Using Visual Art to Reduce Public Stigmatization of People with Mental Disabilities

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Roger Bennett, Rohini Vijaygopal

Dr Roger Bennett is a professor of marketing at Kingston University Business School. His main research interests lie in the areas of nonprofit marketing and the marketing of arts and heritage organizations.
Dr Rohini Vijaygopal is a senior lecturer at the Open University UK where she undertakes research into the application of new technology to assist people with disabilities.

ABSTRACT
This study examined the effectiveness for reducing stigmatizing attitudes towards mental disability of presenting people who do not have a mental disability with paintings completed by individuals who do have a mental disability. Study participants were placed into one of four groups. Members of the first group were shown 12 paintings created by people with mental disabilities and then asked to complete a questionnaire exploring their attitudes regarding mental disability. Group 2 participants were shown the paintings, additionally spent one minute writing down their thoughts about what it must be like to have a mental disability, and completed the same questionnaire. People in group 3 also wrote down their thoughts about being mentally disabled and filled in the questionnaire, but without having seen the paintings. Group 4 was a control group comprising individuals who simply completed the questionnaire without either viewing the paintings or writing down their thoughts about mental disability.
KEYWORDS
Mental disability; visual artwork; stigmatization; empathy arousal; stereotypes