Pauline Rasset

• Doctor of Psychology
• Professor (Associate) at University of Rennes 2

People experiencing homelessness (PEH) are stigmatized. Their dehumanization contributes to their social exclusion. While previous research underscores the role of intergroup contact in reducing homelessness stigma, this article is concerned with the precursor step of fostering contact intentions. Therefore, we tested the effectiveness of a psychos...

Background and aims. The gaze directed towards visible facial differences (VFD) can be experienced as highly stigmatizing by those who endure it. Beyond its detrimental effects on targeted individuals, this research addresses the intrinsically problematic nature of such visual treatment, by showing that it is not simply about noticing a VFD, but me...

There is a considerable body of literature on harmful consequences of age-related stereotypes—including consequences on physical and mental health. However, this commentary critically argues that the current state of the art disregards consequences of these stereotypes specifically for the well-being of older adults (i.e., outcome that is not to be...

There is a great deal of indirect evidence suggesting that people with facial difference (FD) may be dehumanized. This research aimed to provide direct evidence of the dehumanization of people with FD based on the stigmatizing reactions they elicit. More precisely, previous findings revealed that the specific way people with FD are looked upon is r...

Confronting stares can be a daily challenge for people with facial difference (FD). Indeed, visual processing of faces with FD appears to differ significantly from that observed on all other human faces, and could thus be an indicator of dehumanizing processing of people with FD. Indeed, dehumanization refers both to a content of social perception...

Facial difference (FD) is not only an individual experience; it is inherently social, reflecting interactions between social norms and individual attitudes. Often FD is stigmatized. In this paper, we employ a widely used stigma framework, namely the social stigma framework put forth by Pryor and Reeder (2011), to unpack the stigma of FD. This frame...

Affronter le regard d’autrui est une difficulté sociale récurrente chez les personnes présentant une défiguration faciale (DF ; Kornhaber et al., 2014). La DF suscite effectivement une attention visuelle différente de celle portée aux autres visages humains (Ishii et al., 2009) et pourrait être à ce titre un indicateur d’un traitement déshumanisant...

People with disabilities remain discriminated against, especially those living with mental disabilities compared to those living with physical disabilities, which might be rooted in a dehumanization process. Because there is evidence pointing to a tendency to dehumanize people with mental disabilities, the aim of this research (N = 559) was to demo...

This research aims to better understand the affective dimension in the public stigma of people with facial difference (FD) by identifying the perceivers’ various affective reactions to FD and by grouping them in a relevant typology. In a first qualitative step (N = 47), a vignette study based on a self-presentation paradigm was used to get particip...

This research aims to determine how disfigurement alters visual attention paid to faces and to examine whether such a potential modified pattern of visual attention to faces with visible difference was associated, in turn, with perceiver’s stigmatizing affective reactions. A pilot study (N = 38) and a pre-registered experimental eye-tracking study...

Introduction. People with alcohol use disorder (AUD) are suffering from social stigma and may even be denied a full human status. These social misperceptions have detrimental outcomes, discouraging people to seek care for their disease. Recent research suggests that the dehumanization process of people with AUD could be prevented by the use of a m...

Background. Despite improvements, stigmatizing reactions still taint social experiences of people living with a visible difference. Notably, affective reactions of other people can be especially difficult to deal with. Since facial difference is by definition visible, this study aimed to evidence the role played by visual attention toward visibly d...

RESUME INTRODUCTION : Les personnes présentant un Trouble de l’Usage de l’Alcool (TUAL) sont stigmatisées, voire déshumanisées, ce qui peut entraver leur parcours de soin [1]. En effet, la prise en charge des personnes TUAL nécessite à la fois qu'elles reconnaissent leur trouble, tout en évitant qu’elles en subissent la stigmatisation. La stratégi...

The main purpose of this work was to evidence a spontaneous objectifying gaze toward people with facial disfigurement via eye tracking technology.