Exploring stereotypes of athletes with a disability: A behaviours from intergroup affect and stereotypes (bias) map comparison

According to the Stereotype Content Model, individuals with a physical disability are often perceived as a social group with high warmth (e.g., friendliness) and low competence (e.g., intelligence), which subsequently tends to elicit negative feelings and behaviours. Associating this stigmatized group with physically active behaviours has proven to be a promising strategy towards modifying perceptions of warmth and competence. However, it remains unknown how associating sport with adults with a physical disability can predict this trend. Survey data from able-bodied participants (N=181) were used via cluster analyses to create a BIAS map, comparing the warmth and competence rankings of adults with a physical disability and able-bodied adults when depicted as an elite or recreational athlete (i.e., Paralympians, Olympians, recreational athletes with a physical disability, recreational able-bodied athletes) and non-athletes. All sport groups were clustered in higher competence BIAS map regions compared to non-athletes with a physical disability. Results also highlight that athletes with a physical disability are similarly clustered with their able-bodied counterparts. Moreover, an additive effect was observed regarding warmth and competence as the level of sport association became more elite. Paralympians and Olympians clustered in high warmth-high competence, while recreational able-bodied and athletes with a physical disability clustered in medium warmth-medium competence regions. These findings suggest that perceiving more active and elite sport statuses for individuals with a physical disability may mitigate the stereotypes commonly applied to this group. Future work will focus on how these modifications can influence subsequent feelings and behaviours towards adults with physical disabilities.