Bodies Under Social Threat
A client receives food, medication, and shelter, but leaves saying “They treated me like I was a problem to manage.” The unmet psychological need was this.
What is the need to belong?
Referring to “the homeless” as though people experiencing homelessness are one uniform group reflects this tendency to exaggerate similarity among members of an out-group.
What is the out-group homogeneity effect?
A provider reads “frequent ED user” in a chart and interprets an ambiguous pain complaint as drug-seeking. This tendency to fit unclear evidence to an existing expectation is called this.
What is confirmation bias?
A staff member changes intake from “Here are the rules you must follow” to “Let’s identify what would make this plan workable and safe for you.” This intentional redesign of the immediate social environment is called this.
What is situation-crafting?
Rejection by a shelter, being ignored in a waiting room, or watching others move away can cause distress that overlaps with the experience of bodily pain. Social psychologists call this.
What is social pain?
Shelter residents and staff disagree about a new policy. Instead of arguing over whose preferences should win, they jointly redesign it around a goal neither group can accomplish alone. This shared objective is called this.
What is a superordinate goal?
In a retrospective emergency-department study, merely including this one-word housing descriptor in a provider note was associated with lower odds of admission and lower odds of receiving intravenous rather than oral opioids.
What is “homeless”?
Before discussing missed appointments, a clinician invites a client to describe a value they have continued to live by while homeless, such as protecting family or helping others. This draws on this theory.
What is self-affirmation theory?
After repeated rejection from housing programs, a client interprets a delayed callback as evidence that “they have already decided that I do not belong there.” This uncertainty about whether one will be accepted is known as this.
What is belonging uncertainty?
At a multidisciplinary case conference, each participant holds crucial information. For instance, the client brings lived expertise, outreach knows the street context, nursing knows medical risk, and case management knows housing requirements. This structure adapts this cooperative-learning method.
What is the jigsaw method?
A client repeatedly returns to the emergency department. A nurse labels it as “They misuse services.” Instead, a social-psychological explanation would argue for examining fragmented care, medical acuity, shelter constraints, and the absence of alternatives. This shift corrects this attribution error.
What is the fundamental attribution error?
A case manager says, “This housing packet needs work because the program has demanding standards, and I believe you can do it. Let’s work through the barriers together.” This combination of high standards and communicated confidence is known as this.
What is wise feedback?
A newly housed client says, “People here will find out where I came from, and that will be it.” This fear that others will view them through a negative group-based belief reflects this social-psychological threat.
What is stereotype threat?
Staff have repeated positive contact with clients who are easy to engage. However, they are hassled by people in acute distress during crises. This unequal pattern may preserve stereotypes because effective intergroup contact requires more than this.
What is mere exposure or simple proximity?
An unhoused client deliberately lowers their voice, avoids eye contact, and tries to appear nonthreatening when entering a grocery store because they anticipate being perceived as dangerous. Goffman’s term for this strategic self-presentation is this.
What is impression management?
A program gives residents an “empowerment worksheet” without asking whether its assumptions fit their lives. This can fail because it likely lacks the right message, for the right person, at the right time. Name these three qualities.
What are tailoring, targeting, and timeliness?
A client preemptively declines a housing interview after saying “Every program eventually rejects me.” Instead of labeling the client unmotivated, an alternative explanation might be.
Any answer suggesting avoidance of situations, rejections, or mistrust of situations
A program invites people with lived experience to tell their stories at a staff training but gives them no role in deciding policy. This offers visibility without this.
What is equal-status participation?
A chart states, “Patient is noncompliant.” The client reports that medication was stolen and sedation made it unsafe to remain alert outdoors. The chart has converted structural barriers into this kind of explanation.
What is an individual-blame attribution?
A clinician uses validating language only because a manual says it will increase engagement. The client experiences it as scripted. The intervention likely failed because clients interpret not only what we do but also this.
What is the perceived motive?