title: Does expressed acceptance reflect genuine attitudes? A bogus pipeline study of the effects of mortality salience on acceptance of a person with AIDS.
abstract: The present study examined whether expressed acceptance of a person with AIDS reflects genuine acceptance or a desire to appear to be accepting. Theory and research on the effects of mortality salience on acceptance of stigmatized people provided the framework for investigating this question. After writing about death or another aversive topic, participants indicated their acceptance of a target with AIDS while connected to physiological equipment that they believed could detect lies (bogus pipeline) or was simply measuring physiological responses to participation in the study. As predicted, participants in the mortality salience/bogus pipeline condition indicated significantly less acceptance of the target with AIDS than participants in the other three conditions, suggesting that acceptance of a person with AIDS is at least partially a result of wanting to appear to be accepting, without necessarily genuinely accepting someone with AIDS.
authors.affiliation: The University of Vermont, Department of Psychology, John Dewey Hall, 2 Colchester Ave., Burlington, VT 05405-0134, USA. kgrover@uvm.edu
authors.forename: Kristin W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Grover
authors.forename: Carol T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001519:Behavior; D001676:Biofeedback, Psychology; D003469:Culture; D019260:Expressed Emotion; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011287:Prejudice; D057545:Social Stigma; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D055815:Young Adult