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Does imagery reduce stigma against depression? Testing the efficacy of imagined contact and perspective‐taking
Author(s) -
Na Jennifer Jiwon,
Chasteen Alison L.
Publication year - 2016
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/jasp.12360
Subject(s) - vignette , psychology , stigma (botany) , perspective (graphical) , prejudice (legal term) , social psychology , depression (economics) , clinical psychology , psychiatry , artificial intelligence , economics , computer science , macroeconomics
Abstract While the stigma surrounding mental illness has been well‐established, less is known about methods for reducing that bias. In both laboratory (Study 1) and community (Study 2) samples, we tested the efficacy of imagined contact and perspective‐taking for reducing stigma against depression. Participants first read a vignette about an individual with depression and then imagined either interacting with the individual (imagined contact), putting themselves in the individual's shoes (perspective‐taking) or a neutral scene (control). In both samples, imagined contact was more effective in reducing stigma against depression than perspective‐taking. The findings suggest that different prejudice reduction strategies should be used for different stigmatized groups.