Clinical responses to psychopathology of mentally retarded persons

Effects of the label "mentally retarded" on clinical judgment were examined. Doctoral level psychologists of varying orientations and levels of experience with mentally retarded persons were exposed to a brief therapy transcript that was labeled or unlabeled. Analyses of variance revealed that the mentally retarded label resulted in ratings of less severity of psychopathology, first treatment choices that were more behavioral in nature, and attributions of greater importance to the client's level of intellectual functioning in the assessment process. The results were interpreted as representing diagnostic labeling bias.