensions or abilities on which to base self esteem ⁃ Closes off potential avenues… ⁃ Making in-group ⁃ Making chronic comparisons with non stigmatized people have negative

implications for the self-esteem of stigmatized individuals Topics covered ⁃ The consequences of stigma for social interactions ⁃ The consequences of stigma for pshycological well being ⁃ The consequences of stigma for physical well-being ⁃ Strategies for coping with others prejudice

Social consequences of stigma ⁃ Stigmatized groups evoke negative emotions from others ⁃ stigmatized groups face rejection and avoidance from others ⁃ Non-stigmatized people are more uncomfortable than stigmatized people when

interacting. ⁃ Minority group members have adapted more to interracial interactions as a result

of encountering them more frequently

⁃ Stigma heightens both anxiety and stereotyping

Social consequences of stigma ⁃ Major social consequences of stigma: ⁃ Stigmatizing marks and conditions cause anxiety in others such that interactions

with stigmatized people tend to be avoided or curtailed ⁃ People carefully monitor their behavior toward stigmatized persons

⁃ Stigma consciousness: the awareness that one is singled out by others based on an attribute that is negatively stereotyped.

⁃ Avoid tasks that heighten stigma ⁃ React defensively toward people who they believe hold prejudices against them ⁃ Outcome depends on how stigmatized people cope

Psychological consequences of stigma ⁃ Self-concept: ⁃ Summary of one’s self-knowledge and consists of traits, roles, and abilities. ⁃ Stigma could be reduced in two ways: ⁃ The virtual identity could be brought in line with the actual self-views of those who

are stigmatized ⁃ Requires massive attitude-change for general public ⁃ Align one’s actual identity with ones virtual identity

Psychological Consequences of Stigma ⁃ Master status attribute: stigmatizing characteristics that all of a persons other

abilities and qualities become subordinate to and colored by ⁃ Self fulfilling prophecy ⁃ Internalization ⁃ Self esteem ⁃ Our feelings of personal value, worthiness, competence ⁃ Associated with many mental health outcomes ⁃ Repeated interactions with others will cause stigmatized people to become aware

of and internalize other’s negative appraisals of them ⁃ Denied opportunities to demonstrate personal competence ⁃ If a stigmatized person cannot use a defensive strategy in the face of

discrimination, then self-esteem can suffer

Psychological distress ⁃ Discrimination can lead to depression and anxiety ⁃ Schmidt et al (2014) ⁃ Discrimination predicted increases in psychological distress more than decreases

in self esteem ⁃ Experiences depend on how visible or controlled the devalued characteristic is ⁃ Children were more likely to have compromised psychological well-being than

adults The stigma of Mental illness

⁃ Alienated and seen as “others” ⁃ Perceived as dangerous ⁃ Seen as irresponsible or unable to make their own decisions ⁃ Less likely to be hired ⁃ Less likely to get safe housing ⁃ More likely to be criminalized than offered health care services ⁃ Afraid of rejection to the point that they don’t always pursue opportunities. More harmful effects of stigma ⁃ Reluctance to seek help or treatment ⁃ Lack of understanding by family, friends, co-workers or others ⁃ Bullying, physical violence or harassment ⁃ Health insurance that doesn’t adequately cover mental illness treatment ⁃ The belief that one will never succeed at certain challenges or that one can’t

improve his/her situation

People with mental illness are discriminated for… ⁃ Their appearance ⁃ Poor social skills ⁃ Their diagnosis/label ⁃ When their mental illness is gender stereotyped-consistent ⁃ Males with substance abuse disorder related to alcohol ⁃ Females with depression ⁃ Rather than when their mental illness is gender stereotyped inconsistent ⁃ Illness taken more seriously and seen as less under the control of the person with

the illness ⁃ Female with substance abuse disorder related to alcohol

Treatment avoidance ⁃ About 58% of those who are seriously mentally ill receive treatment for their

illness ⁃ Treatment avoidance is greatest among young adults with mental illness, where

only 40% receive treatment ⁃ The large gap between those who need treatment and those who seek it has been

explained by the stigma associated with mental illness (corrigan, 2004)

Consequences of lack of treatment ⁃ Serious mental illness costs America $193.2 billion in lost earnings per year. ⁃ Mood disorders, including major depression, dysthymic disorder and bipolar

disorder, are the third most common cause of hospitalization in the US for both youth and adults aged 18-44.

⁃ Individuals living with serious mental illness face an increased risk of having chronic medical conditions. Adults in the US living with serous mental illness die on average 25 years earlier than others, largely due to treatable medical conditions.

⁃ Over one-third (37%) of students with a mental health condition age 14-21 and older who are served by special education drop out- the highest dropout rate of any disability group.

⁃ Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US, and the 2nd leading cause of death for people aged 10-34

⁃ More than 90% of people who die by suicide show symptoms of a mental health condition

Coping with stigma ⁃ Get treatment ⁃ Don’t let stigma create self doubt and shame ⁃ Don’t isolate ⁃ Don’t identify as your illness ⁃ Join a support group ⁃ Get help at school ⁃ Speak out against stigma