Implicit measures of the stereotype content associated with disability

Abstract

The present research aimed to show that the mixed stereotype content of persons with disability observed at an explicit level does not manifest itself using implicit measures. Two experimental studies were conducted to analyse the stereotype content of persons with a disability at the implicit level. The procedure used in this study was the concept priming paradigm. Furthermore, Study 2 also included an explicit measure. Results show important discrepancies between implicit and explicit measures. At an explicit level, previous work supporting the mixed stereotype content of persons with disability was replicated: participants judged these persons as warmer but less competent than persons without a disability. At an implicit level, a quite different pattern of results emerged: persons with a disability were associated not only with less competence than persons without disability, but also with less warmth. These findings suggest that the mixed pattern between warmth and competence generally observed at an explicit level may be based on societal pressures against prejudice and discrimination.

Implicit stereotyping against people with disability

“…Second, the same pattern of results appeared following the disability prime, confirming H1a and H3a: positive warmth items were recognized (Study 1) and evaluated (Study 2) slower than negative ones. These results are largely supportive of previous results suggesting negative evaluations toward persons with disability at an implicit level (Chen et al, 2011;Dionne et al, 2013;EneaDrapeau et al, 2012;Kurita & Kusumi, 2009;Peris et al, 2008;Rohmer & Louvet, 2012). They also corroborate the idea that positive warmth ratings generally observed on an explicit level (Fiske et al, 2002;Rohmer & Louvet, 2011) could stem from pressures towards nondiscrimination leading individuals to compensate negative evaluations on competence by positive evaluations on warmth (Cambon et al, 2014).…”

The Association of Group‐Based Discrimination with Health and Well‐Being: A Comparison of Ableism with Other “Isms”

“…Disabled people have been associated with low competence and high warmth, a combination that elicits pity and sympathy emotions, and thus paternalistic prejudice (Cuddy et al., ; Fiske et al., , ). At an implicit level, however, disabled people are associated with both low competence and low warmth (Rohmer & Louvet, )—the least positive of the four quadrants that result from crossing low/high warmth with low/high competence. This profile is associated with dehumanization (Harris & Fiske, ) and is often only attributed to marginalized groups such as drug addicts and homeless people .…”

The perception of the poor: Capturing stereotype content with different measures

“…The method appears to have been rather successful, but does not guarantee that social desirability concerns are handled. Therefore, implicit measures of warmth and competence have been developed (Carlsson & Björklund, 2010;Ebert, Steffens, & Kroth, 2014;Rohmer & Louvet, 2012) and found to be useful complements for analyzing and validating stereotypes. In the current study, both explicit and implicit measures will be used, to triangulate the measurement of the stereotype content and thereby increase the validity of our results.…”