Evidence for blatant dehumanization of mental illness and its relation to stigma

ABSTRACT

People with mental illness face stigma, and due to their low social status, they may also face blatant dehumanization that denies their status as fully evolved human beings. In the current research, three studies documented the existence of blatant dehumanization of mental illness. Study 1 (N = 112) showed that participants rated people with mental illness in general as being significantly less human than other dehumanized social groups such as Mexican immigrants and Muslims. Study 2 (N = 158) showed that dehumanization occurs for specific mental disorders but that the level of dehumanization varies widely among disorders. Study 3 (N = 223) documented significant correlations between dehumanization of mental illness and standard measures of stigma such as fear, pity, and social distance. Overall, the results establish the relevance of blatant dehumanization to mental illness stigma and suggest new directions for understanding stigma.

KEYWORDS:

• Mental illness
• stigma
• dehumanization
• prejudice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/4u9kj/

Open Scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open science badges for Open Data and Open Materials through Open Practices Disclosure. The data and materials are openly accessible at https://osf.io/4u9kj/

Notes

1. All materials and data are available online (https://osf.io/4u9kj/).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Guy A. Boysen

Guy A. Boysen is a Professor of Psychology at McKednree University.

Raina A. Isaacs

Raina A. Isaacs is graduate student at Illinois State University.

Lori Tretter

Lori Tretter is a student at McKendree University.

Sydnie Markowski

Sydnie Markowski is a graduate student at Goldfarb School of Nursing.