Project Director
Shelton, Jill
Department Examiner
Wilhelm, Ricardo
Publisher
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Place of Publication
Chattanooga (Tenn.)
Abstract
The focus population of this study is those with cognitive disabilities, which limit in some way a person’s ability to complete mental tasks, such as communication, planning, or remembering. The primary purpose is to focus on the participants' sense of agency and perceived stigma. The Sense of Agency Scale (SoA) measures a participant’s consciously perceived control over their mind, body, and the immediate environment. The Perceived Disability Social Stigma Scale (PDSS) measures to what degree participants believe that people with disabilities are stigmatized in their respective communities. Confirmatory research into these two variables offers an interesting insight into how the degree of stigmatization a person feels may affect the degree to which they feel they are in charge of their own life. It was predicted that the degree of stigmatization that participants perceived would relate to their sense of agency. There was a moderate negative correlation between perceived stigma and positive sense of agency (r=-.26, p=.015, 95% CI [-.439, -.051], N=90). These findings suggest that in a population of people with cognitive disabilities, there is a correlation between positive agency and perceived stigma.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my thesis director, Jill Shelton, for her guidance in this process. I would also like to thank Ricardo Wilhelm for all his constructive commentary. Additionally, I am grateful to everyone in the CALM Lab for showing me the way. Finally, I would especially like to thank Luke Hicks. This could not have been done without him.
Degree
B. A.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
Date
5-2025
Subject
Cognition disorders--Psychological aspects; People with mental disabilities--Psychology; Self-perception; Stigma (Social psychology)
Discipline
Cognition and Perception
Document Type
Theses
Extent
26 unnumbered leaves
DCMI Type
Text
Language
English
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Date Available
5-3-2026
Recommended Citation
Pardue, Scarlet S., "The relationship between sense of agency and perceived stigma in those with cognitive disabilities" (2025). Honors Theses.
https://scholar.utc.edu/honors-theses/619
Department
Dept. of Psychology