Abstract

The present study investigated the presence of an implicit negative attitude towards individuals with prostheses in a sample of participants without any amputation, and whether this attitude could be modulated by the specific type of prosthesis (generic vs. athletic). Forty participants were administered an Implicit Association Test (IAT): half of the participants performed the generic IAT condition (no prosthesis vs. generic prosthesis) and the other half performed the athletic IAT condition (athletes vs. athletes with prostheses). Results show an overall negative implicit attitude towards the individuals with prostheses, and, crucially, that the implicit negative attitude decreases significantly in the presence of athletes with prostheses. This finding suggests that the representation of individuals with prostheses can be modulated by the specificity of the type of prosthesis.