Revisiting the mine/thine problem: a sensitizing exercise for clinic, classroom, and attributional research.
OBJECTIVE
Two studies revisit a sensitivity exercise designed to heighten awareness of the social psychology of disability. The "mine/thine problem" (Wright, 1975) is an imagination exercise where one's own (self-defined) disability is paired with a different disability. Participants imagine whether they would prefer to retain their disability or to exchange it for the other.


METHODS
Study 1 (N = 52) was a conceptual replication, while Study 2 (N = 50) paired participants' own disabilities with one independently rated as more or less severe. Study 2 participants also completed the Scale of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (SADP; Antonak & Livneh, 1988) 3 times: 1 week before participation, immediately after, and 2 weeks later.


RESULTS
Replicating Wright (1975), participants retained their own disabilities (78% in Study 1, 90% in Study 2); varying the paired disabilities' severity had no effect on preference in Study 2, where, compared with pretest scores, participants expressed more favorable attitudes on the 2 posttest assessments of the SADP.


CONCLUSIONS
The exercise sensitizes participants to insider (people with disabilities) and outsider (nondisabled) perspectives, leading to more favorable attitudes toward disability. Rehabilitation psychologists will benefit by revisiting and using this perspective-broadening exercise in clinic, classroom, and research settings.
Department of Psychology, Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA 18018-6650, USA. dunn@moravian.edu
Dana S
DS
Dunn
David J
DJ
Fisher
Brittany M
BM
Beard
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001290:Attitude; D002755:Choice Behavior; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving; D011593:Psychology, Social; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012681:Sensitivity Training Groups; D012803:Sick Role; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult