The effects of meritocracy beliefs on women's well-being after first-time gender discrimination

This study examined how meritocracy beliefs may buffer women from the negative psychological effects of an acute situation of gender discrimination. Although some research indirectly suggests that believing that meritocracy exists may increase wellbeing, group consciousness theories suggest that disbelieving that meritocracy exists will enhance psychological adjustment to gender discrimination. Women who reported little past experience with discrimination, and either believed or disbelieved that meritocracy exists, were exposed to either a laboratory situation of discrimination or a nondiscrimination failure (control) condition. Consistent with group consciousness theories, women experiencing discrimination reported greater well-being if they disbelieved that meritocracy exists than if they were believers. In contrast, women in the control condition reported greater wellbeing if they believed that meritocracy exists than if they were disbelievers. Implications for coping with discrimination are discussed.     

The endorsement of irrational beliefs in a general clinical population

Burgess' Attitude and Belief Scale, a measure of Ellis' irrational beliefs, was administered to a large sample of outpatients. All 13 subscales demonstrate very adequate internal consistency. A factor analysis yielded one factor accounting for 83% of the variance, which was labeled irrationality. Clients endorsed focused items more than overgeneralized items, self-referential items more than non-self-referential items, and preferential items more than irrational items. Clients also received higher scores on the irrational process of demandingness than they did on the irrational process of awfulizing, self-worth and low frustration tolerance. The results were consistent with new formulations in Rational-Emotive theory. Suggestions were made for the construction of measures of irrational beliefs.     

In search of an imaginary enemy: Catholic collective narcissism and the endorsement of gender conspiracy beliefs

ABSTRACT

Gender studies have often been criticized for undermining family and religious values. In this paper, we argue that these criticisms exhibit the characteristics of conspiracy theories. We define gender conspiracy beliefs as convictions that gender studies and gender-equality activists represent an ideology secretly designed to harm traditional values and social arrangements. In two studies conducted among Catholics in Poland (Study 1 N= 1019; Study 2 N= 223), we examined the prevalence of gender conspiracy beliefs and their psychological concomitants. We hypothesized that gender conspiracy beliefs should be associated with a defensive identification with one’s religious group, captured by religious collective narcissism. In both studies, Catholic collective narcissism was demonstrated to be a robust predictor of gender conspiracy beliefs. We additionally demonstrated that Catholic collective narcissism predicted outgroup hostility, and this effect was mediated by gender conspiracy beliefs. We discuss the implications for gender-based prejudice.     

The dynamic and recursive interplay of embodiment and narrative identity

Although there is an increase in research into how narrative identity interrelates with embodiment, the mechanisms underlying this interplay are hardly addressed. In this paper, I target this hiatus in the literature by proposing two mechanisms that can help to (non-exhaustively) elucidate the dynamic interplay of narrative identity and embodiment. I start by briefly sketching the debate so far and then go on to argue that the way narrative self-understanding affects our embodiment can be understood on the model of narrative self-programming. After that I turn to the other side of the interaction. Drawing on research in ecological psychology and phenomenology, I show how embodiment affects our narrative self-understanding through the way in which we engage with affordances in our narrative background. After that I highlight the dynamic and recursive character of this interplay. I end with some conclusions and unresolved issues.     

Making gender matter: the role of gender-based expectancies and gender identification on women's and men's math performance in Sweden

It is well established that an emphasis on gender differences may have a negative effect on women's math performance in USA, Germany and the Netherlands. It has further been found that an individual's identification with the stereotyped group may moderate effects of negative stereotypes. The present study investigated how gender-based expectancies affected the math performance of women and men in Sweden, a nation with a smaller gender gap than in other countries, and a strong cultural emphasis on gender equality. Participants, 112 female and 74 male undergraduate math students from Swedish universities, completed a difficult math test in which their gender was either linked to their test performance or not. Men performed better than women when gender was made relevant among participants who did not see their gender as an important aspect of their identity, while participants high in gender identification were unaffected by gender identity relevance. Moreover, the gender relevance manipulation affected men's performance more than women's. The results deviate from findings on US samples, indicating that the role of group identification as a moderator of stereotype-based expectancy effects is complex, and that factors in the cultural context may interact with individual differences in identification to determine the impact of negative stereotypes.     

The relationship between sex-role identity and beliefs in personal control

Three hundred and ten college undergraduate students completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and Rotter's Internal-External Scale measuring locus of control. Males were significantly more internal than females. Both males and females who had high same-sex scale scores were significantly more internal than those with low same-sex scale scores. That is, males who were masculine or androgynous and females who were feminine or androgynous reported greater internal locus of control beliefs than did those males who were feminine or undifferentiated and those females who were masculine or undifferentiated. It was suggested that these findings result from different styles of power typically associated with sex-role stereotypes.     

The interplay of individual differences,norms, and group identification in predicting prejudiced behavior in online video game interactions

Despite the increasing popularity of video games and the diversity of people who play, prejudice remains common in online gaming. In the current study, we use structural equation modeling to test the role of social norms, individual differences, and gamer identification as predictors of how likely someone is to report engaging in prejudiced behavior while playing online video games. We also test the relative importance of these predictors to assess how likely people are to confront prejudice when it occurs in online video games. Participants (N = 384) completed a series of questionnaires to assess their attitudes and perceptions of online gaming norms, as well as to report their own prejudiced and confrontation behavior in video games. We found that both social norms and individual differences are significant predictors of behavior in online gaming. The more normative people report prejudice to be, the more they report making prejudiced comments. Similarly, the more normative confrontation of prejudice is reported to be, the more likely people are to report confronting prejudice. The more people endorsed generally prejudiced attitudes, the more likely they were to report making prejudiced remakes in online gaming and the less likely they were to report confronting prejudiced remarks. These results provide a foundation to inform interventions to reduce prejudice in gaming and indicate that both individual differences and norms are important to consider when designing interventions.     

Police endorsement of color‐blind racial beliefs and propensity to interact with youth of color

The beliefs of police, as the point of first contact with the justice system, may help to explain disproportionate minority contact between police and young people. Color‐blind racial beliefs, a form of implicit racism in which racial differences are denied, are more strongly endorsed by police than by laypeople. Using a 2 (youth race) × 3 (offense severity) experimental design, 339 officers participated in an online study examining the influence of youth race, offense severity, and officers' color‐blind racial beliefs on officers' reported likelihood of interacting with young people. Officers with lower levels of color‐blind beliefs reported they would be less likely to interact with Black youth. Additionally, attrition analyses indicated that officers assigned to the Black youth condition were more likely to drop out when asked to complete the measure of color‐blind beliefs. Policy and practice implications are discussed, with a focus on promoting greater discussion of color‐blind ideologies in multicultural trainings for police officers and increasing frank discussions about race and racial issues.     

The personality‐identity interplay in emerging adult women: convergent findings from complementary analyses

The present study examined whether identity development occurs in tandem with personality development in emerging adulthood. Three‐wave longitudinal data on a sample of 351 female college students were used to answer questions about stability and change, direction of effects, and interrelated developmental trajectories. Four identity dimensions (i.e. commitment making, exploration in breadth, identification with commitment, and exploration in depth) and the Big Five were assessed. Identity and personality were found to be meaningfully related at the level of both the time‐specific adjacent measures and the underlying developmental trajectories with various degrees of convergence. Cross‐lagged analyses substantiated reciprocal influences and Latent Growth Curve Modelling substantiated common developmental pathways that partially mirrored the concurrent relations. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The interplay between feelings and beliefs about condoms as predictors of their use

Objective: Negative feelings about condoms are a key barrier to their use. Using the behavioural affective associations model, we examined the joint effects of affective associations and cognitive beliefs about condoms on condom use.

Design: In Study 1 (N = 97), students completed measures of their affective associations and cognitive beliefs about sex and condoms, sexual activity and condom use. In Study 2 (N = 171), a measure of behavioural intentions and condom selection task were added.

Main outcome measures: Condom use measured in Study 1 as (1) current condom use, and (2) willingness to use condoms; in Study 2 as: (1) behavioural intentions, (2) number of condoms selected.

Results: Affective associations with sex and condoms were behaviour-specific, were directly associated with the respective behaviour, and mediated the relations of cognitive beliefs to behaviour, ps < .05. In Study 2, affective associations were associated with behavioural intentions and the number of condoms selected, ps < .05; cognitive beliefs were indirectly associated with these outcomes through affective associations, indirect effects: ps < .05.

Conclusions: Affective associations are a behaviour-specific and proximal predictor of condom use, mediating the effect of cognitive beliefs, suggesting they may be a particularly viable intervention target.     

The interplay of personality and negative comments about appearance in predicting body image

This study investigates how personality traits in combination with frequency of and emotional reaction to negative comments about appearance while growing up are related to appearance evaluation and orientation among adult women. Nine hundred and seven participants from a representative sample of Norwegian women aged 22–55, answered questions measuring body image, personality (Big Five), and history of experiencing negative comments about appearance. Results indicated that only emotional reaction to negative comments about appearance significantly predicted both appearance evaluation and orientation, while frequency of negative comments did not. Being extrovert predicted more positive appearance evaluation and being more appearance oriented than being introvert. Scoring high on neuroticism was related to negative appearance evaluation and high appearance orientation. The findings demonstrate the importance of differentiating between the frequency and the emotional impact of teasing as well as including personality traits when studying body image.     

Testing the basic socio‐structural assumptions of social identity theory in the gender context: Evidence from correlational studies on women's leadership

Given negative social identity, different perceptions of the structure of an intergroup relation (i.e., stability, legitimacy, permeability) should be related to different identity‐management strategies (i.e., social competition, social creativity, or individual mobility) depending on group identification. This is among the basic tenets of social identity theory (SIT). There is surprisingly little empirical support for these postulates in the context of one of the most central group identities: gender. Using a sample of women in leadership positions in Spain (N = 649), we tested relations between structural perceptions and identity‐management strategies in a pilot study. Structural equation modeling yielded empirical support regarding social competition, but little for social creativity or individual mobility. Identity‐management strategies were related to one organizational outcome (i.e., identification with the organization). The preregistered main study is intended to replicate and extend these findings using a different sample while improving several of the measures used.     

Relation of ethnicity and age to women's responses to personal experiences of sexist discrimination in the United States

The authors explored self-reported experiences of interpersonal sexist discrimination and responses to such incidents in a heterogeneous sample of 262 women in the northeastern United States. They divided the sample into 2 categories for age (< 30 years, > 30 years) and for ethnicity (women of color, European American women). Across categories of age and ethnicity, the participants (a) commonly experienced sexist discrimination and (b) viewed men as the primary perpetrators of the discrimination. Although the women's reports of sexist experiences were similar for the most part, the authors found significant age differences in the frequency of categories of sexist events and in specific events, as well as in some general responses to such incidents. Ethnicity, operationalized here as women of color and European American women, did not have a significant influence.     

The role of gender and gender role similarity in readers' identification with story characters

This study tested the hypothesis that adult readers would identify with story characters who display a similar gender role orientation. Male and female readers rated their identification with male and female characters who acted in either a masculine or feminine manner in short story vignettes. The primary finding was an interaction between gender role of reader and gender role behavior of character: as predicted, androgynous and undifferentiated readers identified equally with both masculine and feminine characters, masculine readers identified more strongly with masculine characters than feminine characters, and feminine readers identified more strongly with feminine characters than masculine characters. Further, androgynous readers identified somewhat more strongly with both types of characters than undifferentiated readers. However, the predicted effect of gender similarity between reader and character did not exert a strong influence on the identification process. In addition, feminine subjects reported greater identification across all four stories than masculine and undifferentiated subjects. Finally, of three questionnaire measures of empathy tested, only Davis's (1983) Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Empathic Concern subscale) significantly predicted general level of identification; as expected, these scores were significantly correlated with femininity gender role scores.     

The content and processes of autobiographical reasoning in narrative identity

Building on research that focuses on individual differences in the narration of important life events, this study examined the content of self-event connections and thematic coherence in relation to the processes of autobiographical reasoning. Autobiographical reasoning was defined as making connections between the past and the self, the effort reported in making those connections and the emotional evaluation of the connections. Personality differences at the levels of traits and ego development were examined in relation to autobiographical reasoning. One hundred and nineteen younger and older adults completed a self-defining memory interview. Self-event connections reported in the interviews were coded as being about dispositions, values, outlook, and personal growth. Connections were then coded for the degree of cognitive effort required to make the connection and the emotional evaluation of the connection. Finally, the entire interview was coded for the presence or absence of a theme. Results showed that cognitive effort and evaluation differed across type of connection, and ego development and traits moderated some of these results. Further, across connections, there were individual differences in cognitive effort and evaluation, as well as in the reports of a themes across memories. Results are discussed in terms of individual differences in the construction of narrative identity.     

Examining the roles of intuition and gender in magical beliefs

Four studies explored gender differences in magical beliefs, specifically examining whether reliance on intuition accounts for women’s higher magical beliefs (vs. men’s). In Studies 1a and 1b (N’s = 489, 1119), women’s higher magical beliefs were accounted for by measures of reliance on intuition. Study 2 (N = 533) demonstrated that an intuition induction heightened men’s magical beliefs (vs. control group), but not women’s. In Study 3 (N = 404), women—but not men—exhibited more suboptimal choices in a lottery task after imagining that a dream told them to do so. These studies suggest that reliance on intuition helps account for women’s higher magical beliefs.