Social Identity and the Handicapping Functions of Stereotypes: Children's Understanding of Mental and Physical Handicap

Abstract

Data from a pilot study established that, in reference to people with mental handicap and physical disabilities, I1-year-old subjects tended only to use the terms "mentally handicapped," "physically handicapped," and the colloquial term "divvy." The main study asked children to rate a target child ascribed one of these labels (or the label "normal"), and to complete a measure of social distance from that target. In addition, subjects were divided into those with high or low prior contact with people with mental handicap. Subjects did not distinguish among the attributes of the different non-normal labels, but did differentiate between these and normal, indicating they generally simply employ a "normal/abnormal" categorization of others. In line with predictions derived from social identity theory, social stereotypes were unaffected by interpersonal contact. There was no effect of label on measures of anticipated interpersonal social distance. Implications for "mainstreaming" and ways of re-shaping stereotypes are discussed.

Children’s Beliefs about Learning and Physical Difficulties

“…Other studies have also shown that younger children lack knowledge about learning or physical difficulties (Lewis, 1993;Lewis & Lewis, 1987;Nabors & Keyes, 1995). Older children seem to be better informed (Magiati et al, 2002), although Abrams et al (1990) found that 10-year-old children grouped different disabilities into one general category. In the current study, themes associated with children's ideas about the causes of learning and physical difficulties were mutually exclusive, suggesting that younger and older children can distinguish between them.…”

“…Lewis suggested that young children may be influenced by their parents' lack of knowledge or negative stereotypes, and may be more aware of physical differences than intellectual differences. However, Abrams et al (1990) found that older children had difficulties distinguishing between different types of disabilities. They asked 10-year-old children to select correct definitions for the terms "mental handicap", "physical handicap", and "normal".…”

“…Faculty of Education, The University of Western Ontario, 1137 Western Road, London, Ontario N6G 1G7, Canada. Email: enowick2@uwo.ca adjective checklists (Gash & Coffey, 1995), or rating scales about behavioural intent (Roberts & Lindsell, 1997), social distance (Abrams, Jackson, & St. Claire, 1990), or perceived social competence (Smith & Williams, 2001). Such measures allow researchers to quantify attitudes towards persons with learning or physical difficulties as neutral, moderate, or intense in magnitude, and as positive or negative in direction.…”

A cross‐sectional multivariate analysis of children's attitudes towards disabilities

“…Children with intellectual disabilities are at risk for social isolation, neglect or rejection by their classmates (Nowicki 2003; Norwich & Kelly 2004; Ring & Travers 2005). Discrimination against individuals with intellectual disabilities is a consistent finding, which is not surprising given that attitudes are frequently negative (Abrams et al. 1990; Nabors & Keyes 1995; Cohen & Lopatto 1995; Harper 1997; Okagaki et al.…”

Self‐evaluation and social comparison amongst adolescents with learning difficulties

“…Cole, 1999;Loxley and Thomas, 1997;Knight, 1999) and research evaluating the effects of inclusion is limited (Tilstone and Rose, 2000;Tod, 1999). Nevertheless there is some evidence that people with learning dif®culties experience serious problems within the mainstream educational system and often end up as adults living`on the fringes of society' (Abrams et al, 1990;Szivos-Bach, 1993;Szivos and Grif®ths, 1990). This may result from that fact that interactions with peers without learning dif®culties are adversely affected by poor self-worth, resulting from adverse comparison with a non-stigmatized group (Szivos-Bach, 1993).…”