The stigma of perceived irrelevance: An affordance-management theory of interpersonal invisibility

Abstract

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 126(5) of Psychological Review (see record 2019-58645-001). In the article, the following citation was omitted: Goff, P. A., Thomas, M. A., & Jackson, M. C. (2008), "Ain't I a Woman?": Towards an intersectional approach to person perception and group-based harms. Sex Roles, 59, 392-403. All versions of this article have been corrected.] A growing body of research shows that older adults, Black women, and other groups often encounter stigmatization that manifests not as negative prejudice, but as indifference and inattention-that is, interpersonal invisibility. We propose an affordance-management theory to explain who is interpersonally invisible, to whom, and with what consequences. A social affordance-management perspective suggests that people seek to detect and strategically engage with those who facilitate or obstruct achievement of important goals. We argue that invisibility emerges from the perception that another person neither helps nor hurts one's ability to achieve chronically or acutely active goals. We thus distinguish among phenomena commonly subsumed under the term stigmatization: invisibility-based stigmatization of those perceived to be irrelevant, and threat-based stigmatization of those perceived to obstruct one's goals. Invisibility and threat-based stigmatization are theorized to differ in origin, manifestation, and impact. Furthermore, rather than being a static property of particular target groups, interpersonal invisibility dynamically emerges from perceiver goals, target cues, and situational features. Nonetheless, some perceivers, targets, situations, and goals are more likely to lead to invisibility than others. This affordance-based theory of invisibility helps to organize the heterogeneous field of stigma research; unifies a diverse array of social, cognitive, motivational, and affective phenomena; and suggests numerous novel directions for future stigma research from both perceiver and target perspectives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).