How Negative Are Attitudes Toward Persons With AIDS? Examining the AIDS–Leukemia Paradigm

Reports a meta-analysis of studies published between 1987 and 1996 (combined Ns ≈?2100) comparing attitudes toward persons with AIDS versus Leukemia. The major goal was to identify which attitude measures are most sensitive to variation in the target person's disease diagnosis and sexual orientation. Diagnosis had moderate effects on measures of avoidant intentions toward the target in situations of close contact, and very large effects on responsibility attributions and target's perceived dangerousness. Effects on sympathy-hostility measures were much smaller. Target's sexual orientation (controlling for diagnosis) had small effects on responsibility and some avoidant intentions. Discusses implications of effect magnitudes for symbolic rejection versus instrumental avoidance models of the reaction to AIDS, conflicting interpretations by users of the AIDS–Leukemia paradigm, and lessons for the study of illness cognition.