A new online study published in the EvoS Journal: Evolutionary Studies and Higher Education examined how willing people are to engage with a social media post from a creative individual who also experiences schizophrenia. The findings show that women were more inclined to interact than men, particularly when the person’s creative output was not successfully published; when publication success occurred, gender differences disappeared.
Mental health stigma remains a broad social issue, characterised by negative stereotypes and prejudice toward those with mental health conditions. Such stigma can foster social rejection, hinder employment and relationships, and deter people from seeking professional help. It can also be internalised by individuals, undermining self-esteem and well-being.
From an evolutionary perspective, the persistence of certain traits linked to mental health conditions is sometimes explained by combinations of characteristics that can offer situational advantages, especially in milder, subclinical forms. The study notes that while anxiety or social withdrawal can pose challenges, they may also heighten vigilance or reduce exposure to overwhelming social stimuli. Psychotic traits are associated with substantial cognitive difficulties, yet are linked in some accounts to creativity and heightened emotional sensitivity.
Lead author A. Hicks and colleagues set out to explore whether the potential creative benefits of such traits might counteract stigma. They asked whether learning that a person is successful in creative work and/or that they suffer from schizophrenia would influence participants’ willingness to interact with them.
The researchers recruited 308 individuals via Prolific Academic, of whom 167 were women, with an average age of 35 years. Participants were compensated with $1.50 for completing the online task.
In the experiment, participants viewed a hypothetical Facebook post by a writer named Taylor Ross. The post varied along two dimensions: whether Taylor Ross disclosed suffering from schizophrenia, and whether a poem they wrote was published or denied publication. To avoid gender bias, the profile photo used a gender-neutral silhouette, and the scenario centred on Taylor Ross’s attempt to share a life update about their poetry.
Participants assessed how much they would like to interact with Taylor Ross, considering cues to engage via like or comment, or to befriend or form a romantic connection. They also completed a stereotype assessment, rating 22 traits (11 positive and 11 negative) to measure endorsement of typical characteristics associated with schizophrenia.
Results showed that women demonstrated greater interest in interacting with Taylor Ross than men, regardless of the post’s content. The publication success of the poem did not influence overall willingness to engage.
When focusing specifically on the condition where Taylor Ross had schizophrenia and their poem was not published, women again showed a stronger desire to interact than men. By contrast, in the condition where Taylor Ross was successful in publishing, there was no gender difference in interaction interest.
An additional finding indicated that participants who reported having friends with mental illness tended to prefer the version of Taylor Ross who was creatively successful and not suffering from schizophrenia, over the version that was both not successful and not suffering from schizophrenia.
The authors caution that the results derive from a brief post rather than a full profile with background information, which may limit their applicability to real-world social judgments. They note that outcomes could differ when more context is available.
The study is titled Salience of the Benefits of Psychotic Traits Buffers Against Mental Illness Stigma and was authored by A. Hicks, D. F. Sacco, K. N. Boykin, O. Olabegi, Z. Buckner, and M. Brown.
