107 common among those with active schizophrenia or who have relapsed (Subandi et al., 2020; Subandi & Good, 2018), and internalisation of the socially held beliefs and stereotypes (Hartini et al., 2018; Rai et al., 2020). Watson et al. (2007) found that such endorsement of the negative stereotypes and biases related to one's disease not only affects the self-esteem of individuals with mental illness, but also hampers their positive identification with the group of persons with mental illnesses. This absence of group identification may be the reason why people with schizophrenia reported higher social distance scores towards others with the same disease. Role of knowledge and social stereotypes in moderating perception and attitude While the within-group perceptions were driven more by relatedness and understanding of the experiences of living with the health condition, knowledge and prevalent social stereotypes related to the diseases were the main drivers of perception and attitude in regards to across-group comparisons. Participants with all health conditions reported lower social distance towards the diabetes group, which they attributed to knowing that diabetes is a ‘common’ and ‘manageable’ condition. A study by Soewondo et al. (Soewondo et al., 2013) reported this very idea of how the higher prevalence and commonality of
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