Stigma of psychological therapy: Stereotypes, interpersonal reactions, and the self-fulfilling prophecy.

Research has demonstrated that first impressions and stereotypes can influence social interactions in ways that lead to their behavioral confirmation — even to the extent of causing mistaken impressions to become real (Darley Rosenthal, 1973; Rosenthal Snyder & Swann, 1978). In one study, for example, Snyder, Tanke, and Berscheid (1977) investigated the process of behavioral confirmation of the stereotype associated with physical attractiveness. Their results revealed that men formed more favorable first impressions of female target persons when they were led to believe that the target was physically attractive than when they thought that she was unattractive. Consistent with these first impressions, women interacting with men who believed that they were attractive then came to behave in a manner that was more socially desirable than did women conversing with partners who believed that they were unattractive. A self-fulfillin g prophecy thus occurred (see Jones, 1977). Snyder et al. concluded that male perceivers used different styles of interaction for the two groups of targets. These behaviors, in turn, guided and constricted the behavioral options of female targets in ways that led them to conform to the men's initial impressions.