Mental health stigma as social attribution: Implications for research methods and attitude change

The course and outcomes of mental illness are hampered by stigma and discri mination. Research on controllability attributions has mapped the relations hips between signaling events, mediating stigma, emotional reactions, and d iscriminating behavior. In this article, I describe how an attribution mode l advances research questions related to mental health stigma in three area s. (1) Stigma research needs to examine signaling events related to psychia tric stigma including the label of mental illness, behaviors associated wit h psychiatric symptoms, and physical appearance. (2) Research into mediatin g knowledge structures needs to bridge information about controllability at tributions with public attitudes about dangerousness and self-care. (3) Way s in which these knowledge structures lead to emotional reactions (pity, an ger, and fear) as well as behavioral responses (helping and punishing behav iors) need to be examined. The attribution model has significant implicatio ns for social change strategies that seek to decrease mental illness stigma and discrimination.