TB stigma constitutes a major barrier to disease control and social distress. This study aims to understand better the inherent social processes on the perception of emotions. Thus far, the specific role of TB stigma in this respect was not tested. We hypothesize that individuals in TB treatment (vs. a control non-clinical group) would identify more negative emotions in the faces of others, specifically rejecting emotions (e.g., disgust) when preoccupied with TB stigma. Two groups of participants completed a questionnaire with 23  faces, identified the emotions portrayed in the pictures, and reported their level of Stigma Consciousness, Interpersonal-Rejection Related to Stigma, and Rejection Sensitivity. Results show that the two groups significantly differ in their perceptions of negative emotions: participants in treatment identify less disgust and more sadness, fear, and anger versus the control group. Findings are discussed concerning the literature on stigma and its consequences.

Stereotype content has been much studied since the classic study by Katz and Braly (1933). The results obtained in these studies have been fundamental to building more complex experiments in order to explore the formation, purpose and maintenance of stereotypes. In Portugal, to our knowledge, the existing studies are quite scarce, and in some cases non-existent, particularly related to some social groups of interest. Furthermore, continuous social changes may bring variation in the meaning and importance of each attribute. The goal of this study is to explore and pre-test the stereotype content of 12 social groups in Portugal. Ninety-eight participants recruited online via social media responded to 35 stereotypic traits and their valence, 21 emotions and 12 behavioural tendencies related to these social groups. The results allow not only the selection of, for each group, the stereotypic traits, emotions, and behavioural tendencies that are significantly different from the midpoint of the scale, but also the identification of traits, emotions and behavioural tendencies that best seem to differentiate the different groups.