Coping with stigma through psychological disengagement.

Publisher Summary This chapter highlights the significance of social stigma and the negative effects it has on individuals in any culture and society. A number of popular theories of self-esteem formulation, like the theory of reflected appraisals, self-fulfilling prophecy and efficacy-based self-esteem, have shown that stigmatized individuals generally have low self-esteem. Adoption of effective coping strategies is extremely important to stave off the ill-effects that social stigma might have on a person. The importance of continuous social feedback and self-evaluation is deliberated upon in the chapter. The concept of ”devaluing” with views and hypotheses of noted authors further helps in understanding self-esteem related to performance domains. The related idea of “disidentification” is closely examined. ”Discounting”, which helps individuals select only valid, reliable feedback is also seen as a second route to psychological disengagement. The strategy of coping with negative stereotypes is explained with the help of a case study on African–Americans. It has been noted that disengagement, either chronic or temporary, reduces a person's emotional reactivity to appraisal in that particular area but the entire process may be totally situational and adaptive.

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