PSY102: FOUNDATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY - II

The Questionnaire

This questionnaire is designed to measure opinions about mental illness and the mentally ill.
Please try to answer the questions as honestly as possible. You are not required to identify yourself by name.

Now read the description of the fictitious person below and answer the questions that follow.

Here is a brief description of a young man. Imagine that he is a respectable student attending your school
or college. He is very suspicious, doesn’t trust anybody and is sure everyone is against him. Sometimes
he thinks that people he sees on the street are talking about him or following him. A couple of times he
has picked fights with people who don’t even know him, because he thought they were spying on him and
plotting against him. The other night he began to curse his mother terribly, because he said she was
working against him too – just like everybody else.

(Based on material from S.A. Star (1955) The Public’s Ideas About Mental Illness.
Mimeo National Opinion Research Centre; University of Chicago.)

Please bear in mind that the questions are not intended as a test of any kind. We merely wish to know
your personal opinions concerning them. When you answer, please place a circle around the number
that best reflects your opinion. For example, if the questionnaire asked if you saw the person as being
‘intelligent’ and you saw him as being ‘fairly intelligent’, you might answer as follows:

Definitely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Definitely
NO YES

(1) To what extent do you believe the person described to be mentally ill?

Definitely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Definitely
NO YES

(2) Do you think that the person’s behaviour is the direct result of physical causes, such as the
condition of the brain and nervous system, and/or what has been inherited from the parents?

Definitely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Definitely
NO YES

(3) Do you think that the person’s behaviour is the direct result of present life circumstances such
as home life, relationships in school or college, relationships with friends, and so on?

Definitely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Definitely
NO YES
(4) Do you think that the person’s behaviour is the direct result of past experiences; that is, what
happened to him and how he felt as a child?

Definitely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Definitely
NO YES

(5) If you knew this person would you speak to him on the street?

Definitely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Definitely
NO YES

(6) If you knew this person would you have lunch with him?

Definitely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Definitely
NO YES

(7) If you knew this person would you do school or college work with him?

Definitely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Definitely
NO YES

(8) If you knew this person would you go to a party at his home?

Definitely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Definitely
NO YES

(9) If you knew this person would you invite him to a social gathering at your home for an
evening?

Definitely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Definitely
NO YES

(Questions based on material from R.M.G. Norman, A.K. Malla Adolescents’ attitudes towards mental illness:
Relationship between components and sex differences. Social Psychiatry, 18, 45-50. © Springer-Verlag.)

Please write your age to the nearest year ______________

Gender (M/F) _________________

 THIS SECTION TO BE COMPLETED BY THE RESEARCHER

DATA ANALYSIS FOR ATTITUDES TO MENTAL ILLNESS ASSIGNMENT

Participant 1

1. Write the rating score for Question 1: _________________

2. Write the rating score for Question 2: _________________
3. Write the total rating score for Questions 3 & 4: _________________
4. Write the total rating score for Questions 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9: _________________
5. Age to the nearest year _________________
6. Gender (M/F) _________________

Participant 2

1. Write the rating score for Question 1: _________________

2. Write the rating score for Question 2: _________________
3. Write the total rating score for Questions 3 & 4: _________________
4. Write the total rating score for Questions 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9: _________________
5. Age to the nearest year _________________
6. Gender (M/F) _________________

DATA ANALYSIS FOR ATTITUDES TO MENTAL ILLNESS (SEE NEXT PAGE)

Following data table represents the data collected from different regions in country NSW on an
individual basis, using a structured questionnaire (as included above). Responses of 7 girls and 7 boys
are randomly selected from a large data set and presented below for the data analysis of the report
writing assignment.

You will need to individually administer the questionnaire to two further participants (1 female and 1
male) to complete the data set following the instruction provided in the Subject Outline p. 22.

First, you have to transfer the participants’ ratings from the completed questionnaires to the ‘Raw
Data Table’ provided in the Subject Outline p.35. Second, you will need to transfer the processed data
(average scores for each of the attitude components for each of your participants) to the ‘Data
Analysis Table’ provided in the Subject outline p. 36.

Both of these completed data tables must be attached to the assignment in the appendices section.
 DATA ANALYSIS FOR ATTITUDES TO MENTAL ILLNESS ASSIGNMENT

Data analysis: You should calculate all your descriptive statistics (ie., means and SDs) and correlations using scores presented in the shaded columns.

ID Age Gender Mental Physical Psycho- Psycho- Social Social

Number Illness Cause Social Social Acceptance Acceptance
(A) (B) Cause (C) Cause (C) (D) (D)
Combined Average Combined Average
(C Combined / 2) (D Combined / 5)
1 F
2 13 F 6 5 10 24
3 15 F 5 4 11 31
4 14 F 4 4 10 32
5 15 F 6 6 11 21
6 13 F 5 5 12 25
7 15 F 6 5 10 21
8 14 F 5 4 8 25
9 M
10 15 M 3 2 11 20
11 13 M 2 4 7 26
12 14 M 7 3 14 18
13 14 M 5 3 10 16
14 15 M 5 2 11 21
15 14 M 5 4 10 23
16 13 M 6 4 11 16

Response to question 1 is measuring the “perception of behaviour as indicative of mental illness”. Response to question 2 is measuring the “belief that mental illness has a physical cause”.
The combined score of questions 3 and 4 on the questionnaire measures the “belief that mental illness has a psychosocial cause”. You need to add the response scores of these two items for
each respondent and then divide the combined score by 2 to get the average score. The combined score of questions 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 on the questionnaire measures “preferred social
acceptance”. You need to add the response scores of these five items for each respondent and then divide the combined score by 5 to get the average score.

Three correlations need to be calculated for this assignment. “perception of behaviour as indicative of mental illness” will be the “X” score in all three correlations. In the first correlation,
the “Y” score will be the responses for “belief that mental illness has a physical cause”. In the second correlation, the “Y” score will be the responses for “belief that mental illness has a
psychosocial cause”. Finally, in the third correlation the “Y” score will be the responses for “preferred social acceptance”.