Jessica Burchett

The current study examined how gender-related and mental health status-related linguistic frames impact perceptions of hypothetical individuals. Linguistic frames, or short verbal expressions pertaining to certain topics, affect behavior towards marginalized groups (Lakoff, 2004; Landau, Sullivan, & Greenberg, 2009). Results of two experiments indicate that feminine frames increased likability relative to masculine frames, and frames for mental illness had an overall negative impact on how the framed individual is perceived. Additionally, when given the opportunity to draw comparisons between individuals framed in different ways, individuals framed as feminine were encouraged to seek help more strongly in the healthy condition than those framed as masculine.