WHEN WE OBSERVE STIGMATIZED AND NORMAL INDIVIDUALS INTERACTING - STIGMA BY ASSOCIATION

The stigmatization process might differ as a function of whether ''mar ked'' individuals are viewed within a context of other marked individu als or in the context of positively viewed ''normals.'' Several altern ative impression outcomes seem plausible-the destigmation by associati on of marked individuals, the stigmatization by association of normal individuals, a contrast effect, or no influence of context. Two experi ments produced evidence only for stigma-by-association effects-heteros exual male targets were denigrated when viewed with homosexual friends . Moreover, this effect survived attempts both to make the heterosexua l target similar to the subjects and to present him as an individual o f high achieved status. More generally, these data highlight the risk of researching social cognitive phenomena within circumscribed social contexts: Crucial naturally occurring processes are too easily overloo ked.