Self-protective attributions in stigmatized individuals

Author

Theodore Harding, Hamline University
Dorothee Dietrich, Hamline University

Periodical Title

Modern Psychological Studies

Volume

3

Number

2

Page Numbers

pages 36-43

Department

Dept. of Psychology

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Date

1995

Abstract

Research has shown that stigmatized subjects, defined as members of groups about which others hold negative attitudes, receiving negative feedback from a prejudiced evaluator attribute the nature of the feedback to the source rather than to their own performance. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether this self-protective mechanism also occurs in nonstigmatized individuals. Sixty-seven subjects, male and female undergraduate students enrolled at a small midwestern liberal arts college, participated in a 2 x 2 between-subjects factorial design in which the independent variable of evaluator prejudice or nonprejudice was crossed with stigmatized or nonstigmatized subject status. Results of an ANOVA measuring the difference between subjects' pre- and postmanipulation esteem scores showed a significant interaction between evaluator prejudice and subject status (p = .009). Nonstigmatized subjects' self-esteem was elevated by receiving feedback from a prejudiced evaluator and decreased by receiving feedback from a nonprejudiced evaluator. No esteem effects were found in the stigmatized subjects. The results showed that stigmatized subjects did not feel the need to protect their self-esteem by elevating their esteem score in the prejudiced evaluator condition because they were able to attribute the feedback to evaluator prejudice.

Subject

Psychology

Discipline

Psychology

Document Type

article

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

8 leaves

Language

English

Call Number

BF1 .M63 v. 3 no. 2 1995

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Recommended Citation

Harding, Theodore and Dietrich, Dorothee (1995) "Self-protective attributions in stigmatized individuals," Modern Psychological Studies: Vol. 3: No. 2, Article 6.
Available at: https://scholar.utc.edu/mps/vol3/iss2/6