Gender bias in employment contexts: A closer examination of the role incongruity principle

This research extends the role incongruity analysis of employment-related gender bias by investigating the role of dispositional and situational antecedents, specifically political ideology and the salience of cues to the traditional female gender role. The prediction that conservatives would show an anti-female candidate bias and liberals would show a pro-female bias when the traditional female gender role is salient was tested across three experimental studies. In Study 1, 126 participants evaluated a male or a female job applicant with thoughts of the traditional female gender role activated or not. Results showed that when the gender role is salient, political ideology moderates evaluations of the female candidates such that conservatives evaluate her negatively and liberals evaluate her positively. Study 2 (89 participants) replicated this effect and showed that this political ideology-based bias does not occur when the non-traditional female gender role is made salient. Study 2 also demonstrated that the observed effects are not driven by liberals' and conservatives' differing perceptions regarding the female applicant's qualifications for the job. Finally, Study 3 (159 participants) both replicated the political ideology-based evaluation bias for female candidates and demonstrated that this bias is mediated by conservatives' and liberals' attitudes toward the roles of women in society.     

GENDER ROLE AND POLITICAL OFFICE

Women are less represented in prestigious national political offices than they are in state and local offices. How this underrepresentation may be related to perceived characteristics of office and candidate are explored in the two studies described here. In Study 1, the "masculinity/femininity" of local, state, and national offices was analyzed; all levels of office were rated as more "masculine" than "feminine." In Study 2, the sex as well as the gender role of a hypothetical presidential candidate was varied. "Masculine" and male candidates were evaluated as being more competent on presidential tasks such as dealing with terrorism; "feminine" and female candidates were rated higher on tasks such as solving problems in our educational system. Men, regardless of gender role, were perceived as being more likely to win a presidential election, and "masculine" tasks were evaluated as being more important than "feminine" presidential tasks. Implications for future female politicians are discussed.     

How sex puts you in gendered shoes: sexuality-priming leads to gender-based self-perception and behavior

Scripts for sexual behavior dictate that women be submissive and tender and that men be assertive and dominant, reflecting the stereotypical view of women as communal and of men as agentic. Six experiments tested the hypothesis that exposure to sexuality cues causes men's and women's momentary self-perceptions and concomitant behavior to become more gender-typical. Using both pictorial and verbal prime materials that were presented both supraliminally and subliminally, we found that sex-priming strengthened gender-based self-perceptions (i.e., faster self-categorization as a woman or man; Study 1), heightened identification with one's own gender (Study 2), increased gender self-stereotyping (Study 3), and elicited greater submissiveness in women's behavior and greater assertiveness in men's behavior (Studies 4 and 5). These findings indicate that sex-priming causes self-perception and social behavior to become "attuned" to gender stereotypes. Study 6 demonstrated that these sex-priming effects can be eliminated by modern gender role primes. The potentially detrimental effects of sex-priming and possible countermeasures are discussed.     

The Role of Candidate Sex in Voter Decision-Making

Recent studies investigating the role of candidate sex in voter decision-making have not found discrimination against women candidates. Thus, voter bias is often dismissed as part of the explanation for the drastic underrepresentation of women in high elective office. In a dual sample of Wyoming and California college students, bias against women candidates was found to be a factor in the vote choice. Studies that examine only one sample of voters in one region may be prematurely dismissing the possible existence of gender discrimination in some regions or cultures within the United States.     

Examining the Gender Gap in Children’s Attitudes Toward Politics

In the 2004 presidential election, a majority of men (54%) voted to reelect George W. Bush, but a minority of women (48%) supported Bush at the polls. The gender gap was also evident in races for the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate in 2004. In addition, there is a persistent and significant difference in policy preferences and political priorities among men and women. Taken together, the evidence clearly indicates that men and women currently view politics in the United States differently. What factors help explain these differences? In the present study, we examined whether boys and girls view politics differently. We interviewed eighth-grade students from six middle schools in Maricopa County, AZ in the spring of 2003 and 2004. Our results indicate that the gender gap in policy and partisanship is established early, before children reach adulthood. This suggests that the persistent gender gap in adult views about politics is rooted, at least partially, in gender differences during childhood socialization.     

Ingroup bias,self-enhancement and group identification

These two studies integrate self-enhancement and ingroup bias and analyse the phenomena from the social identity theory and self-categorization theory. In Study 1, the subjects (N=181) evaluated supporters of two presidential candidates on a rating scale. In Study 2, the subjects (N=302) evaluated either Finnish women's and men's positive characteristics (success condition) or negative characteristics (failure condition) which might play a role in achieving equality between the sexes in Finland. Self-evaluations were conducted on the same scale as those of ingroup and outgroup evaluations. The results showed that ingroup was evaluated more positively than outgroup (hypothesis 1) and that self was evaluated more positively than ingroup (in Study 2, however, this main effect was qualified by gender). As expected, group identification did not dilute self-enhancement (hypothesis 2) in either of the studies but strengthened self-enhancement in Study 1. Hypothesis 3 stated that self-enhancement is inversely related to ingroup favouritism but the hypothesis was only partially confirmed in that the correlation was predictably negative in Study 1 but near zero in both conditions of Study 2. Finally, contrary to hypothesis 4, it turned out that high identified group members evaluated self and ingroup more independently than lows which contradicts the idea of depersonalization. Together the results would be plausible if we rejected the unidimensional conception of interpersonal–intergroup behaviour and assumed instead that interpersonal and intergroup behaviour constitute two bipolar continua. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Androgyny and sex-typing: Differences in beliefs regarding gender polarity in ratings of ideal men and women

To test Bem's (1979) hypothesis that androgynous and sex-typed individuals are differentiated by the presence or absence of beliefs in “gender polarity,” 200 students rated themselves on the short Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). Of these 200, 20 androgynous women, 20 androgynous men, 20 feminine sex-typed women, and 20 masculine sex-typed men were randomly selected and asked to rate either the ideal woman or the ideal man on the short BSRI. As predicted, androgynous women did not rate the ideal man and woman differently, but, contrary to prediction, neither did feminine-typed women. As predicted, masculine-typed men rated the ideal man and woman differently, but, contrary to prediction, so did androgynous men. Thus, sex rather than sex-role distinguished subjects' beliefs in gender polarity. This finding may reflect women's desires for, and men's fears of, abandoning traditional modes of sex differentiation. The large initial subject pool was necessary because an extremely high percentage of subjects were classified as feminine sex-typed. An apparent feminine bias in the short BSRI is discussed.     

Gender Role Expectations of Disgust: Men are Low and Women are High

Little is known about the gender-based stereotypes of the emotion of disgust. We hypothesized that when addressing core (gross-out) disgust specifically, men would be perceived as lower in disgust matching masculine roles and women would be perceived as higher in disgust consonant with feminine gender roles. In Study 1, we modified and validated the Gender Role Expectations of Pain graphical scale (GREP, Robinson et al. 2001) to address disgust and gave it and a disgust sensitivity scale to 136 (48 men) undergraduates from the northeastern United States. Rating disgust sensitivity of themselves and stereotypical men and women, both genders rated men low in disgust sensitivity compared to a typical woman and women high in disgust compared to a typical man. A significant trend for men higher in masculinity to be less willing to show their disgust was also seen. This exact pattern of significant results was found in an additional sample of 134 students (37 men) from the northeastern U.S. on an online version of the GREP. Study 2 examined gender role expectations for comparison emotions of anger and amusement in a different set of undergraduates from the northeastern U.S. Anger showed a trend toward an opposite pattern of ratings than for disgust; no gender biases were expected or seen for amusement, a control emotion. Thus, the stereotypical profile of high disgust reported for women did not merely reflect general overarching gender-based stereotypes of emotion, but gender-based expectations specific to core (gross-out) disgust. We suggest awareness of gender role expectations of disgust may play a role in observed gender differences reported for disgust.     

Linking personal values to gender

Two studies were conducted to investigate the relation between personal values and aspects of gender. Study 1 used the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) to examine the nature of stereotypes concerning the values of the “typical man” and the “typical woman”. Results supported the hypothesis that men are viewed as more likely to endorse agentic values, such as freedom and accomplishment, whereas women are viewed as more likely to endorse communal values, such as friendship and equality. Study 2 assessed men and women's possession of stereotypic sets of masculine and feminine values, using the RVS, and examined their relation to gender-related personality traits, gender-related interests and role behaviors, and global self-perceptions of masculinity and femininity. Masculine values were found to be significantly related to socially desirable masculine traits, socially undesirable masculine traits, masculine interests and a global self-concept of masculinity. Feminine values were shown to be significantly related to socially desirable feminine traits, feminine interests, feminine role behaviors, and a global self-concept of femininity. These results suggest that gender-linked personal values merit inclusion with traits, interests, role behaviors, and global self-concepts as part of an emerging multidimensional conception of gender characteristics.     

Playing the Woman Card: Ambivalent Sexism in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Race

Late in the 2016 U.S. Presidential primary, Donald Trump attacked Hillary Clinton for playing the “woman’s card.” Theories of system justification suggest that attitudes about gender, particularly endorsement of hostile and benevolent sexism, likely shaped reactions to this campaign attack. Using a set of two studies, we find that hostile sexists exposed to the attack showed increased support for Trump and decreased support for Clinton. Benevolent sexists, however, reacted to Trump’s statements with increased support for Clinton, consistent with benevolent sexism’s focus on protecting women (Study 1). We further found that the woman card attack produced distinct emotional reactions among those with low and high levels of hostile and benevolent sexism. The attack also increased political participation among hostile sexists (Study 2). Our results offer new insights into the role of sexism in the 2016 presidential contest and further the discipline’s understanding of the gendered dimension of negative campaigning.     

Ladies and Gentlemen, Women and Men: A Study of the Connotations of Words Indicating Gender

Lakoff's hypothesis about the connotations of the words "lady" and "woman" was investigated by asking college students to rate these words, as well as the masculine words "gentleman" and "man", on several adjective scales. Ratings indicated that the term "gentleman" implied greater competence and warmth than the word "man", while the term "lady" tended to suggest to raters relatively less competence and less warmth than the term "woman" did. Further, it was found that the more formal term ("gentleman", "lady") regardless of gender was described more positively than the less formal term ("man", "woman") on several scales concerned with goodness, politeness, morality, and femininity. Lakoff's hypothesis that "lady" conveys some unique meanings relative to sex role stereotypes thus received support, although some of the connotations of "lady" appear to be due to implied formality rather than to gender features. The degree to which feminine terms were differentiated by raters could be predicted to some extent on the basis of rater characteristics; no significant prediction was possible for the masculine terms.     

How “American” is Barack Obama? The Role of National Identity in a Historic Bid for the White House

Against the backdrop of the 2008 presidential election, we examined the extent to which the American identity was implicitly and explicitly associated with Barack Obama compared to Tony Blair (Study 1), Hillary Clinton (Study 2), and John McCain (Studies 3 and 4). When conscious control was relatively limited and targets were categorized based on race, the American identity was less strongly associated with Obama than with the other candidates. This effect was stronger than when the candidates were categorized based on their personal identity (Studies 1–4), gender (Study 2), political affiliation (Study 3), or age (Study 4). In addition, the extent to which candidates were differentiated in terms of implicit and explicit associations with the American identity predicted the relative willingness to actively support them.     

Temptation Bias: Can Self-enhancement Limit the Influence of Gender Stereotypes?

Temptation bias is the tendency to see oneself as better than others at resisting temptation. To understand the influence of self-enhancement and gender stereotypes on temptation bias, 215 undergraduates from a university located in the southwest region of the United States compared their ability to resist ten sexually tempting scenarios to that of others in general, and to their romantic partner (Study 1). An additional 151 undergraduates from the same university rated their own or their partner’s ability to resist seven sexually tempting scenarios compared to other men and women (Study 2). Results revealed that temptation bias was present but reduced when romantic partners were the comparison targets; and when comparing themselves to others, women displayed temptation bias regardless of the gender of the referent while men displayed temptation bias only when comparing themselves to men.     

Leadership roles and the gender stereotype traits

Men generally occupy the role of leader and women the role of follower in marital relationships. This research tested the hypothesis that these implicit leader-follower roles determine the way in which the gender stereotype traits are typically assigned to women and men. In one condition, the man was described as the leader in the marriage, and in another condition, the traditional power relationship was reversed and the woman was described as the leader. Regardless of sex, the leader was perceived as strong in agency and weak in communion; the follower was perceived as strong in communion and weak in agency. A man and woman, who were described as equal leaders, did not differ in the strength of their agentic and communal traits. A relationship approach was used to formulate the connection between leader-follower roles and the gender stereotype traits.     

Overestimating Reported Prejudice Causes Democrats to Believe Disadvantaged Groups Are Less Electable

Four studies show that Democrats overestimate the explicit prejudice reported by the American electorate, leading them to perceive presidential candidates from disadvantaged groups as less electable. Study 1 (MTurk; n = 728) found that Democrats overestimated the percentage of Americans who say they would not vote for presidential candidates from disadvantaged groups. Study 2 (MTurk; n = 597) replicated this finding and demonstrated that Democrats who perceive high levels of explicit prejudice toward a group also believe presidential candidates from that group are less electable. Moreover, Democrats who more frequently interacted with Republicans were more accurate in estimating the amount of explicit prejudice reported by Republicans, Democrats, and Americans in general. Studies 3A (Prolific; n = 930) and 3B (YouGov; n = 747) found that presenting information about true levels of reported prejudice made Democrats believe generic presidential candidates from disadvantaged groups would be more electable. We did not find evidence that information about true levels of reported prejudice affected Democrats' beliefs about the electability of specific candidates in the 2020 Democratic Primary or their support for these candidates.     

Perceptions of candidate strength in job recruitment: Does candidate race moderate the attractiveness bias in White women?

The attractiveness bias suggests that people who are more attractive will be positively favored across life outcomes. This study sought to test whether candidate attractiveness, sex, and race, affect perceptions of candidate strength in a job recruitment task. In total, 338 White women (M_age = 20.94 ± 5.65) were asked to make judgements of a potential candidate for an administrative job (resume with candidate photograph). The vignettes differed in terms of candidate ability (strong/weak), sex (male/female), race (Black/White), and attractiveness (attractive/less attractive). Participants rated perceived candidate strength and likelihood to invite for interview. Results showed no significant main effects for attractiveness. However, there was a significant interaction for target attractiveness and race, such that attractive/White candidates were more likely to be invited for interview than less attractive/White candidates. There was also a significant main effect for race such that Black candidates were rated as stronger and more likely to be interviewed. Sensitivity analyses (with nonheterosexual women removed from the sample) also showed a main effect for target sex such that female candidates were favored over male candidates. Overall, these findings provide evidence that attractiveness, sex, and race have important, albeit complex, effects on hiring decisions in the workplace.     

Effects of sex role stereotyping among European American students on domestic violence culpability attributions

Effects of European American students' sex role stereotyping and domestic violence participants' race and relationship intimacy were examined for culpability attributions. In addition to a man's responsibility rating and a sentencing measure, five factors were identified from the dependent measures; these were Sympathy with Man, Incident as Abusive, Generalness of Incident, Seriousness of Incident, and Man as Abuser. Results indicated that sex role stereotyping was influential in culpability attributions, as those with traditional orientations showed a favorable bias toward the man, particularly a married man. Traditionalists provided a shorter sentence for the man and thought the incident less abusive when the woman was African American, in comparison to egalitarians. Both egalitarians and traditionalists expressed more sympathy toward the man when the woman was African American and married. Although we had anticipated higher culpability ratings for women involved in interracial relationships, we found that the European American man was thought less responsible when the woman was African American, but no differences emerged when the woman was European American. It is suggested future research examine the specific content of various stereotypic subtypes of actors involved in domestic violence and how these stereotypic subtypes bias culpability attributions.Appreciation is extended to an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.Portions of this research were presented at the 1994 biennial meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Santa Fe, NM.     

Effects of gender and situation on the perception of sexual harassment

This study addressed three sources of variability in the perception of sexual harassment: the gender of the observer, the gender combination of the harasser and victim, and the role relationship between the harasser and victim. College students (N = 197), approximately 80% of whom were Caucasian, single, and in their early 20s, were randomly divided into two groups. In one group, the harasser was a man and the victim was a woman. In the other group, the harasser was a woman and the victim was a man. Participants rated the degree to which they thought sexual harassment occurred in 20 hypothetical interactions in each of three situations using a 7-point sexual harassment scale. Men and women rated the situations alike as long as the harasser was a man and the victim was a woman. When the perpetrator was a woman and the victim was a man, men gave significantly lower ratings than women. In contrast, women's ratings were the same regardless of the gender of the harasser. Harassment ratings also varied as a function of the power differential between the harasser and victim. The more egalitarian the relationship, the less likely participants were to perceive the behavior as sexually harassing.     

When Courtesy Fails: Gender Roles and Polite Behaviors1

In order to explore some of the links between gender roles and traditional courteous behaviors, 284 university students responded to a questionnaire in which they evaluated scenarios of cross-sex courteous acts, described their recent experiences with courtesy, and identified courteous behaviors that they commonly performed for and expected from others. As predicted, there was a tendency for courtesies from a woman to a man to be viewed less favorably than courtesies from a man to a woman. Most subjects had directed their most recent act of courtesy toward a female and had received their most recent act from a person of the opposite sex. Some common courtesies tended to be directed toward females more than males, and males were expected to perform certain courtesies such as opening doors and paying for things for women. In general, the results confirmed the theory that courteous behaviors may serve to perpetuate gender role stereotypes and to regulate interactions between the sexes. However, most courteous behaviors were performed and appreciated by people of both genders.     

The Effect of Clear Evaluation Criteria on Sex Bias in Judgments of Performance

Previous research indicates that the work of women is often devalued rela- tive to that of men. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that such sex bias appears when judges follow ambiguous guidelines or criteria in making evalua- tions, but not when they tollow clear evaluation guidelines. In each experiment, male and female undergraduates evaluated a performance that was attributed to either a man or woman (an intellectual test performance in Experiment I; an artistic craft object in Experiment 11). Subjects followed either clear, explicit evaluation criteria or vague, ambiguous criteria. As predicted, female subjects Lyaluated the "female's" performance less favorably than the "male's" only when. criteria were vague. In contast, male subjects showed little evidence of sex bias, regardless of the criteria they followed. Discussion centers upon: (1) possible cognitive processes underlying the observed effects of clear criteria; and (2) potential practical applications designed to alleviate sex bias in naturalistic settings.