Exam 13: Deviant Behavior and Social Reaction

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Reactions to a norm violation depend partially on the actor's characteristics.In some cases, the actor's behavior matters.People are more likely to reject actors who they perceive to have a dangerous diagnosis, such as schizophrenia.People are more likely to label a person as deviant if there is high normative consensus that person's act is deviant, such as child molestation.People react to the actual person who does the act as well.For example, people are more tolerant of deviance from family members, people who contribute positively in other ways, people who are similar, and people without a history of deviance.For example, I would be more likely to tolerate petty theft from my cousin, a teacher who educates children, a co-worker, and a first-time offender.An actor's gender does not impact a person's reaction to deviant behavior in all cases, but impacts reactions to mental illness and criminal activity.People are more willing to interact with women with certain mental diagnoses than men with the same diagnoses, and are labeled and treated more leniently in the criminal justice system.Psychiatrists are more likely to label women as having a personality disorder than comparable men.