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The Effects Of Injunctive And Descriptive Normative Influence On Stigmatizing Attitudes Toward Individuals With Mental Illness, Erin E. Lawson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

People often stigmatize individuals with mental illness (Corrigan, 2003; Weiss, 1994). The stigmatization of mental illness may be facilitated by socialization tools, such as the media, which send messages to the public that individuals with mental illness are fundamentally different and therefore should be excluded from the social majority (Klin & Lemish, 2008; Signorielli, 1989; Stout, Villegas, & Jennings, 2004). Understanding mental illness stigma as a social process may broaden theoretical understanding of how mental illness stigma develops and how it may be reduced. Theories regarding injunctive and descriptive norms may provide such insight. It is known that injunctive norms …