THE PERCEIVED VALUE OF DIRECT AND INDIRECT INFLUENCE STRATEGIES:

In this study, we assessed the generalizability of the Western preference for direct versus indirect influence strategies and its relation to participant sex, perceptions of participant power, and concerns for politeness among a sample of 138 American, 41 Japanese, and 44 Korean female and male college students. Regardless of cultural group or participant sex, direct strategies were reported as first choice strategies, whereas indirect strategies were cited as strategies of last resort. Participant power, not participant sex, was predictive of the students'reported strategy use. Although the American, Japanese, and Korean students were more similar than different on measures of perceived power and frequency of strategy use, concerns for politeness were reflected in the Japanese and Korean students'less confrontational strategy style.     

2001 Division 35 Presidential Address: Context Matters: Understanding Tokenism Processes and their Impact on Women's Work

Research on tokenism processes is reviewed and coalesces around two conclusions. First, gender constructs different social contexts for token women and for token men. Second, gender is most usefully conceptualized as a status variable, not something internal to the individual. Gender serves as a status marker such that women's subordinated status intersects with other indicators of status, such as race/ethnicity, and token difference to produce negative and variable outcomes for women not experienced by similarly underrepresented men. Thus, reducing negative tokenism outcomes, most notably unfavorable social atmosphere and disrupted colleagueship, can be done effectively only by taking gender status and stereotyping into consideration. These findings have applied implications for women's full inclusion in male-dominated occupations.