Insidious dangers of benevolent sexism: Consequences for women's performance (original) (raw)

Article (Scientific journals)

Insidious dangers of benevolent sexism: Consequences for women's performance

; Dumont, Muriel; Bollier, Thierry

2007 • In Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93 (5), p. 764-779

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Files (1)Send to Details Statistics Bibliography Similar publications

Files

Full Text

All documents in ORBi are protected by a user license.

Send to

Details

Keywords :

benevolent and hostile sexism; discrimination; performance and working memory; ingroup identification; sense of competence

Abstract :

[en] Four experiments found benevolent sexism to be worse than hostile sexism for women's cognitive performance. Experiments 1-2 showed effects of paternalist benevolent sexism and ruled out explanations of perceived sexism, context pleasantness, and performance motivation. Experiment 3 showed effects of both paternalist and complementary gender differentiation components of benevolent sexism. Benevolent sexism per se (rather than the provision of unsolicited help involved in paternalism) worsened performance. Experiment 4 showed that impaired performance due to benevolent sexism was fully mediated by the mental intrusions women experienced about their sense of competence. Additionally, Experiment 4 showed that gender identification protected against hostile but not benevolent sexism. Despite the apparently positive and inoffensive tone of benevolent sexism, our research emphasizes its insidious dangers.

Research Center/Unit :

Centre de Neurosciences Cognitives et Comportementales - ULiège

Disciplines :

Social, industrial & organizational psychology

Author, co-author :

Dardenne, Benoît ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences cognitives > Psychologie sociale

Dumont, Muriel; Université de Liège - ULiège

Bollier, Thierry; Université de Liège - ULiège

Title :

Insidious dangers of benevolent sexism: Consequences for women's performance

Publication date :

November 2007

Journal title :

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Publisher :

Amer Psychological Assoc/Educational Publishing Foundation, Washington, United States - Washington

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 18 February 2009

Statistics

Number of views

1158 (30 by ULiège)

Number of downloads

14664 (39 by ULiège)

Scopus citations®
without self-citations

356

Bibliography

Abrams D., Viki G.T., Masser B., and Bohner G. Perceptions of stranger and acquaintance rape: The role of benevolent and hostile sexism in victim blame and rape proclivity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84 (2003) 111-125
Bargh J.A. The automaticity of everyday life. In: Wyer Jr. R.S. (Ed). Advances in social cognition 10 (1997), Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ 1-61
Baron R.M., and Kenny D.A. The moderator-mediator distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51 (1986) 1173-1182
Barreto M., and Ellemers N. The burden of benevolent sexism: How it contributes to the maintenance of gender inequalities. European Journal of Social Psychology 35 (2005) 633-642
Beilock S.L., and Carr T.H. When high-powered people fail: Working memory and "choking under pressure" in math. Psychological Science 16 (2005) 101-105
Beilock S.L., Kulp C.A., Holt L.E., and Carr T.H. More on the fragility of performance: Choking under pressure in mathematical problem solving. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 133 (2004) 584-600
Benokraitis N.V. Subtle sexism. Current practices and prospects for change (1997), Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA
Ben-Zeev T., Fein S., and Inzlicht M. Arousal and stereotype threat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 41 (2005) 174-181
Blascovich J., Spencer S.J., Quinn D., and Steele C. African Americans and high blood pressure: The role of stereotype threat. Psychological Science 12 (2001) 225-229
Bosson J.K., Haymovitz E.L., and Pinel E.C. When saying and doing diverge: The effects of stereotype threat on self-reported versus non-verbal anxiety. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 40 (2004) 247-255
Branscombe N.R., Schmitt M.T., and Harvey R.D. Perceiving pervasive discrimination among African-Americans: Implications for group identification and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77 (1999) 135-149
Brauer M. The analysis of continuous and categorical independent variables: Alternatives to dichotomization. L'Année Psychologique 102 (2002) 449-484
Brehm J. A theory of psychological reactance (1966), Academic Press, New York
Brehm J., and Weintraub M. Physical barriers and psychological reactance: 2-year-olds' response to threats to freedom. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 35 (1977) 830-836
Chen M., and Bargh J.A. Nonconscious behavioral confirmation processes: The self-fulfilling nature of automatically activated stereotypes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 33 (1997) 541-560
Cohen J. The cost of dichotomization. Applied Psychological Measurement 7 (1983) 249-253
Cose E. Rage as a privileged class (1993), HarperCollins, New York
Crocker J., and Major B. Social stigma and self-esteem: The self-protective properties of stigma. Psychological Review 96 (1989) 608-630
Crocker J., Voelkl K., Testa M., and Major B. Social stigma: The affective consequences of attributional ambiguity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 60 (1991) 218-228
Daneman M., and Carpenter P.A. Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 19 (1980) 450-466
Daneman M., and Merikle P.M. Working memory and language comprehension: A meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 3 (1996) 422-433
Dardenne B., Delacollette N., Grégoire C., and Lecocq D. Latent structure of the French validation of the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: L'Echelle de Sexisme Ambivalent. L'Année Psychologique 106 (2006) 235-264
Dijksterhuis A., Aarts H., Bargh J.A., and van Knippenberg A. Past contact, stereotype strength, and automatic behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 36 (2000) 531-544
Dijksterhuis A., and Bargh J.A. The perception-behavior expressway: Automatic effects of social perception on social behavior. In: Zanna M.P. (Ed). Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 33 (2001), Academic Press, San Diego, CA 1-40
Dijksterhuis A., and van Knippenberg A. The relation between perception and behavior, or how to win a game of trivial pursuit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 74 (1998) 865-877
Eagly A.H., and Mladinic A. Gender stereotypes and attitudes toward women and men. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 15 (1989) 543-558
Eagly A.H., and Mladinic A. Are people prejudiced against women? Some answers from research an attitudes, gender stereotypes, and judgment of competence. In: Stroebe W., and Hewstone M. (Eds). European Review of Social Psychology 5 (1993), Wiley, New York 1-35
Engle R.W. What is working memory capacity?. In: Roediger III H.L., and Nairne J.S. (Eds). The nature of remembering: Essays in honor of Robert G. Crowder (2001), American Psychological Association, Washington, DC 297-314
Engle R.W., Tuholski S.W., Laughlin J.E., and Conway A.R.A. Working memory, short-term memory, and general fluid intelligence: A latent variable approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 128 (1999) 309-331
Fiske S.T., Cuddy A.J.C., Glick P., and Xu J. A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: Competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 82 (2002) 878-902
Ford T.E., Wentzel E.R., and Lorion J. Effects of exposure to sexist humor on perceptions of normative tolerance of sexism. European Journal of Social Psychology 31 (2001) 677-691
Frijda N.H., Kuipers P., and ter Schure E. Relations among emotion, appraisal, and emotional action readiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57 (1989) 212-228
Glick P., and Fiske S.T. The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: Differentiating hostile and benevolent sexism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 70 (1996) 491-512
Glick P., and Fiske S.T. An ambivalent alliance: Hostile and benevolent sexism as complementary justifications for gender inequality. American Psychologist 56 (2001) 109-118
Glick P., Fiske S.T., Mladinic A., Saiz J., Abrams D., Masser B., et al. Beyond prejudice as simple antipathy: Hostile and benevolent sexism across cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79 (2000) 763-775
Haines E.L., and Jost J.T. Placating the powerless: Effects of legitimate and illegitimate explanation on affect, memory, and stereotyping. Social Justice Research 13 (2000) 219-236
Harmon-Jones E., Sigelman J.D., Bohling A., and Harmon-Jones C. Anger, coping, and frontal cortical activity: The effect of coping potential on anger-induced left frontal activity. Cognition and Emotion 17 (2003) 1-24
Heatherton T.F., and Polivy J. Development and validation of a scale measuring state self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 60 (1991) 895-910
Heilman M.E., and Alcott V.B. What I think you think of me: Women's reactions to being viewed as beneficiaries of preferential selection. Journal of Applied Psychology 86 (2001) 574-582
Inzlicht M., McKay L., and Aronson J. Stigma as ego depletion. Psychological Science 17 (2006) 262-269
Jackman M. The velvet glove: Paternalism and conflict in gender, class and race relations (1994), University of California Press, Berkeley
Jackman M. License to kill: Violence and legitimacy in expropriative social relations. In: Jost J.T., and Major B. (Eds). The psychology of legitimacy: Emerging perspectives on ideology, justice, and intergroup relations (2001), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England
Jost J.T., and Banaji M. The role of stereotyping in system justification and the production of false consciousness. British Journal of Social Psychology 22 (1994) 1-27
Jost J.T., and Hunyady O. The psychology of system justification and the palliative function of ideology. In: Stroebe W., and Hewstone M. (Eds). European Review of Social Psychology 13 (2002), Wiley, New York 111-153
Jost J.T., and Kay A.C. Exposure to benevolent sexism and complementary gender stereotypes: Consequences for specific and diffuse forms of system justification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 88 (2005) 498-509
Jost J.T., and Major B. The psychology of legitimacy. Emerging perspectives on ideology, justice, and intergroup relations (2001), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England
Judd C.M. Everyday data analysis in social psychology: Comparisons of linear models. In: Reis H.T., and Judd C.M. (Eds). Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology (2000), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England 370-392
Judd C.M., James-Hawkins L., Yzerbyt V., and Kashima Y. Fundamental dimensions of social judgment: Understanding the relations between judgments of competence and warmth. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 89 (2005) 899-913
Just M.A., and Carpenter P.A. A capacity theory of comprehension: Individual differences in working memory. Psychological Review 103 (1992) 761-772
Kaiser C.R., and Miller C.T. Reacting to impending discrimination: Compensation for prejudice and attributions to discrimination. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 27 (2001) 1357-1367
Major B., McCoy S.K., Kaiser C.R., and Quinton W.J. Prejudice and self-esteem: A transactional model. In: Stroebe W., and Hewstone M. (Eds). European Review of Social Psychology 14 (2003), Wiley, New York 77-104
Major B., Quinton W.J., and Schmader T. Attributions to discrimination and self-esteem: Impact of group identification and situational ambiguity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 39 (2003) 220-231
McCoy S.K., and Major B. Group identification moderates emotional responses to perceived prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 29 (2003) 1005-1117
Nadler A., and Fisher J.D. The role of threat to self-esteem and perceived control in recipient reaction to help: Theory development and empirical validation. In: Berkowitz L. (Ed). Advances in experimental social psychology 19 (1986), Academic Press, San Diego, CA 81-122
O'Brien L.T., and Crandall C.S. Stereotype threat and arousal: Effects on women's math performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 29 (2003) 782-789
Operario D., and Fiske S.T. Ethnic identity moderates perceptions of prejudice: Judgments of personal versus group discrimination and subtle versus blatant bias. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 27 (2001) 550-561
Osborne J.W. Testing stereotype threat: Does anxiety explain race and sex differences in achievement?. Contemporary Educational Psychology 26 (2001) 291-310
Rosen V.M., and Engle R.W. Working memory capacity and suppression. Journal of Memory and Language 39 (1998) 418-436
Rudman L.A., and Heppen J.B. Implicit romantic fantasies and women's interest in personal power: A glass slipper effect?. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 29 (2003) 1357-1370
Sakalli U., and Glick P. Ambivalent sexism and attitudes toward women who engage in premarital sex in Turkey. Journal of Sex Research 40 (2003) 296-302
Scherer K.R. Criteria for emotion-antecedent appraisal: A review. In: Hamilton V., Bower G.H., and Frijda N.H. (Eds). Cognitive perspectives on emotion and motivation (1988), Kluwer Academic, Norwell, MA 89-126
Schmader T. Gender identification moderates stereotype threat effects on women's math performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 38 (2002) 194-201
Schmader T., and Johns M. Converging evidence that stereotype threat reduces working memory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84 (2003) 440-452
Schmitt M.T., Branscombe N.R., Kobrynowicz D., and Owen S. Perceiving discrimination against one's gender group has different implications for well-being in women and men. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 28 (2002) 197-210
Schneider M.E., Major B., Luhtanen R., and Crocker J. When help hurts: Social stigma and the cost of assumptive help. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 22 (1996) 201-209
Sidanius J., and Pratto F. Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression (1999), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England
Smith C.A., and Ellsworth P.C. Patterns of cognitive appraisal in emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 48 (1985) 813-838
Spencer S., Steele C.M., and Quinn D.M. Stereotype threat and women's math performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 35 (1999) 4-28
Stangor C., Swim J.K., Sechrist G.B., DeCoster J., Van Allen K.L., and Ottenbreit A. Ask, answer, and announce: Three stages in perceiving and responding to discrimination. In: Stroebe W., and Hewstone M. (Eds). European review of social psychology 14 (2003), Wiley, New York 277-311
Turner M.E., and Pratkanis A.R. Affirmative action as help: A review of recipient reactions to preferential selection and affirmative action. Basic and Applied Social Psychology 15 (1994) 43-69
Vescio T.K., Gervais S.J., Snyder M., and Hoover A. Power and the creation of patronizing environments: The stereotype-based behaviors of the powerful and their effects on female performance in masculine domains. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 88 (2005) 658-672
Viki G.T., and Abrams D. Infra-humanization: Ambivalent sexism and the attribution of primary and secondary emotions to women. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 39 (2003) 492-499
Wheeler S.C., and Petty R.E. The effects of stereotype activation on behavior: A review of possible mechanisms. Psychological Bulletin 127 (2001) 797-826
Whitney P., Arnett P.A., Driver A., and Budd D. Measuring central executive functioning: What's in a reading span?. Brain and Cognition 45 (2001) 1-14