Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Personality Traits And Desire For Social Distance From Individuals With Mental Illnesses, Emily Lazar

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The current study sought to examine the relationship between personality traits and desire for social distance from an individual perceived as having a mental illness. Each participant received information about a confederate's (person pretending to be a participant) past mental illness diagnoses before interacting with them. This information was presented in the form of a demographic questionnaire completed by the confederate and, among other details, mentioned that the confederate had been previously diagnosed with schizophrenia. Participants' desire for social distance from the confederate was measured both by videotaped behavioral reactions and by attitudinal reactions reported on a social distance questionnaire …