A prototype is an ongoing, cognitive representation of common attributes and distinct characteristics that define an object or person. This mixed-method study applies the robust concept of prototype to examine perceptions of disability groups. Core, secondary, and tertiary prototype characteristics are described for six disabilities: schizophrenia, mental retardation, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, spinal cord injury, visual impairment, and hearing impairment. Similarities and differences among disability group prototypes are identified. The potential relationship between prototypes, attitudes, and subsequent judgment biases is explored. Examining prototypes might be an effective method for indirectly measuring attitudes toward disability groups. Implications for rehabilitation counseling practice and education are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Antonak, R.F. (1994). Development and psychometric analysis of an indirect measure of attitudes toward persons with mental retardation using the error-choice method. Mental Retardation, 32, 347—355.
2.
Antonak, R.F., & Livneh, H. (1988). The measurement of attitudes toward people with disabilities: Methods, psychometrics, and scales. Springfield, IL: Thomas.
3.
Antonak, R.F., & Livneh, H. (1995a). Development, psychometric analysis, and validation of an error-choice test to measure attitudes toward persons with epilepsy. RehabilitationEducation, 40, 25—38.
4.
Antonak, R.F., & Livneh, H. (1995b). Direct and indirect methods to measure attitudes toward persons with disabilities, with an exegesis of the error-choice test method. RehabilitationEducation, 40, 3—24.
5.
Azjen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behaviors. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
6.
Cantor, N., & Mischel, W. (1979a). Prototypes in person perception. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 12, 3—52.
7.
Cantor, N., & Mischel, W. (1979b). Prototypicality and personality: Effects of free recall and personality impressions. Journal of Research in Personality, 13, 187—205.
8.
Chan, F., et al. (2002). Conjoint analysis in rehabilitation counseling research. RehabilitationEducation, 16, 179—195.
9.
Chubon, R. A. (Ed.). (1994). Attitudes toward disability: Myth or reality? In Social and psychological foundations of rehabilitation (pp. 104— 116). Springfield, IL: Thomas Books.
10.
Clarke, N.E., & Crewe, N.M. (2000). Stakeholder attitudes toward ADA Title I. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 43, 58—65.
11.
Dovidio, J.F., & Fazio, R.H. (1992). New technologies for the direct and indirect measurement of attitudes. In J. M. Tanur (Ed.), Questions about questions: Inquiries into the cognitive bases of surveys (pp. 204—237). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
12.
Fine, M., & Asch, A. (Eds.). (1988). Women with disabilities: Essays in psychology, culture, and politics. Philadelphia : Temple University.
13.
Gething, L. (1991). Interaction With disabled persons scale: Manual and kit. Sydney, Australia: University of Sydney.
14.
Goddard, L., & Jordan, L. (1998). Changing attitudes about persons with disabilities: Effects of a simulation. Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 30, 307—313.
Gottlieb, J., Cohen, L., & Goldstein, L. (1974). Social contact and personal adjustment as variables relating to EMR children. Training School Bulletin, 71, 9—16.
17.
Gouvier, W.D., Steiner, D.D., Jackson, W.T., Schlater, D., & Rain, J.S. (1991). Employment discrimination against handicapped job candidates: An analog study of the effects of neurological causation, visibility of handicap, and public contact. Rehabilitation Psychology, 36, 121—129.
18.
Grand, S.A., Bernier, J.E., & Strohmer, D.C. (1982). Attitudes toward disabled persons as a function of social context and specific disability. Rehabilitation Psychology, 27, 165—174.
19.
Greenwald, A.G., McGhee, D.E., & Schwartz, J.L.K. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The Implicit Association Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1464—1480.
20.
Hammond, K.R. (1948). Measuring attitudes by error-choice: An indirect method. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 43, 38—48.
21.
Hernandez, B., Keys, C., & Balcazar, F. (2000). Employer attitudes toward workers with disabilities and their ADA employment rights: A literature review. Journal of Rehabilitation, 66(4), 4—15.
22.
Hunt, B., & Hunt, C.S. (2000). Attitudes toward people with disabilities: A comparison of undergraduate rehabilitation and business majors. Rehabilitation Education, 14, 269—283.
23.
Jerome, L., Gordon, M., & Hustler, P. (1994). A comparison of American and Canadian teachers' knowledge and attitudes towards attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) . Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 39, 563—566.
24.
Johnson, L.J., & LaMontagne, M.J. (1993). Using content analysis to examine the verbal or written communication of stakeholders within early intervention. Journal of Early Intervention, 17, 73—79.
25.
Judd, C.M., Ryan, C.S., & Park, B. (1991). Accuracy in the variability of in-group and out-group variability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 61, 366—379.
26.
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1982). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases . In D. Kahneman, P. Slovic, & A. Tversky (Eds.), Judgement under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases (pp. 3—20). New York: Cambridge University Press.
27.
Kaye, H.S. (1998). Is the status of people with disabilities improving?Disability Statistics Abstracts, 21, 1—4.
28.
Kiger, G. (1997). The structure of attitudes toward persons who are deaf: Emotions, values, and stereotypes. Journal of Psychology , 131, 554—560.
29.
Linkowski, D.C. (1971). A scale to measure acceptance of disability. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 14, 236—244.
30.
Livneh, H. (1991). On the origins of negative attitudes toward people with disabilities. In R. P. Marinelli & A.E. Dell Orto (Eds.), The psychological and social impact of disability (3rd ed., pp. 181—196). New York: Springer .
31.
Livneh, H., & Antonak, R. (1994a). Indirect methods of attitude measurement: Reply to Linkowski and Yuker. RehabilitationEducation, 8, 144—148.
32.
Livneh, H., & Antonak, R. (1994b). Indirect methods to measure attitudes toward persons with disabilities. RehabilitationEducation, 8, 103—137.
33.
Loo, R. (2000). Attitudes of management undergraduates toward persons with disabilities: A need for change. Rehabilitation Psychology, 46, 288—295.
34.
Makas, E., Finnerty-Fried, P., Sigafoos, A., & Reiss, D. (1988). The Issues in Disability Scale: A new cognitive and affective measure of attitudes toward people with physical disabilities . Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 19, 21—29.
35.
Meyer, L., Gouvier, W.D., Duke, M., & Advokat, C. (2001). Influence of social context on reported attitudes of nondisabled students toward students with disabilities. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 45, 50—52.
36.
Millington, M.J., Strohmer, D.C., Reid, C.A., & Spengler, P.M. (1996). A preliminary investigation of the role of differential complexity and response style in measuring attitudes toward people with disabilities. Rehabilitation Psychology , 41, 243—254.
37.
Onuoha, A.R. (1992). The ability to fake on the Attitude Toward Disabled Persons Scale-A as a screening instrument for admission into a physical therapy program. Physiotherapy Canada, 44(2), 34—36.
38.
Oskamp, S. (1991). Attitudes and opinions (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
39.
Penny, N.H., Kasar, J., & Sinay, T. (2000). Student attitudes toward persons with mental illness: The influence of course work and level I fieldwork. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 55, 217—220.
40.
Rosch, E., & Mervis, C.B. (1975). Family resemblances: Studies in the internal structure of categories. Cognitive Psychology, 7, 573—605.
41.
Rosch, E., Mervis, C.B., Gray, W.D., Johnson, D.M., & Boyes-Braem, P. (1976). Basic objects in natural categories. Cognitive Psychology, 8, 382—439.
42.
Roush, S.E., & Klockars, A.J. (1988). Construct validation of two scales measuring attitudes toward persons with disabilities. Journal of Rehabilitation, 54(3), 25—30.
43.
Rudman, L.A., Greenwald, A.G., Mellott, D.S., & Schwartz, J.K.L. (1999). Measuring the automatic components of prejudice: Flexibility and generality of the Implicit Association Test. Social Cognition, 17, 437—465.
44.
Sheers, N.J. (1992). A review of randomized response techniques. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 25, 27—41.
45.
Siller, J. (1970). Generality of attitudes toward the physically disabled. Proceedings of the 78th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, 5, 697—698.
46.
Strohmer, D.C.Grand,S.A., & Purcell, M.J. (1984). Attitudes toward persons with a disability: An examination of demographic factors, social context, and specific disability . Rehabilitation Psychology, 29, 131—145.
47.
Thomas, A. (2001). The multidimensional character of biased perceptions of individuals with disabilities. Journal of Rehabilitation , 67(2), 3—9.
48.
Thornburgh, D. (1990). The Americans With Disabilities Act: What it means to all Americans. Labor Law Journal, 41, 803—807.
49.
Timms, M., McHugh, S., O'Carroll, A., & James, T. (1997). Assessing impact of disability awareness training using the Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons scale (ATDP — Form O). International Journal of Rehabilitation Research, 20, 319—323.
50.
Wang, M., Thomas, K.R., Chan, F., & Cheing, G. (2003). A conjoint analysis of factors influencing American and Taiwanese college students' preferences for people with disabilities. Rehabilitation Psychology, 48, 195—201.
51.
Warner, S.L. (1965). Randomized response: A survey technique for eliminating evasive answer bias. Journal of the American Statistical Association,60, 63—69.
52.
White, M.J., & Olson, R.S. (1998). Attitudes toward people with disabilities: A comparison of rehabilitation nurses, occupational therapists, and physical therapists. RehabilitationNursing, 23(3), 126—130.
53.
Wright, B.A. (1960). Physical disability: A psychological approach . New York: Harper & Row.
54.
Wright, B.A. (1988). Attitudes and the fundamental negative bias: Conditions and corrections. In H. E. Yuker (Ed.), Attitudes toward persons with disabilities. New York: Springer.
55.
Yuker, H.E. (1986). The Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons scale: Susceptibility to faking. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 29, 200—204.
56.
Yuker, H. E. (Ed.). (1988). Attitudes toward persons with disabilities. New York: Springer.
57.
Yuker, H.E. (1994). How useful are indirect measures of attitudes toward persons with disabilities? Comments on Livneh and Antonak. RehabilitationEducation, 8, 138—140.
58.
Yuker, H.E., Block, J.R., & Campbell, W.J. (1960). A scale to measure attitudes toward disabled persons. Albertson, NY: Human Resources Center.
59.
Yuker, H.E., Block, J.R., & Younng, J.H. (1966). The measurement of attitudes toward disabled persons . Albertson, NY: Human Resources Center.
