Stereotype content and social distancing from employees with mental illness: The moderating roles of gender and social dominance orientation

Abstract

Mental illness is increasingly prevalent among employees, but little is known about how these individuals are perceived at work. Using the stereotype content model as a framework, we investigated warmth and competence stereotypes associated with employees with anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. Employees with these disorders were perceived to be low in warmth and competence, and stereotypes about individuals with anxiety were relatively more positive than those with depression or bipolar. This study also proposed and tested the extent to which stereotypes predicted work‐related social distancing intentions. We found that two characteristics moderated this relationship: gender and social dominance orientation. We discuss practical and theoretical implications as they pertain to improving the experiences and well‐being of employees with mental illness.

Using the Semantic Differential Technique to Assess Stereotypes toward Individuals with Disabilities: The Relevance of Warmth and Competence

“…Thus, some disadvantaged groups, such as people with disabilities, are perceived as warm, but at the same time as incompetent (Carlsson & Björklund, 2010;Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick, 2008;Cuddy et al, 2009;Durante, Volpato, & Fiske, 2010;Fresson, Dardenne, Geurten, & Meulemans, 2017). In other words, nowadays, people with disabilities, with the exception, perhaps, of the most stigmatized groups such as those with mental illness (Araten-Bergman & Werner, 2017;Follmer & Jones, 2017;Jahoda & Markova 2004;Oexle, Müller, et al, 2017;, are generally accepted and their fundamental rights recognized, at least in Western society. However, the achievement of full citizenship requires going beyond paternalistic stereotypes and subsequent emotions such as pity.…”

Do Stereotypes of Mental and Developmental Disorders Predict Bystander Intentions in Cyberbullying? An Application of the Stereotype Content Model

“…The SCM framework has been tested across various countries and contexts (see Fiske, 2018) including MDD (Fiske, 2012;Follmer & Jones, 2017;Sadler et al, 2012Sadler et al, , 2015.…”

“…Those individuals have been perceived as warm and incompetent (Sadler et al, 2015;Amazon Mechanical Turk [MTurk] sample, age: M = 35.62, SD = 13.93) or scoring in the middle of the warmth and competence dimensions (Sadler et al, 2012; MTurk sample, age: M = 35.86, SD = 12.8). Individuals with depression only have been described as cold and average in competence by a student sample (Fiske, 2012) and as cold and incompetent relating to employees (Follmer & Jones, 2017; MTurk sample of US employees). Additionally, for both, individuals with anxiety or depression, stereotypic perceptions of warmth (high) and competence (low) were associated with the behavioral responses of active facilitation or passive harm (i.e., helping or avoidance) and the emotional response of pity; however, the mediational pathways of these stereotype-behavior links via pity in line with the BIAS map have not been assessed (Sadler et al, 2015).…”

“…Additionally, for both, individuals with anxiety or depression, stereotypic perceptions of warmth (high) and competence (low) were associated with the behavioral responses of active facilitation or passive harm (i.e., helping or avoidance) and the emotional response of pity; however, the mediational pathways of these stereotype-behavior links via pity in line with the BIAS map have not been assessed (Sadler et al, 2015). The contrasting findings of the stereotypic perceptions (low warmth, low competence) for individuals with depression would, in line with the BIAS map, suggest that they may be associated with emotional responses of contempt and fear and behavioral responses of active or passive harm (i.e., attacking or avoidance); however, those responses have not been assessed (Follmer & Jones, 2017). People with schizophrenia or generic psychopathology have been described as low on both, competence and warmth, across studies (Fiske, 2012;Sadler et al, 2012Sadler et al, , 2015 and were shown to evoke both passive and active harm (i.e., ignoring or attacking) via the emotional responses of fear and contempt thereby confirming the predictions made by the BIAS map (Sadler et al, 2015).…”

Scale of Stereotypes about the Mentally Ill: Construction and Preliminary Psychometric Evidence

“…Thus, the author emphasized that the main challenge of the Reform lies not in changing the care model but in building a new social place for psychic suff ering. Laws have been changed, but society is still marked by old stereotypes about madness, which characterize it as something that must be confi ned and kept distant for the good of society (Angelini & Caccia-Bava, 2015;Follmer & Jones, 2017;Neves et al, 2012).…”