Social Identity and the Handicapping Functions of Stereotypes: Children's Understanding of Mental and Physical Handicap

Abstract

Data from a pilot study established that, in reference to people with mental handicap and physical disabilities, I1-year-old subjects tended only to use the terms "mentally handicapped," "physically handicapped," and the colloquial term "divvy." The main study asked children to rate a target child ascribed one of these labels (or the label "normal"), and to complete a measure of social distance from that target. In addition, subjects were divided into those with high or low prior contact with people with mental handicap. Subjects did not distinguish among the attributes of the different non-normal labels, but did differentiate between these and normal, indicating they generally simply employ a "normal/abnormal" categorization of others. In line with predictions derived from social identity theory, social stereotypes were unaffected by interpersonal contact. There was no effect of label on measures of anticipated interpersonal social distance. Implications for "mainstreaming" and ways of re-shaping stereotypes are discussed.