Individual differences in the activation and control of affective race bias as assessed by startle eyeblink response and self-report

The activation and control of affective race bias were measured using startle eyeblink responses (Study 1) and self-reports (Study 2) as White American participants viewed White and Black faces. Individual differences in levels of bias were predicted using E. A. Plant and P. G. Devine's (1998) Internal and External Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice scales (IMS/EMS). Among high-IMS participants, those low in EMS exhibited less affective race bias in their blink responses than other participants. In contrast, both groups of high-IMS participants exhibited less affective race bias in self-reported responses compared with low-IMS participants. Results demonstrate individual differences in implicit affective race bias and suggest that controlled, belief-based processes are more effectively implemented in deliberative responses (e.g., self-reports).     

The Rating of Sexist Humor Under Time Pressure as an Indicator of Spontaneous Sexist Attitudes

Spontaneous vs. more controlled indicators of sexist attitudes were assessed in a laboratory experiment with 131 male German undergraduates. Participants rated the funniness of sexist and nonsexist jokes either with or without time pressure, and completed self-report measures of sexism and related constructs. With time pressure, participants showed greater liking for sexist jokes than without. No such effect was found for nonsexist jokes. Both with and without time pressure, sexist joke ratings showed meaningful correlations with standard self-report measures, which attests to the joke measure’s high reliability and construct validity. Directions for future research are discussed.     

Ambivalent Sexism and the Dumb Blonde: Men's and Women's Reactions to Sexist Jokes

This article examines the relationship between gender, hostile sexism, benevolent sexism and reactions to a seemingly innocuous genre of sexist humor, the dumb blonde joke. After hearing an audiotaped conversation in which two students swapped dumb blonde jokes, participants high in hostile sexism rated the jokes as more amusing and less offensive than those low in hostile sexism. Among individuals low in hostile sexism, however, benevolent sexism interacted with gender. Specifically, men high in benevolent sexism found the jokes significantly more amusing and less offensive than either women in the same group or men low in both hostile and benevolent sexism. This study replicates and extends previous research examining the relationship between hostile sexism and the enjoyment of sexist humor, and underscores the possibility that benevolent sexism may represent qualitatively distinct attitudes for men and women.     

Failure to warn: How student race affects warnings of potential academic difficulty

In two studies, we document “failure to warn”—a reduced likelihood of warning Black students against potential academic difficulty compared to White students. In both studies, participants placed in the role of academic advisors saw a highly challenging academic course plan, attributed to either a Black or a White student, and gave Black students less warning about the potential negative consequences of taking on the proposed plan. Study 1 (N = 172) demonstrates this effect using undergraduate peer academic advisors, and Study 2 (N = 58) provides evidence that this effect is moderated by Internal Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice (Plant & Devine, 1998), suggesting that this effect is driven by the fear that discouraging an ambitious Black student might reflect prejudice. This well-intentioned concern can have the ironic consequence of leading the recipients of this advice into academic difficulties.     

Development and Validation of the Sexist Attitudes Toward Women Stale (SATWS)

Although sexism is now defined as a major social problem, there have been very few empirical studies investigating its correlates and determinants. One primary reason for this is that there are no published sexism scales, and hence it is difficult to assess individual differences in sexism. This article describes the development and validation of a 40-item Sexist Attitudes Toward Women Scale (SATWS). On rational-intuitive grounds, it is hypothesized that sexism toward women has seven components and, accordingly, items were written to reflect these. It is suggested that scales measuring only one of these components (e.g., sex-role stereotype scales and women's liberation movement scales) lack content validity as measures of sexism. On empirical grounds it is argued that the SATW scale also has stronger construct validity as a measure of sexism toward women than other such scales. The SATW scale has high internal consistency reliability for both college students and nonstudent adults and the SATW scale scores are independent of social desirability scores. Relationships to age, sex, and education are presented.     

Conservative Ideology,Economic Conservatism,and Causal Attributions for Poverty and Wealth

The purpose of the study is to analyze the effects of different features of Conservative Ideology, measured via the Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Economic Conservatism (EC) scales, on Internal and External casual attributions for poverty and wealth. Participants were a group of 181 university students. Results of multiple regression analyses suggested that EC influenced Internal causal attributions for poverty and wealth positively but influenced the External ones negatively. Of the other measures, only SDO showed a negative effect on External causal attributions. Theoretical and practical implications of results are discussed.     

More than "just a joke": the prejudice-releasing function of sexist humor

The results of two experiments supported the hypothesis that, for sexist men, exposure to sexist humor can promote the behavioral release of prejudice against women. Experiment 1 demonstrated that hostile sexism predicted the amount of money participants were willing to donate to a women's organization after reading sexist jokes but not after reading nonhumorous sexist statements or neutral jokes. Experiment 2 showed that hostile sexism predicted the amount of money participants cut from the budget of a women's organization relative to four other student organizations upon exposure to sexist comedy skits but not neutral comedy skits. A perceived local norm of approval of funding cuts for the women's organization mediated the relationship between hostile sexism and discrimination against the women's organization.     

Further evidence of reliability and validity for the driving anger expression inventory

This study provided evidence of reliability and validity for the four scales of the Driving Anger Expression Inventory. Alpha reliabilities for scales ranged from .84 to .89. Measures of aggressive anger expression while driving (Verbal Aggressive Expression, Personal Physical Aggressive Expression, and Use of the Vehicle to Express Anger scales) correlated positively with each other and negatively with the Adaptive/Constructive Expression scale. Scores on the three aggressive forms of anger expression correlated positively with trait anger and measures of driving-related anger, aggression, and risky behavior, whereas scores on the Adaptive/Constructive Expression scale correlated negatively with these variables. Reports of aggressive and risky behavior correlated most strongly with the Use of the Vehicle to Express Anger scale. Forms of anger expression were minimally or uncorrelated with rated trait anxiety and reports of moving violations, close calls, and accidents. Findings replicated earlier findings and provided further evidence for the reliability and validity of the Driving Anger Expression Inventory.     

Measuring epistemic curiosity and its diversive and specific components

A questionnaire constructed to assess epistemic curiosity (EC) and perceptual curiosity (PC) curiosity was administered to 739 undergraduates (546 women, 193 men) ranging in age from 18 to 65. The study participants also responded to the trait anxiety, anger, depression, and curiosity scales of the State-Trait Personality Inventory (STPI; Spielberger et al., 1979) and selected subscales of the Sensation Seeking (SSS; Zuckerman, Kolin, Price, & Zoob, 1964) and Novelty Experiencing (NES; Pearson, 1970) scales. Factor analyses of the curiosity items with oblique rotation identified EC and PC factors with clear simple structure. Subsequent analyses of the EC items provided the basis for developing an EC scale, with Diversive and Specific Curiosity subscales. Moderately high correlations of the EC scale and subscales with other measures of curiosity provided strong evidence of convergent validity. Divergent validity was demonstrated by minimal correlations with trait anxiety and the sensation-seeking measures, and essentially zero correlations with the STPI trait anger and depression scales. Male participants had significantly higher scores on the EC scale and the NES External Cognition subscale (effect sizes of r =.16 and.21, respectively), indicating that they were more interested than female participants in solving problems and discovering how things work. Male participants also scored significantly higher than female participants on the SSS Thrill-and-Adventure and NES External Sensation subscales (r =.14 and.22, respectively), suggesting that they were more likely to engage in sensation-seeking activities.     

Challenging racism, sexism, and social injustice: support for urban adolescents' critical consciousness development

This mixed-model study examined the relationship between urban adolescents' perceived support for challenging racism, sexism, and social injustice from peers, family, and community members and their critical consciousness development. These relationships were examined by relating participants' qualitative perceptions of support for challenging racism, sexism, and social injustice to quantitative data obtained from Likert-type measures of the reflection and action components of critical consciousness. Perceived support for challenging racism, sexism, and social injustice had a significant impact upon the reflection component of critical consciousness; the significance criterion was supported by effect size estimates. Support for challenging racism, sexism, and social injustice was not significantly related to the action component of critical consciousness. Participants perceived the most support for challenging racism, moderate support for challenging social injustice, and the least support for challenging sexism. Additionally, female participants perceived more support for challenging sexism than male participants. These results suggest that the informal interactions of urban adolescents play a role in shaping their critical consciousness, and hold implications for psychosocial interventions and research with marginalized populations.     

Adaptation of the Sydney Attribution Scale in a Spanish college population

The aim of this study was to analyse the psychometric properties of the Sydney Attribution Scale in a sample of 1,508 college students. Factor analysis identified six factors: Success/Ability, Success/Effort, Success/External Causes, Failure/Ability, Failure/Effort, and Failure/External Causes. Success and failure factors accounted for an adequate percentage of the variance. Internal consistency was acceptable, similar in the success scales and in the failure scales, and higher in the internal scales than in the external scales. The results also showed a clear predictable pattern of relationships between dimensions of self-attribution, and between these dimensions and several measures of general self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, satisfaction with the studies, satisfaction with performance, and satisfaction with knowledge, which supports the construct validity of the SAS.     

From "in the air" to "under the skin": cortisol responses to social identity threat

The authors examined women's neuroendocrine stress responses associated with sexism. They predicted that, when being evaluated by a man, women who chronically perceive more sexism would experience more stress unless the situation contained overt cues that sexism would not occur. The authors measured stress as the end product of the primary stress system linked to social evaluative threat-the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal cortical axis. In Study 1, female participants were rejected by a male confederate in favor of another male for sexist reasons or in favor of another female for merit-based reasons. In Study 2, female participants interacted with a male confederate who they learned held sexist attitudes or whose attitudes were unknown. Participants with higher chronic perceptions of sexism had higher cortisol, unless the situation contained cues that sexism was not possible. These results illustrate the powerful interactive effects of chronic perceptions of sexism and situational cues on women's stress reactivity.     

The Social Phobia and Social Interaction Anxiety Scales: Evaluation of Psychometric Properties

The present investigations examined the factor structure and psychometric properties of two new self-report measures of social phobia, the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and the Social Phobia Scale (SPS). A confirmatory factor analysis in Study I provided support for the fit of a two-factor model of the SIAS and SPS. Internal consistency estimates were high for the original two scales with a sample of 200 undergraduates. Also, using an item parceling procedure, the obtained internal consistency reliability indices for each parcel were acceptable. Results of the CFA in Study II provided support for the factorial stability of the model identified in Study I. Furthermore, multisample analyses showed invariant patterns for factor loadings and factor correlations across 138 men and 272 women. Gender differences were not observed in the mean SIAS and SPS scale and item scores. Both scales correlated negatively and significantly with measures of social desirability. Concurrent validity was established for the scales. The SPS was less specific than the SIAS to symptoms of social phobia.     

Transparency of Self-Report Racial Attitude Scales

Researchers frequently use self-report prejudice scales to assess predictors and outcomes. Responding to evidence that such instruments are vulnerable to social desirability pressures and diverge from implicit attitude measures, researchers have developed instruments intended to be less transparent in their social implications. The purpose of this study was to assess the transparency of a sample of such instruments. Participants completed prejudice measures under typical scale instructions, or under alternate instructions to portray themselves either positively or negatively. The results indicate that several common measures of prejudice are quite transparent in their implications. Further, mean scores of participants instructed to provide desirable responses were indistinguishable from those ostensibly responding honestly.     

A REFINED COMPUTER HARASSMENT PARADIGM: VALIDATION, AND TEST OF HYPOTHESES ABOUT TARGET CHARACTERISTICS

A refined computer paradigm for assessing sexual harassment is presented, validated, and used for testing substantive hypotheses. Male participants were given an opportunity to send sexist jokes to a computer-simulated female chat partner. In Study 1 ( N = 44), the harassment measure (number of sexist jokes sent) correlated positively with self-reported harassment proclivity. Study 2 ( N = 77) included a more elaborate cover story, variations of the female target's attitude (feminist vs. traditional) and physical attractiveness (low vs. high), and additional measures for construct validation. Results showed that harassment correlated positively with self-reported harassment proclivity, hostile sexism, and male identity. Feminist targets were harassed more than traditional targets, whereas target attractiveness had no effect. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.     

Development of control-of-outcome scales and self-efficacy scales for women in four life roles

Scales to measure control-of-outcome expectancies and self-efficacy expectancies based on social comparisons were developed for adult females in the four life roles of occupation, parenting, marriage, and economic management. Internal consistency and construct validity of the scales were examined in two studies. Internal consistency estimates of six of the eight scales exceeded .70. A factor analysis within each role supported the distinction between control-of-outcome expectancies and self-efficacy expectancies. Construct validity was supported by finding the hypothesized relations between the developed scales and standard measures of self-esteem, depression,and locus of control. As hypothesized, the developed scales accounted for unique portions of the variance in role-specific coping orientation and role stress. Specifically, control-of-outcome expectancies predicted active or passive coping orientation in the personal roles of parenting and marriage. It was concluded that the developed scales might have utility for understanding coping and experienced stress in various life roles.     

Chinese children's evaluations of white lies: weighing the consequences for recipients

This research examined how Chinese children make moral judgments about lie telling and truth telling when facing a “white lie” or “politeness” dilemma in which telling a blunt truth is likely to hurt the feelings of another. We examined the possibility that the judgments of participants (7-11 years of age, N = 240) would differ as a function of the social context in which communication takes place. The expected social consequences were manipulated systematically in two studies. In Study 1, participants rated truth telling more negatively and rated lie telling more positively in a public situation where telling a blunt truth is especially likely to have negative social consequences. In Study 2, participants rated truth telling more positively and rated lie telling more negatively in a situation where accurate information is likely to be helpful for the recipient to achieve future success. Both studies showed that with increased age, children’s evaluations became significantly influenced by the social context, with the strongest effects being seen among the 11-year-olds. These results suggest that Chinese children learn to take anticipated social consequences into account when making moral judgments about the appropriateness of telling a blunt truth versus lying to protect the feelings of another.     

Relationships among affective and cognitive factors in humor

One hundred and twenty-five college students rated a total of 74 jokes, chosen by stratified sampling, on funniness and on 13 other scales suggested by humor theories. Highly similar factor structures were found with two sets of jokes. Ratings of surprise, resolution, and originality correlated strongly with funniness and helped define a factor on which funniness ratings loaded. Scales pertaining to painfulness, anxiety, or importance of joke topic were positively correlated with funniness but defined a factor essentially independent of it. Partial correlations suggested that these scales were related to funniness through their common relationship with incongruity and resolution scales. Ratings of how much a joke made subjects “feel free” correlated much more highly with ratings of incongruity and resolution than with ratings of painfulness, anxiety, or importance of joke topic. Results were interpreted as providing support for an incongruity-resolution theory of humor, and for the interdependency of affective factors with incongruity-resolution mechanisms.     

Beliefs m Realistic and Unrealistic Control: Assessment and Implications

ABSTRACT Scales were constructed to measure perceived control over controllable events (realistic control) and perceived control over uncontrollable events (unrealistic control). Internal reliability, test-retest reliability, and discriminant validity of both scales were adequate. Study 1 measured perceived personal control over hassles that judges rated on general controllability. For hassles very high in controllability, perceived personal control was related to belief in realistic control but not to belief in unrealistic control; for hassles very low in controllability, perceived personal control was related to belief in unrealistic control but not to belief in realistic control. Study 2 showed that participants high in unrealistic control belief (but not those high in realistic control belief) persevered more on a task that was in part uncontrollable. Study 3 showed that the combination of low realistic control belief and high unrealistic control belief predicted poorer future health, particularly for participants who have reported the experience of many negative events and/or hassles. The conditions under which unrealistic control results in maladaptive outcomes are discussed.     

Value correlates of ambivalent attitudes toward gender relations

This study related measures of hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, hostility toward men, and benevolence toward men to value priorities. It was predicted that these variables would be positively related to the importance of power values for self and negatively related to universalism and benevolence values and that measures of benevolent sexism and benevolence toward men would be positively related to tradition values and negatively related to self-direction values. These predictions were supported in a study in which student participants in Adelaide, South Australia, completed the Glick and Fiske Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, the Ambivalence Toward Men Inventory, and the Schwartz Value Survey. The results demonstrate how values influence attitudes toward gender relations and provide an additional perspective on current discussions of prejudice.