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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microaggression | 5/7 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microaggression | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T07:13:14.791929+00:00 | kb-cron |
People with mental illness report receiving more overt forms of microaggression than subtle ones, coming from family and friends as well as from authority figures. In fact, family, friends, and healthcare workers are some of the most common reported sources of microaggressions towards people with mental illness. In a study involving college students and adults who were being treated in community care, five themes were identified: invalidation, assumption of inferiority, fear of mental illness, shaming of mental illness, and being treated as a second-class citizen. Invalidation would occur, for example, when friends and family members minimized mental health symptoms; one participant described others claiming "You can't be depressed, you're smiling." People would sometimes falsely assume that mental illness means lower intelligence; a participant reported that the hospital staff in a psych ward were speaking to mentally ill patients as if they could not understand instructions. Many documented mental health microaggressions have themes of stereotyping mental illness: whether the stereotype assumes people with mental illness are incapable, weak, dangerous, or cold, they share a negative association. Microaggressions also may involve treating people with mental illness differently than others: devaluing someone, patronizing them, or treating them like a child, speaking condescendingly or giving fake compliments, and increasing physical distance. Other themes include defining someone by their diagnosis or blaming or shaming someone for their illness. Mental health microaggressions may conversely involve invalidation via minimizing someone's experience, accusing people of using their mental illness as an excuse to avoid work or for seeking attention. Using mental health terms flippantly or incorrectly in everyday speech is another common microaggression.
=== Disability === Individuals who have an aspect of their identity that lacks a sense of systemic power are subject to microaggressions; thus, persons with disabilities are subject to ableist microaggressions. Like others with marginalized identities, microaggressions toward individuals with disabilities may manifest as a microassault, a microinsult, or a microinvalidation, all of which may also be executed as an environmental microaggression. Current literature is available to better understand microaggressions in the context of ability. In one qualitative study, a group of researchers studied a sample of individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) diagnoses. MS is a chronic disease that may impact mental, cognitive, and physical abilities. The researchers illustrated examples of real-life ableist microaggressions in the context of microassaults, microinsults, and microinvalidations faced by their sample, specifically in the workplace. Meta-analytic findings show that frequent exposure to microaggressions is associated with reduced psychological well-being, increased stress, and poorer job outcomes among individuals with marginalized identities. People with physical disabilities also face microaggressions, such as
the misconception that those with disabilities want or require correction asking inappropriate questions
=== Ageism and intolerance === Microaggression can target and marginalize any definable group, including those who share an age grouping or belief system. Age-based microaggressions, or ageism, include subtle comments or behaviors that convey stereotypes about competence, adaptability, or relevance. Recent studies highlight how these microaggressions may affect both younger and older adults, leading to decreased belonging and heightened stress. Microaggression is a manifestation of bullying that employs microlinguistic power plays in order to marginalize any target with a subtle manifestation of intolerance by signifying the concept of "other".
== Perpetrators == Because microaggressions are subtle and perpetrators may be unaware of the harm they cause, the recipients often experience attributional ambiguity, which may lead them to dismiss the event and blame themselves as overly sensitive to the encounter. If challenged by the minority person or an observer, perpetrators will often defend their microaggression as a misunderstanding, a joke, or something small that should not be blown out of proportion. A 2020 study involving American college students found a correlation between likelihood to commit microaggressions, and racial bias.
=== Media === Members of marginalized groups have also described microaggressions committed by performers or artists associated with various forms of media, such as television, film, photography, music, and books. Some researchers believe that such cultural content reflects but also molds society, allowing for unintentional bias to be absorbed by individuals based on their media consumption, as if it were expressed by someone with whom they had an encounter. A study of racism in TV commercials describes microaggressions as gaining a cumulative weight, leading to inevitable clashes between races due to subtleties in the content. As an example of a racial microaggression, or microassault, this research found that black people were more likely than white counterparts to be shown eating or participating in physical activity, and more likely to be shown working for, or serving others. The research concludes by suggesting that microaggressive representations can be omitted from a body of work, without sacrificing creativity or profit. Pérez Huber and Solorzano start their analysis of microaggressions with an anecdote about Mexican "bandits" as portrayed in a children's book read at bedtime. The article gives examples of negative stereotypes of Mexicans and Latinos in books, print, and photos, associating them with the state of racial discourse within majority culture and its dominance over minority groups in the US. The personification of these attitudes through media can also be applied to microaggressive behaviors towards other marginalized groups. A 2015 review of the portrayal of LGBT characters in film says that gay or lesbian characters are presented in "offensive" ways. In contrast, LGBT characters portrayed as complex characters who are more than a cipher for their sexual orientation or identity are a step in the right direction. Ideally, "queer film audiences finally have a narrative pleasure that has been afforded to straight viewers since the dawn of film noir: a central character who is highly problematical, but fascinating."