Mental illness stigma and prosocial behavior

Prosocial behavior towards individuals with stigmatized conditions was examined in relation to individual difference variables, specifically agreeableness and motivation to control prejudice. The sample consisted of 201 undergraduate students at Purdue University. The mean age was 19.36 years (SD = 1.45 years) and 52.4% of the sample consisted of male participants. This study was experimental in nature. Participants interacted with a confederate, who was believed to have either bipolar disorder or was blind. Social distance as well as willingness to help the individual with the stigmatized condition were measured. Participants were also primed either to help or not to help, to explore the hypothesis that reminders to help affected their behavior. Participants completed several questionnaires, including the Big Five Inventory and the Motivation to Control Prejudice scale. Hypotheses were not supported. There was, however, evidence of a main effect for stigma condition on social distance (B = −1.239, SE = .536, p = .022). There was evidence of a main effect for sex across stigma conditions on willingness to help (B = 1.435, SE = .669, Wald statistic = 4.601, p = .032). Individuals reported more social comfort towards persons with blindness than persons with bipolar disorder. Reminders to help are counterproductive for individuals with low internal motivation to control prejudice. Female participants were more willing to help an individual with bipolar disorder or blindness than male participants. Research on interventions designed to reduce stigma should (a) aim to decrease the social distance that individuals feel towards individuals with psychological disorders, to increase rates of helping behavior; (b) be tailored to an individual\u27s personality variables, specifically their degree of internal motivation to control prejudice; and (c) be made more salient for men, because men are not as likely as women to help individuals with stigmatized conditions