How the Negative Stigma Associated with AIDS Affects Sufferers’ Trustworthiness

Abstract

Trust is foundational for social and healthcare relationships. Stigma associated with AIDS may affect evaluations of trustworthiness in AIDS sufferers. Participants evaluated the trustworthiness of someone described as being honest, dishonest, or having AIDS. The individual described as having AIDS was judged as untrustworthy as the individual described as being dishonest. In a follow-up experiment, the individual was described as being honest, dishonest, contracting AIDS via heterosexual sex, via male-to-male sexual intercourse, or via a blood transfusion. Someone contracting AIDS from male-to-male sexual intercourse was judged as untrustworthy as a dishonest person and more untrustworthy than individuals in the other conditions.