Empathic Experience and Attitudes Toward Stigmatized Groups: Evidence for Attitude Generalization

Abstract

Two studies investigated the extent to which empathizing with a single member of a stigmatized group can yield positive attitudes toward other stigmatized groups. Participants read a scenario in which a member of a socially stigmatized group described the experiences of group membership. Participants then reported their attitudes toward the target group and a second group. Both studies revealed a generalization effect such that experiencing empathy for the target was associated with more positive attitudes, both toward the target group and the second group. Study 2 demonstrated that this generalization effect is confined to those groups located within the same superordinate category. Implications of these findings for attempts to structure people's orientation to stigmatized groups are discussed.