A Social-Psychological Analysis of HIV-Related Stigma A Two-Factor Theory

• Published in: The American behavioral scientist (Beverly Hills) Vol. 42; no. 7; pp. 1193 - 1211
• Main Authors: PRYOR, JOHN B., REEDER, GLENN D., LANDAU, STEVEN
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 01.04.1999
• Subjects: AIDS; Attitudes; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Patients; Public health; Relationship; Social psychology; Stereotypes; Stigmatization; U.S.A; USA
• ISSN: 0002-7642; 1552-3381
• DOI: 10.1177/0002764299042007010

Despite the best efforts of public health agencies, HIV/AIDS continues to carry a significant stigma in the general population. Research indicates that people's negative reactions to persons with AIDS (PWAs) are due to their relatively automatic reactions to a disease that has become associated with death, promiscuity, drugs, and homosexuality. There is also evidence that more controlled or effortful information processing influences how people respond to PWAs. A model of HIV-related stigma is developed that assumes psychological reactions to stigmatized persons are governed by a primarily associative and a rule-based system, and that there is a temporal pattern such that initial reactions are governed by the associative system whereas subsequent reactions are governed by the rule-based system. Because associations to PWAs often are negative, relatively automatic reactions tend to be negative; however, if perceivers have enough time, motivation, and cognitive resources, they may adjust their initial reactions in a more positive direction. This theoretical model has general implications for understanding how any perceived stigma influences social cognition processes.