Three hundred and seventy-three college students compared “mentally retarded” and “normal” persons on eighteen diverse personality-trait characteristics. Three factors were found to underlie the students’ perceptions, with mentally retarded persons being perceived more favorably than normal persons on traits indicative of amiability, less favorably on traits reflective of cognitive | mental competencies, and differing on those traits suggestive of social / self control. None of the student variables (e.g., age, sex, level of exposure, characterizations of mentally retarded persons, etc.) were found to have a major impact on these perceptions. Various explanations for this apparent stability in people's perceptions of mentally retarded persons are outlined.
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