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The purpose of the current review was to form a comprehensive understanding of implicit bias regarding mental illness. An extensive search was conducted using reference lists and multiple academic databases. Nineteen articles were selected and analyzed in terms of participant characteristics, implicit measure designs, implicit-explicit attitude correlations, and potential moderators of implicit bias. Overall, participants showed implicit bias against people with mental illness. Correlations between participants' implicit and explicit responses were inconsistent. Further, interventions and personal contact did not prove to be significant moderators of participants' implicit bias. Implications and future directions for research in the area are discussed.
For rehabilitation professionals to be most effective in working with consumers who have mental illness, professionals must be aware of barriers that could prevent these consumers from achieving their goals. Stigma serves as one such barrier for the nearly 43.7 million people in the United States who have psychiatric diagnoses (Corrigan & Kosyluk, 2014; National Institute of Mental Health, 2012). Indeed, numerous researchers have noted an array of stigmatizing beliefs toward people with mental illness (Parcesepe & Cabassa, 2013). Three of the most common stereotypes have included beliefs that people with mental illness are dangerous (e.g., Corrigan et al" 2002), incompetent (e.g., Sadler, Meagor, & Kaye, 2012), and responsible for the onset and offset of their condition (e.g., Corrigan et al" 2002; Ebneter & Latner, 2013). Consequently, individuals who endorse these stereotypical beliefs may experience emotions such as fear, pity, and anger (Corrigan et al., 2002; Corrigan, Markowitz, Watson, Rowan, & Kubiak, 2003). These emotions, in turn, could lead to the avoidance, segregation, and coercive treatment of people with mental illness (Corrigan et al., 2002; Corrigan et al., 2003).
Although the research on bias toward people with mental illness has primarily focused on explicit, consciously reported negative attitudes and beliefs (e.g., Angermeyer & Dietrich, 2006), recent research has indicated that people also hold implicit, unconscious prejudices and stereotypes toward these individuals (e.g., Brener, Rose, von Hippel, & Wilson, 2013). Understanding the implicit form of bias is critical since in some contexts, implicit biases have greater impact on discrimination than explicit biases. Rehabilitation professionals would particularly benefit from an awareness of the common implicit biases against their consumers and how those biases may interfere with the...