In profile
Effects of gendered behavior on testosterone in women and men
Sari van Anders, Jeffrey Steiger & Katherine Goldey
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Testosterone is typically understood to contribute to maleness and masculinity, although it also responds to behaviors such as competition. Competition is crucial to evolution and may increase testosterone but also is selectively discouraged for women and encouraged for men via gender norms. We conducted an experiment to test how gender norms might modulate testosterone as mediated by two possible gender→testosterone pathways. Using a novel experimental design, participants (trained actors) performed a specific type of competition (wielding power) in stereotypically masculine vs. feminine ways. We hypothesized in H1 (stereotyped behavior) that wielding power increases testosterone regardless of how it is performed, vs. H2 (stereotyped performance), that wielding power performed in masculine but not feminine ways increases testosterone. We found that wielding power increased testosterone in women compared with a control, regardless of whether it was performed in gender- stereotyped masculine or feminine ways. Results supported H1 over H2: stereotyped behavior but not performance modulated testosterone. These results also supported theory that competition modulates testosterone over masculinity. Our findings thus support a gender→testosterone pathway mediated by competitive behavior. Accordingly, cultural pushes for men to wield power and women to avoid doing so may partially explain, in addition to heritable factors, why testosterone levels tend to be higher in men than in women: A lifetime of gender socialization could contribute to “sex differences” in testosterone. Our experiment opens up new questions of gender→testosterone pathways, highlighting the potential of examining nature/nurture interactions and effects of socialization on human biology.
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Roselyn Lee-Won et al.
Communication Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research suggests that the experience of interpersonal racism increases target group individuals’ engagement in health-impairing behavior. While becoming relatively less visible in face-to-face communication contexts, overt racism is finding its “niche” in social media. Drawing on the general strain theory, we examined whether and how microblogged racist messages increase target group members’ intention to drink alcohol through negative emotions. In an online experiment conducted with a general adult sample of 211 Asians living in the United States, participants were randomly exposed to one of three stimuli - control (nonracist) tweets versus anti-Asian tweets versus anti-Asian retweets - and reported their affective states. Next, participants performed a drink choice task disguised as a consumer survey. Results showed that microblogged racist messages indirectly influenced drinking intention in two causal pathways: through anger and serially throu gh shame and anger. The impact and implications of racist messages generated and disseminated through social media platforms are discussed.
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The Cost of Color: Skin Color, Discrimination, and Health among African-Americans
Ellis Monk
American Journal of Sociology, September 2015, Pages 396-444
Abstract:
In this study, the author uses a nationally representative survey to examine the relationship(s) between skin tone, discrimination, and health among African-Americans. He finds that skin tone is a significant predictor of multiple forms of perceived discrimination (including perceived skin color discrimination from whites and blacks) and, in turn, these forms of perceived discrimination are significant predictors of key health outcomes, such as depression and self-rated mental and physical health. Intraracial health differences related to skin tone (and discrimination) often rival or even exceed disparities between blacks and whites as a whole. The author also finds that self-reported skin tone, conceptualized as a form of embodied social status, is a stronger predictor of perceived discrimination than interviewer-rated skin tone. He discusses the implications of these findings for the study of ethnoracial health disparities and highlights the utility of cognitive and multidi mensional approaches to ethnoracial and social inequality.
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Ursula Hess, Shlomo David & Shlomo Hareli
Emotion, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present research investigated the notion that passionate restraint or “manly emotion” is a relevant emotion norm not only for men but also for women in modern Western society (MacArthur & Shields, 2015). For this, 2 studies were conducted to assess whether restraint in emotional reactivity is perceived as a sign of both emotional and general competence. Restraint was induced by delaying the onset of the emotional reaction to a purported emotion elicitor. The results show that men were indeed rated as both more emotionally competent and more intelligent in general when they showed restraint, confirming the notion that such restraint fits a positively valued Western ideal of emotional reactivity. For women, however, the opposite pattern emerged in that they were perceived as more emotionally competent and intelligent when they reacted immediately than when restraint was induced. Thus, manly emotions were good for men only.
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Morgan Ellithorpe, David Ewoldsen & Kelsey Porreca
Communication Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
The presence of non-humans in media narratives - for example, in the supernatural genre - may make salient that we are all human. According to the common ingroup identity model, the human superordinate category should influence attitudes toward lower level outgroups. The present study examines this in the context of ethnic outgroups, specifically African Americans. Similarity of supernatural villains to humans was manipulated to influence whether “human” was a relevant superordinate group. Additionally, character race was varied to understand the influence of group diversity cues. Consistent with the common ingroup identity model, exposure to a Black human character fighting non-humans reduces prejudice toward African Americans, and this reduced prejudice generalizes to other minority groups. Results suggest a complex relationship between exposure to supernatural villains and diversity cues on attitudinal outcomes, with identity as human as one possible mechanis m for reducing prejudicial attitudes.
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Cognitive discrimination: A benchmark experimental study
Michele Belot
Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, September 2015, Pages 173-185
Abstract:
This study provides experimental evidence for a cognitive mechanism underlying racial discrimination. Specifically, we study memory biases in the ability to remember people within and across races, in a context where there is no difference in the distribution of payoffs across racial groups. Participants see pictures of people - whom we call candidates - of White and East Asian origin, learn payoff-relevant information about them, and then are asked to identify the candidates associated with the highest payoffs. I find that people are much better able to recall candidates with higher payoffs if they are of the same race. Candidates of the other race are more likely to be confused with each other. This leads to positive and negative discrimination at the same time: those at the bottom of the distribution benefit whereas those at the top lose out. These results suggest that cognitive biases could play a role in the nature of cross-racial relations, in particular for phenomena r elying on repeated interactions and individual recognition, such as the formation and maintenance of social ties and the establishment of trust relationships.
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Effects of Anti-Black Political Messages on Self-Esteem
Monique Lyle
Journal of Experimental Political Science, Spring 2015, Pages 73-80
Abstract:
This study examines how anti-Black political rhetoric affects race-specific collective self-esteem (R-CSE) and internal political efficacy among African-Americans and Whites. Results from an experiment in which subjects received an anti-Black stereotype-accentuating message attributed to either a political figure or an “ordinary American,” or no message at all, demonstrate that the political message undermined how African-Americans regard their own racial group, activated beliefs about how others regard African-Americans as a predictor of how African-Americans regard their own racial group, and undermined internal political efficacy. For Whites, the results demonstrate that the political message moderated the relationship between how they regard their own racial group and beliefs about how others regard their racial group, though the political message did not significantly increase or decrease racial group-regard or political efficacy overall. These results prov ide empirical confirmation of the role that government and politics can play in self-esteem.
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Expanding Boundaries of Whiteness? A Look at the Marital Patterns of Part-White Multiracial Groups
Michael Miyawaki
Sociological Forum, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using a boundary perspective (Alba and Nee 2003), I examine the marital behavior of three self-identified multiracial groups: black/whites, American Indian/whites, Asian/whites. With a focus on marriage with whites, I assess whether the boundaries of whiteness are expanding to include these part-white multiracial groups. Marrying whites at a large scale may signify that part-white multiracial Americans are in the process of being accepted as “white.” At the same time, due to differences in the racial identity experiences of multiracial groups, marital patterns may differ by racial combination. Based on analysis of 2008-2012 American Community Survey data, I find that the majority of all three groups are married to whites, suggesting that most members in these groups are on the path to whiteness. On the other hand, multinomial logistic regression analysis demonstrates that American Indian/whites and Asian/whites are more likely than black/whites to have a white s pouse, relative to spouses of another race/ethnicity. Moreover, separate regression analyses by multiracial group reveal gender differences in their likelihood of marrying whites for black/whites and Asian/whites. These results indicate racial stratification in the marriage market among part-white multiracial Americans, with further stratification by gender for some groups.
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Longitudinal Links Between Discrimination and Civic Development Among Latino and Asian Adolescents
Parissa Ballard
Journal of Research on Adolescence, forthcoming
Abstract:
The transition from adolescence to adulthood is formative for civic development. Unfortunately, many adolescents from Latino and Asian backgrounds experience discrimination, which can alienate them from civic life. This study employed cross-lagged structural equation modeling to test the bidirectional links between perceived discrimination and civic beliefs and activism among Latino and Asian late adolescents (N = 400, Mage = 17.34, 61% female). Civic beliefs (i.e., believing that the government is unresponsive) and civic activism (i.e., protesting and expressing political opinions) in high school predicted increased perceptions of discrimination over time. Perceiving high levels of discrimination in high school predicted a decrease in the belief that society is fair over time.
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Paranoia predicts out-group prejudice: Preliminary experimental data
Barbara Lopes & Rusi Jaspal
Mental Health, Religion & Culture, Summer 2015, Pages 380-395
Abstract:
This article examines the relationships between exposure to terrorism news and state social paranoia, death anxiety and Islamophobia. In two experiments we show that, contrary to previous research in this area, the terrorism news condition did not significantly increase state social paranoia, death anxiety and prejudice towards Muslims, but that paranoid thinking was the sole predictor of Islamophobia. Trait paranoia is associated with both poor well-being and with negative perceptions of Muslim competitive players - a form of inter-relational prejudice. Results indicated that the frequency of paranoid thoughts mediates the relationship between death anxiety and anti-Muslim prejudice and trait paranoia is the main predictor of the negative perceptions of a Muslim competing player. This study elucidates new pathways to understanding terror management theory, by including paranoia as a type of thinking that predisposes individuals to be suspicious of salient out-groups.
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Howard Fisher
Games and Culture, November 2015, Pages 551-570
Abstract:
Although evidence has shown that video games portray women as hypersexualized objects, video game magazines have received little study. Using the theory of Hegemonic Masculinity, an in-depth review of six video game magazines (three print and three online) revealed that the magazines consistently treat digital women as vacant pinups to be ogled or irrelevant sidekicks to be tolerated, and real women as annoying interlopers to be bullied.
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What sounds beautiful looks beautiful stereotype: The matching of attractiveness of voices and faces
Susan Hughes & Noelle Miller
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study experimentally tested whether individuals have a tendency to associate attractive voices with attractive faces and, alternately, unattractive voices with unattractive faces. Participants viewed pairings of facial photographs of attractive and unattractive individuals and had listened to attractive and unattractive voice samples and were asked to indicate which facial picture they thought was more likely to be the speaker of the voice heard. Results showed that there was an overall tendency to associate attractive voices with attractive faces and unattractive voices with unattractive faces, suggesting that a “what-sounds-beautiful-looks-beautiful” stereotype exists. Interestingly, there was an even stronger propensity to pair unattractive voices to unattractive faces than for the attractive voice-face matching.
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Jason Coronel & Kara Federmeier
Communication Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Gender-based political stereotypes pervade the media environment in the United States, and this may cause voters to automatically activate these stereotypes while evaluating politicians. In the research reported here, we investigate whether voters are able to reduce the automatic activation of unwanted stereotypes and how political sophistication influences this capacity. The current experiment uses self-reports to measure controlled stereotyping, and we develop a new eye movement metric to measure automatic stereotyping. We find that political sophisticates are more effective than novices at reducing unwanted gender-based political stereotypes. This study has two main implications for communication research. First, the results suggest that the effects of gender-based automatic stereotyping - induced by the information environment - on political judgments may not be as powerful as some of the current literature portrays them to be. Second, this study adds eye movements to the
arsenal of tools available to communication scholars interested in measuring covert forms of stereotyping.
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Reducing Stereotypes of Female Political Leaders in Mexico
Yann Kerevel & Lonna Rae Atkeson
Political Research Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Does electing female political leaders reduce gender stereotypes about leadership? Scholars know little about how the increasing presence of female executives alters gender stereotypes about political leadership. Some studies suggest gender stereotypes change slowly because they are embedded in cultural values and structural factors that reinforce traditional gender roles. Other research suggests stereotypes change more quickly with the increasing presence of female political leadership. We address this question by examining the effect of being governed by a female mayor in Mexico. We find that the presence of a current female mayor reduces gender stereotypes among males. However, past female mayors have little effect on current gender stereotypes about leadership. Our results suggest women must be present in executive offices more frequently to produce long-term change in gender stereotypes.
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Stereotypes: A source of bias in affective and empathic forecasting
Wesley Moons, Jacqueline Chen & Diane Mackie
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, forthcoming
Abstract:
People’s emotional states often depend on the emotions of others. Consequently, to predict their own responses to social interactions (i.e., affective forecasts), we contend that people predict the emotional states of others (i.e., empathic forecasts). We propose that empathic forecasts are vulnerable to stereotype biases and demonstrate that stereotypes about the different emotional experiences of race (Experiment 1) and sex groups (Experiment 2) bias empathic forecasts. Path modeling in both studies demonstrates that stereotype-biased empathic forecasts regarding how a target individual will feel during a social interaction are associated with participants’ affective forecasts of how they will feel during that interaction with the target person. These affective forecasts, in turn, predict behavioral intentions for the social interaction before it even begins. Stereotypes can therefore indirectly bias affective forecasts by first influencing the empathic foreca sts that partly constitute them. In turn, these potentially biased affective forecasts determine social behaviors.