Attributional analysis of reactions to stigmas : pre-registered replication and extension of Weiner, Perry, and Magnusson (1988)

Abstract

Weiner et al. (1988) found that compared to physically based stigmas, mental-behavioral stigmas were perceived as more onset controllable, less stable (irreversible) and were therefore associated with less pity and liking, more anger, and less willingness to help. We conducted a pre-registered replication and extension of Experiment 2 by Weiner et al. (1988) with an American online Amazon Mechanical Turk sample (N = 804). Our replication found support for the original findings on the associations between stigma origin (i.e., mentalbehavioral or physically based), perceived stability, perceived onset controllability, emotional reactions (i.e., sympathy, liking, and anger), and willingness to help (all η2p s≥ .35, all fs ≥ 0.74). We also found support that higher perceived controllability leads to increased ratings on perceived responsibility, blame, and anger, and decreasing liking, sympathy, and tendencies to provide donations and assistance for stigmatized individuals (all η2p s ≥ .03, all fs ≥ 0.16). Extending the replication, we tested the model with four new stigmas prevalent in the last decade and reassessed the original’s categorizations of stigmas sources. Participants’ categorizations of stigmas by source mostly matched with the original’s. We found support for the relationship between stigma source and the attribution-affect-help judgment model.