Three groups of participants were used: 1) undergraduate college students; 2) adult community residents; and 3) professional counselors and counselors in training. The other half of each group completed the same exact survey except it used the phrase “the mentally ill” instead. The college students and the counselors who had “the mentally ill” survey language had significantly higher ratings on a subscale of items reflecting authoritarianism. Adult community residents showed different results when they were given “the mentally ill” version of the survey. Finally, the adult community residents with “the mentally ill” language also had significantly lower ratings on the subscale called community mental health ideology.