The contextual nature and function of singlism

We appreciate DePaulo and Morris's (this issue) ef forts to initiate a dialogue about the psychology of sin gles. We agree with the authors' argument that by and large the topic of singles has been excluded from psy chological literature and that research on singlehood has the potential to make important contributions. However, we do have a number of misgivings about placing the psychology of singles squarely in the do main of stigma. This is not an attempt to exclude the study of singles from mainstream research on stereo types and prejudice, but rather an attempt to more fully consider the contexts in which singlehood is likely to be stigmatizing. We have two primary goals in this arti cle. First, we attempt to contextualize the nature of singlehood and to draw inferences about for whom and under what circumstances singlehood will be stigma tizing. Second, we explore the function of singlism and offer suggestions for reducing this type of bias. We hope that this endeavor will help DePaulo and Morris, and others interested in singles, to further their re search on this important and understudied topic.