Disabled or Cyborg? How Bionics Affect Stereotypes Toward People With Physical Disabilities.

Bertolt Meyer,Frank Asbrock

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02251

Abstract

According to the Stereotype Content Model that construes attributions of warmth and competence as the core dimensions of stereotypes, people with physical disabilities are generally perceived as warm-but-incompetent, i.e., are faced with paternalistic stereotypes. We argue that the increasing proliferation of bionic technologies (e.g., bionic arm and leg prostheses, exo-skeletons, retina implants, etc.) has the potential to change stereotypes toward people with physical disabilities: The portrayal of people who use such devices in the media and popular culture is typically characterized by portraying them as competent - sometimes even more competent than able-bodied individuals. We thus propose that people with physical disabilities who use bionic prostheses are perceived as more competent than people with physical disabilities in general. We also propose that they can be seen as more competent than able-bodied individuals. We further propose that this increase in perceived competence may be associated with a decrease in warmth such that people who use bionic prostheses are perceived as less warm than people with physical disabilities in general and as able-bodied people. Based on labeling theory, we also propose that using the label “cyborg” for people who use bionic prostheses exacerbates these effects and that they are driven by the technicality of the bionic devices. The first of two online studies (n = 314) revealed mixed support for the hypotheses: People with physical disabilities who use bionic prostheses are seen as more competent than people with physical disabilities in general, but not as more competent than able-bodied individuals. They are perceived as even warmer than able-bodied individuals. On the contrary, cyborgs were perceived as competent-but cold, i.e., as threatening. With the second study (n = 87), we tested whether the perceived technicality of bionic technology drives some of the observed effects. Technicality only had marginal effects on competence perceptions and no effects on perceptions of warmth. We discuss potential implications and highlight that despite being somewhat mixed, these findings show that technology can affect stereotypes and interpersonal perceptions.

Highlights

Almost 16% of the global population have a disability (World Health Organization, 2011)
According to the Stereotype Content Model (SCM, e.g., Fiske et al, 2002), which we explain below in more detail, stereotypes about social groups convey information about the groups’ intentions and their ability to put their intentions into actions
We argue that the increasing proliferation of these bionic technologies has the potential to change stereotypes toward people with physical disabilities: The portrayal of people with disabilities who use such devices in the media and popular culture is typically not characterized by pity

Summary

Introduction

Almost 16% of the global population have a disability (World Health Organization, 2011). The desire to meet cultural standards for worth of people with physical disabilities is under constant threat (Silverman and Cohen, 2014). According to the Stereotype Content Model (SCM, e.g., Fiske et al, 2002), which we explain below in more detail, stereotypes about social groups convey information about the groups’ intentions (the warmth dimension ranging from cold [bad intentions] to warm [good intentions]) and their ability to put their intentions into actions (the competence dimension, ranging from incompetent to competent). Prior research (e.g., Cuddy et al, 2009; Asbrock, 2010) shows that people with physical disabilities are typically perceived as having good intentions but as lacking the abilities to put them into action (i.e., as warm-butincompetent). Perceiving people with physical disabilities in this way typically evokes feelings of sympathy and pity toward them

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