(Un)veiling distinct feelings: A typology of affective reactions while meeting people with facial disfigurement for the first time

Pauline Rasset (1) , Jessica Mange (1) , Benoît Montalan (2)

1 LPCN - Laboratoire de psychologie de Caen Normandie
2 CRFDP - Centre de recherches sur les fonctionnements et les dysfonctionnements psychologiques

This research aims to better understand the affective dimension in the public stigma of people with Facial Difference (FD) by identifying the perceivers’ various affective reactions to FD and by grouping them in a relevant typology. In a first qualitative step (N = 47), a vignette study based on a self-presentation paradigm was used to get participants to generate a comprehensive list of the affective states they may feel when they first meet people with FD. In a second quantitative step (N = 385), a questionnaire composed of the formerly generated affective states was proposed to other participants so as to statistically select the most relevant dimensions. A comprehensive list of 65 partially overlapping affective states - including 72 that have emerged in the first study and two others coming from previous research - were clustered in six factors via an exploratory factor analysis in the second study. The factors were named: “sympathy-related”, “anxiety- and embarrassment-related”, “surprise-related”, “hostility-related”, “neutrality-related”, and “disgust-related”. This six-factor structure was confirmed in a typology reduced to 18 affective states via a confirmatory factor analysis. This research offers a concise and complete panel of the ambivalent affective reactions to FD.

Mots clés: facial difference; affective states; self-presentation paradigm; social stigma

Domaines: Psychologie; Psychologie; Psychologie et comportements

Pauline Rasset, Jessica Mange, Benoît Montalan. (Un)veiling distinct feelings: A typology of affective reactions while meeting people with facial disfigurement for the first time. Stigma and Health, 2022, ⟨10.1037/sah0000364⟩. ⟨hal-03682783⟩