Coping behavior and personal responsibility as factors in the perception of disabled persons by the nondisabled.

Two variables—Coping or Succumbing orientations toward one’s disability and being Responsible or Not Responsible for becoming physically disabled—were manipulated to determine their effects upon evaluation by the nondisabled of someone with a disability. Four experimental groups of 24 each, none of whom were disabled, were exposed to all combinations of the two independent variables. Subjects saw one of four videotaped interviews of a person in a wheel chair assuming one of the combined roles (e.g., Coping-Responsible). Dependent measures were a semantic differential, a rating scale of the person with a disability, and affect expressed in a written communication about the disabled person. Results of all measures using two-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were the same. Being portrayed as Coping and Not Responsible resulted in most favorable evaluations, with coping being more potent than responsibility. The order of favorability is Coping-Not Responsible, Coping-Responsible, Succumbing-Not Responsible, Succumbing-Responsible. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)