AN EXPERIMENTAL REPLICATION OF THE DEPRESSED-ENTITLEMENT EFFECT AMONG WOMEN

Previous research has suggested that women pay themselves significantly less than men pay themselves for the same amount of work (Callahan-Levy & Messé, 1979; Major, McFarlin, & Gagnon, 1984). In an experimental study involving 132 participants (68 men and 64 women), this "depressed-entitlement effect" was replicated in a current sample of university students. Independent judges unaware of participant gender perceived no differences in quality between products of men and women, indicating that the two groups' efforts did not differ in objective terms. Results are interpreted in terms of a general system-justification framework (lost & Banaji, 1994), according to which members of disadvantaged groups internalize ideological justifications for their own disadvantage.