The Importance of Knowing your History: Perceiving Past Women as less Agentic than Contemporary Women Predicts Impaired Quantitative Performance

Research on dynamic stereotypes of women has shown that women perceive large differences between contemporary women and women who lived in the past in terms of agentic (or masculine) traits. This temporal discrepancy in agentic attributes of women may suggest that agency is not a stable trait of women and may result in impaired performance in domains associated with agency, such as quantitative reasoning. We propose that women who think that agency has always characterized their gender group would perform better in quantitative tasks. Indeed, we found that as the difference between agency attributed to present and past women decreased, U.S. college women’s (n?=?80) accuracy in a quantitative test increased (Study 1). Further, reading a text about women’s achievements in the history of science reduced the discrepancy between agency attributed to past and present women and had an indirect positive effect on quantitative performance by 150 U.S. college women (Study 2). Findings suggest that women’s participation and performance in science could be improved by raising awareness of women’s historical achievements in male-dominated areas.     

The biopsychosocial-spiritual health of active duty women

ABSTRACT

Women have been an active part of the military since the beginning of American history, holding various roles in the military for centuries. The purpose of this review is to explore the literature pertaining to the biopsychosocial and spiritual health of active duty women. These comparisons help to highlight factors that are most unique to women who are serving in our active duty armed forces. The current review revealed that while active duty women and men report similar levels of resiliency, and women may be no more susceptible to the negative effects of combat than men, there is evidence that active duty women experience higher levels of posttraumatic stress due to physical and sexual trauma in the military aside from combat exposure. Findings suggest that further research is needed to better understand the unique challenges of women in the military in order to create service delivery models that support the BPSS health of women in order to maintain mission readiness and retain women in the military.     

Shelter workers' perceptions of battered women

Research suggests that battered women vary in their perceptions about battering, and women holding certain causal explanations to external and stable causes are more likely to state that they want to leave the abusive situation than women holding internal and unstable attributions (Frieze, 1979). The present study addressed the impact of battered women's causal explanations for the violence in their lives on shelter workers' perceptions of their clients. The results partially confirmed the hypothesis that shelter workers would react more positively to battered women who attributed their battering to stable and external causes than battered women who attributed their battering to unstable and internal causes. The implications of the findings for counseling battered women are discussed.     

The Politics of Protection: Body Image, Social Pressures, and the Misrepresentation of Young Black Women

As part of a larger multi-method study, 15 Black women college students participated in focus group discussions on the body. Contrary to popular theories that propose that Black women are protected by a “Black Culture” that buffers them from negative effects of body representations—thereby leaving them with higher body esteem—the themes that emerged in the focus group discussions indicate that young Black women are indeed feeling (1) pressures to be thin, (2) pressures from the preferences of men of diverse ethnicities, (3) competition with other Black women in the realms of beauty, and (4) a strong sense of being misrepresented by media images of thin Black women. These results not only indicate that body image issues are of real pressing concern to young Black women, but that psychological research methodologies may be adding to the misrepresentation of young Black women and their struggles. Qualitative methods must be utilized in order to hear more clearly the voices of Women of Color.     

Aspects of Young Children's Perceptions of Gender-Typed Occupations

Perceived competencies of men and women in gender-typed occupations, perceptions about how much money men and women earn in gender-typed occupations, and affective reactions regarding growing up to have gender-typed occupations were examined in 55 primarily White middle-class preschoolers and primary school children. Children (particularly boys) viewed men as more competent than women in masculine occupations, and rated women as more competent than men in feminine occupations. Children believed men earned more than women across occupations, but that men earned more money than women in masculine occupations, and women earned more money than men in feminine occupations. Children's affective reactions to growing up to have gender-role-consistent occupations were more positive than their reactions to having gender-role-inconsistent occupations. Results suggest children perceive differential competencies of men and women regarding gender-typed occupations, and differences in pay for men and women within gender-typed occupations, at ages younger than previously determined.     

The Sense of Being Dead and of Dying: Some Perspectives

The present communication is made in response to a published study (Lester and Schumacher, 1969) which found no support for hypotheses that schizophrenic women might usefully be conceptualized as dying women, and that schizophrenics (men and women) would have more death themes in their TAT stories than non-schizophrenics. The present authors argue that there is no reason to expect schizophrenic women to feel like dying women, do present empirical data strongly supporting the notion of a relation between feelings of unreality and of deadness, and suggest reasons for Lester and Schumacher's failure to find schizophrenic-nonschizophrenic differences in TAT themes of death.     

Childhood play experiences of women in traditional and nontraditional professions

One hundred ten women in both traditional and nontraditional professions were compared on childhood play and related socialization experiences. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects that different play experiences had on career choices of professional women. A survey questionnaire on play experiences and related factors was administered to the subjects. Chi Squares and t-tests for differences between means revealed significant differences among subgroups of women on several independent variables. Professional business women had participated more in competitive sports as children, and-along with women in other nontraditional professions-reported more male playmates and fewer female playmates than did women in traditional professions. Forms of encouragement by fathers differed from that of mothers, and women in nontraditional professions received different forms of parental encouragement than women in traditional professions.     

The Underrepresentation of Women in Prestigious Ethics Journals

The main goal of this study is to determine whether women are underrepresented in prestigious ethics journals relative to their representation in the field of ethics. Our study proceeds in three steps. Step one: we estimate the percentage of women who specialize in ethics. Step two: we estimate the percentage of articles in prestigious ethics journals that are authored by women. Step three: we examine whether there is any difference between the percentage of women who specialize in ethics and the percentage of articles in prestigious ethics journals that are authored by women. We conclude that women are underrepresented in prestigious ethics journals relative to their representation in the field of ethics.     

Men who target women: specificity of target, generality of aggressive behavior

Two studies examined the effects of individual differences identified by the Confluence Model of aggression against women [Malamuth Linz, Hevey et al., 1995] and the General Aggression Model [GAM: Anderson and Carnagey, 2004] as predictors of male-on-female aggression. Study 1, a correlational study, found that hostile masculinity predicts self-reported sexual aggression independently of nonsexual aggression against women, and is itself predicted by proneness to general hostility, masculine gender role stress, and violent attitudes toward women. Furthermore, hostility toward women independently predicted sexual and nonsexual aggression against women, above the effects of general attitudes toward violence and general levels of hostility and aggression. Study 2, an experimental study, found that under high provocation, high hostility toward women predicted increases in male nonsexual aggression against women and slight decreases in male aggression against men. This effect remained significant even after controlling for general attitudes toward violence and for general levels of hostility and aggression, indicating that males who are highly hostile toward women specifically target women and that their aggression toward women generalizes beyond sexual aggression. The findings are discussed in terms of a model that integrates the Confluence Model with GAM.     

Sex differences in the time course of emotion

Conventional wisdom holds that women are more "emotional" than men. However, research evidence suggests that sex differences in emotion are considerably more complex. The authors tested hypotheses about sex differences in the engagement of the approach and avoidance motivational systems thought to underpin emotional responses. The authors measured reported emotional experience and startle response magnitude both during the presentation and after the offset of emotional stimuli that engage these motivational systems to assess whether men and women differ in their patterns of immediate response to emotional stimuli and in their patterns of recovery from these responses. Our findings indicated that women were more experientially reactive to negative, but not positive, emotional pictures compared to men, and that women scored higher than men on measure of aversive motivational system sensitivity. Although both men and women exhibited potentiation of the startle response during the presentation of negative pictures relative to neutral pictures, only women continued to show this relative potentiation during the recovery period, indicating that women were continuing to engage the aversive motivational system after the offset of negative emotional pictures.     

Women's Liberation Among Two Samples of Young Women

Interviews conducted in 1970 and 1971 with women who were university students and women registered with the state department of employment indicated that compared to married women, single women who did not have direct experience in the traditional female role held opinions which tended to idealize that role orientation. In particular, inexperienced women as opposed to more knowledgeable women tended to see marriage and children as the most important life experience for a woman, to have lower career commitment (p <.05), to plan to alter their career plans significantly to accommodate children (p <.05), and to idealize the sexual relationship in a marriage (p <.003). Neither group of women revealed belief patterns strongly supportive of the women's liberation movement.     

An analysis of social anxiety in anorexic,bulimic, social phobic,and control women

Responses to the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) were examined in 23 women with anorexia nervosa, 54 women with bulimia nervosa, 50 female college undergraduates, and 43 social phobic women. Results indicated that women with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa scored comparably high to social phobic women on measures of social anxiety and that these fears were not limited to fears of eating or drinking in public. This study suggests that fears of negative evaluation in women with eating disorders may generalize beyond the fears of scrutiny of body shape and size to more traditional social situations.     

The bad taste of social ostracism: The effects of exclusion on the eating behaviors of African-American women

African-American women experience disproportionately higher rates of obesity than do Caucasian women. The stress African-American women encounter from experiences of discrimination may influence their eating behaviours, which could contribute to weight gain. Emotional eating theory suggests some people increase their intake of high-calorie foods to cope with stressful experiences. We investigated the effects of social exclusion by other African-American women or by Caucasian women for African-American women’s distress and food consumption using a laboratory paradigm. As hypothesised, there were main effects of ostracism and interactions between ostracism and race, although not all of the interactions took the expected form. As hypothesised, African-American women ate more potato crisps after being excluded by Caucasians than by African-Americans. Unexpectedly, African-American women who were excluded by other African-American women self-reported more emotional distress than did African-American women excluded by Caucasian women. These findings suggest that ostracism by both in-group and out-group members are disturbing, although people may respond to in-group and out-group exclusion in different ways. Directions for future research are suggested that could elucidate the circumstances under which different emotional and behavioural coping responses are employed.     

Television viewing and perceptions of women's roles on television and in real life

Television has been heavily criticized in the popular press for the way it depicts women. Narrow and stereotyped portrayals of women may, according to some writers, cultivate misconceptions among the public about the way women are or should be. In a new investigation of this issue a survey study was undertaken with a large British sample in the London ITV region in which data were obtained on TV viewing behaviours and perceptions of the way women are portrayed on TV and beliefs about how they are or should be in real life. Results showed that only weight of action-drama viewing was significantly related to respondents' perceptions of women. Heavy viewers of action-drama content were more likely than light viewers to perceive women in reality as self-reliant, not quarrelsome with other women, not dependent on attractiveness to get on, and not preoccupied by romantic affairs. However, heavy action viewers also tended to believe that most women actually want to become mothers, and do not want careers, and more importantly that women ought to be like this. Only in some respects were these relationships consonant with those inferred by content analysts.     

The sexual harassment of uppity women

In 3 studies, the author tested 2 competing views of sexual harassment: (a) It is motivated primarily by sexual desire and, therefore, is directed at women who meet feminine ideals, and (b) it is motivated primarily by a desire to punish gender-role deviants and, therefore, is directed at women who violate feminine ideals. Study 1 included male and female college students (N = 175) and showed that women with relatively masculine personalities (e.g., assertive, dominant, and independent) experienced the most sexual harassment. Study 2 (N = 134) showed that this effect was not because women with relatively masculine personalities were more likely than others to negatively evaluate potentially harassing scenarios. Study 3 included male and female employees at 5 organizations (N = 238) and showed that women in male-dominated organizations were harassed more than women in female-dominated organizations, and that women in male-dominated organizations who had relatively masculine personalities were sexually harassed the most.     

Motivated to penalize: women's strategic rejection of successful women

Two studies tested the hypothesis that females penalize women who succeed in male gender-typed jobs to salvage their own self-views regarding competence. The authors proposed that women are motivated to penalize successful women (i.e., characterize them as unlikable and interpersonally hostile) to minimize the self-evaluative consequences of social comparison with a highly successful female target. Results supported the hypothesis. Whereas both male and female participants penalized successful women, blocking this penalization reduced female--but not male--participants' self-ratings of competence (Study 1). Moreover, positive feedback provided to female participants about their potential to succeed (Study 2) weakened negative reactions to successful women without costs to subsequent self-ratings of competence. These results suggest that the interpersonal derogation of successful women by other women functions as a self-protective strategy against threatening upward social comparisons.     

The impact of ethnicity,nationality, counseling orientation,and mental health standards on stereotypic beliefs about women: A pilot study

People vary in the extent to which they hold stereotypic beliefs about women. The recently developed Beliefs About Women Scale (BAWS) was used in five investigations to examine the following aspects of people's stereotypic beliefs about women: (Study I) the impact of ethnicity (Hispanics and Anglos) on women's endorsement of traditional beliefs about women; (Study II) the impact of national culture (Mexico and the United States) on women's responses to the BAWS; (Study III) the extent to which U.S. women define women's and men's mental health in terms of stereotypic beliefs about women; (Study IV) the extent to which preferences for counseling orientation influence the beliefs about women attributed to mentally healthy women and men; and (Study V) the impact of national culture (Mexico and the United States) on the beliefs about women ascribed to mentally healthy women and men. The results indicated that (a) U.S. Anglo females disagreed more strongly with traditional beliefs about women than did U.S. Hispanic females; (b) U.S. women expressed greater agreement with traditional stereotypes about women's interpersonal abilities and greater disagreement with traditional stereotypes about women's personal competencies than did women from Mexico; (c) the beliefs about women held by U.S. psychology trainees, and the beliefs about women that they attributed to mentally healthy females, were more nontraditional than those that they attributed to mentally healthy males; (d) particular counseling preferences were associated with the stereotypic beliefs about women that female counseling trainees imputed to mentally healthy males and females; and (e) similarities and differences exist on the beliefs about women that female psychology trainees from the United States and Mexico ascribe to mentally healthy females and males. The discussion focuses on mentally healthy beliefs about women, and the implications of these findings for the delivery of mental health services to women and men from various cultures.     

Working in the Uncharted Technology Frontier: Characteristics of Women Web Entrepreneurs

The numbers of women choosing to become entrepreneurs has been steadily increasing for the past two decades. Recently, the Internet has provided a new venue for business that may be especially appealing for women. This study was conducted to explore gender- and business-related characteristics of women who own Internet businesses. Two hundred and eight women web entrepreneurs responded to an on-line survey. The results indicated that the types of businesses participants owned could be differentiated based on characteristics of the women web entrepreneurs. Specifically, women owning retail businesses reported less familiarity with computers and geared their Internet businesses more to women. In addition, participants defined the success of their Internet businesses in multiple ways that reflected their current life roles.This research was partially funded by an Initiatives for Women Grant from the University at Albany. A previous version of this article was presented at the Association for Women in Psychology conference in 2003.     

Social Interactions of Obese and Nonobese Women

The stigma associated with obesity is likely to limit the opportunities obese women have to develop social skills. This hypothesis was tested by having obese (n = 15) and nonobese (n = 22) women converse on the telephone with college students who were unaware of the women's weights. Ratings made by judges who listened to the women's contributions to the conversations but who were unaware of their weights showed that obesity was negatively related to judgments about the women's likability, social skills, and physical attractiveness. The telephone partners of obese women rated the women and themselves more negatively than did the partners of nonobese women. Obese and nonobese women generally did not differ in their evaluations of their own and their telephone partners' behavior, and they also did not differ on a measure of social self-esteem. These findings suggest that there are real differences in the social behavior of obese and nonobese women and that these differences affect the impressions formed by those with whom they interact.