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Emotional Reactions to People With AIDS
Author(s) -
Dijker Anton J.,
Kok Gerjo,
Koomen Willem
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1996.tb02741.x
Subject(s) - pity , psychology , attribution , irritation , perception , social psychology , feeling , emotional reaction , medicine , neuroscience , immunology
Using survey data of a Dutch national sample, the present paper examines how people's willingness to engage in personal contact with persons with AIDS (PWAs) is influenced by different emotional reactions to PWAs. Results indicate that each of the three measured emotional reactions to PWAs (fear, irritation, and pity) independently predicts subjects' readiness to have personal contact with PWAs. Disconfirming the often assumed relationship between “homophobia” and fear of PWAs, it was found that attitudes toward homosexuals are unrelated to fear of PWAs. Instead, these attitudes are associated with emotions of a more aggressive nature (irritation). Risk perception seems to be related to the emotions of fear and irritation, whereas responsibility attribution seems to be negatively associated with pity.