Les travailleurs handicapés sont-ils perçus comme des travailleurs compétents ?

The relationship between social status and the components of agency

Building on the two fundamental dimensions of social judgment distinguishing communion from agency, the purpose of the present work was to show that the strength of the relationship between social status and agency depends on specific components at issue: assertiveness, competence, and effort. Four experimental studies were conducted using two complementary paradigms. In Studies 1 and 2, we manipulated social status, and participants had to rate the target on competence, assertiveness, and effort. In Studies 3 and 4, we reversed the design. Results consistently showed that social status was primarily related to assertiveness, somewhat related to competence, and only slightly related to effort. The present research provides a better understanding of how the dimensions of social judgment are used to explain differences in social status.

Implicit stereotyping against people with disability

Focusing on the two fundamental dimensions underlying stereotype content (warmth/competence), the major aim of the present research was to test implicit stereotyping toward persons with disability. We hypothesized that persons with disability are associated with less warmth than persons without disability and with less competence, especially when a competence-relevant context is activated (work context). Three experimental studies were conducted using two different priming paradigms: conceptual priming (Study 1) and evaluative priming (Studies 2 and 3). In Study 3, context (work vs. control) was introduced as an additional factor. Our results showed that persons with disability were systematically associated with less warmth than persons without disability, and with less competence when priming a work context. These results provide a more comprehensive understanding of discriminatory behaviors toward people with disability, despite legislation promoting equal rights.

[Psychological barriers to professional inclusion of people with mental disabilities]

Mental health in the workplace today are ubiquitous and cause significant dysfunction in organizations (turnover, absenteeism, presenteeism, early retirement, long sick…). Statements of professional unfitness for depression is of particular concern. The human and financial costs associated with the support of mental disability is important, in France it is estimated to 14 billion euros. Mental disorder in the workplace also has a significant impact on the individual. If not always leads to actual inability to work, it usually causes, from the disclosure of the disorder, professional inequalities related to perceived environmental work disability. Therefore, this type of public remains largely on the sidelines of a stable occupation and all forms of recognition and undergo disqualifications and some forms of exclusion. Instead of saving, the workplace can promote relapse and even constitute a real obstacle to improving health. These exclusionary behavior result in persistent employment resistance in France and elsewhere, especially because of the prejudice of employers. These resistances persist despite legal obligations in this regard (e.g. in France: Law of 11 February 2005 on Equal Rights and Opportunities). To address the issue of sustainable professional inclusion (recruitment, integration and job preservation) of people with mental disabilities, studies are especially developed for the rehabilitation in the workplace of this public or accompanying us in their professional reintegration into protected workplaces. We propose a reflection on the adaptation of knowledge about psychological processes of hiring discrimination in the particular employment situation of people with mental disabilities in ordinary workplaces. Researches on social representations, stereotypes and prejudices applied in the workplace help to understand the negative attitudes and resistance to the hiring of people with mental disabilities despite regulations. Representations of professional efficiency, cognitive bias in social perception, personological expectations and responsibilities about the success of the employment integration of new employees strongly impact the hiring and integration behaviors of actors of the company. Nevertheless, the influence of the organizational context was highlighted in the researches in psychology of organizations. Recruitment and integration practices implemented by organizations, the procedures used to recruit (procedural justice) and the quality of interpersonal treatment of individuals (interpersonal justice) are essential elements of socialization. Disability is recognized as a particularly salient dimension and effective in activating cognitive processes biased. Individual and/or collective courses of action as persuasive communication, suppression and dilution of stereotypes, self-regulation of prejudice, intergroup contact and the sharing of values, affirmative action, promoting diversity, are proposed to modify these psychological barriers. However, their effectiveness is moderated by various individual factors such as the level of prejudice of actors, their previous work experience of disabled workers, their commitment to the values promoted by the organization for example, or organizational and structural factors such as the characteristics of the organization, the degree of formalization of hiring procedures, social policy of the organization and how it is conveyed and received by workers… These studies support the conclusion that the process of professional inclusion of public considered as "non-standard" is complex. These tracks remain to be tested under the mental disability taking into account the type of company and characteristics of actors that constitute them.

Priming of Disability and Elderly Stereotype in Motor Performance: Similar or Specific Effects?

In three experimental studies, the effects of priming participants with the disability stereotype were investigated with respect to their subsequent motor performance. Also explored were effects of activating two similar stereotypes, persons with a disability and elderly people. In Study 1, participants were primed with the disability stereotype versus with a neutral prime, and then asked to perform on a motor coordination task. In Studies 2 and 3, a third condition was introduced: priming participants with the elderly stereotype. Results indicated that priming participants with the disability stereotype altered their motor performance: they showed decreased manual dexterity and performed slower than the non-primed participants. Priming with the elderly stereotype decreased only performance speed. These findings underline that prime-to-behavior effects may depend on activation of specific stereotype content.

Implicit measures of the stereotype content associated with disability

The present research aimed to show that the mixed stereotype content of persons with disability observed at an explicit level does not manifest itself using implicit measures. Two experimental studies were conducted to analyse the stereotype content of persons with a disability at the implicit level. The procedure used in this study was the concept priming paradigm. Furthermore, Study 2 also included an explicit measure. Results show important discrepancies between implicit and explicit measures. At an explicit level, previous work supporting the mixed stereotype content of persons with disability was replicated: participants judged these persons as warmer but less competent than persons without a disability. At an implicit level, a quite different pattern of results emerged: persons with a disability were associated not only with less competence than persons without disability, but also with less warmth. These findings suggest that the mixed pattern between warmth and competence generally observed at an explicit level may be based on societal pressures against prejudice and discrimination.