Role of physical abnormalities in interpersonal perception and behavior.

The present study explores the impact of physical abnormalities on interpersonal relationships and investigates 1 technique available to the stigmatized to influence that impact. This technique is to indicate that the abnormality may be freely discussed or that it is a forbidden topic. The 60 male undergraduate 5s were introduced to an ostensibly naive student who was in reality a confederate and appeared either as an amputee in a wheelchair or as only slightly crippled. The shocks they were induced to administer the confederate were less painful when he was severely than when he was slightly crippled. It was concluded that all stigmata do not have the same interpersonal consequences and that the most marked effects occur for behaviors of which Ss have little awareness.