The effects of sex and outcome expectancies on perceptions of sexual harassment (original) (raw)
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Perceptions of sexual harassment as a function of sex of rater and incident form and consequence
Sex Roles, 1992
The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in perceptions of two "severity dichotomies" present in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Guidelines on sexual harassment. Alale and female undergraduates (N = 198), from a predominately white midwestern university, were given one of four statements based on these guidelines, varying "form" (physical/verbal) and "consequence" (economic injury/hostile environment) of the behavior. Analysis of variance results showed females rated the incident as more definitely sexual harassment and as affecting perfonnance more than did males. Participants reading "economic injury" statements rated them as having more effect on the victim's job status than did those reading "hostile environment" statements. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant "consequence" and '~ex" effects on several factors: A significant three-way interaction showed that males rated statements less negatively than did females, especially when the statement described "physical" behavior with "hostile environment" consequences. Cluster analysis results are also presented.
Gender differences in perception of sexual harassment
2015
CHAPTER 3. Studies 2 and 3. Social perception of victims and perpetrators of Hypothesis 2A). When the victim is female (vs male), the participants feel more anger which causes them to evaluate the perpetrator more negatively.
Perceptions of sexual harassment: The effects of gender, legal standard, and ambivalent sexism
Law and Human Behavior, 1997
This research tests the possibility that the reasonable woman as compared to the reasonable person test of hostile work environment sexual harassment interacts with hostile and benevolent sexist beliefs and under some conditions triggers protectionist attitudes toward women who complain of sexual harassment, We administered to a sample of undergraduates the ambivalent sexism inventory along with the fact patterns in two harassment cases and asked them to make legally relevant decisions under either the reasonable woman or person standard. We found that those high in hostile sexism, and women, found more evidence of harassment. However, those high in benevolent sexism did not exhibit the hostile sexism effects. Although men were less sensitive to the reasonable woman standard than women, under some conditions the reasonable woman standard enabled both genders to find greater evidence of harassment. The results are discussed from the perspectives of law and psychology.
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2005
The effects of participants’ gender and propensity to sexually harass were examined in a sexual harassment case in which the gender of the harassers and victim were manipulated systematically. Male and female participants scoring either high or low on the Likelihood to Sexually Harass (LSH) scale (Pryor, 1987) reviewed an ostensibly real hostile work environment case and made judgments about the case. When participants were the same gender as the victim, individual differences in LSH failed to influence their judgments. When the participants’ gender was the opposite of the victim's, those low in LSH perceived the behaviors as more likely to be sexual harassment than those high in LSH. These results are discussed and their implications considered.
Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 2014
This study examined data from U.S. military personnel (1,764 men; 4,540 women) to determine whether appraisals of sexual harassment as frightening mediate the relationship between perpetrator characteristics (perpetrator sex and rank) and three psychological/job outcomes (psychological distress, role limitations, and work satisfaction), and whether these relationships were stronger for women than men. Results indicated that frightening appraisals mediated the relationship between perpetrator rank and all outcomes for both sexes. However, frightening appraisals mediated the relationship between perpetrator sex and outcomes only for women. As predicted, having a male perpetrator or a higher status perpetrator was more strongly related to frightening appraisals for women than men. However, unexpectedly, the relationship between frightening appraisals and more psychological distress, more role limitations, and less work satisfaction was stronger for men than women. We discuss the results in terms of expectancy norm violations and sexual harassment as a form of dominance.
Psychology, Evolution and Gender, 2004
Quid pro quo (QPQ) sexual harassment, in which sexual compliance is tied to some consequent behavior of the harassing party, can involve 2 types of social interactions: social exchanges or threats. Two experiments evaluated how QPQ sexual harassment statements were perceived as different types of social interactions due to the manipulation of 3 variables. Experiment 1 had 120 Ss (60 males and 60 females, with an average age of 22.3 yrs) and Experiment 2 had 140 Ss (60 males and 80 females, with an average age of 21.6 yrs) all from a southeastern US University. Statements were predicted and found to be perceived differently across how they were posed (positive vs. negative value statements), across surrounding work contexts (thriving vs. failing), and across the sex of the harassed perceiver. These differing perceptions also affected subsequent behaviors in reasoning about the harassment situation. Implications of these results are discussed, along with limitations and future research directions.
A meta-analytic review of gender differences in perceptions of sexual harassment
Journal of Applied Psychology, 2001
Research on gender differences in perceptions of sexual harassment informs an ongoing legal debate regarding the use of a reasonable person standard instead of a reasonable woman standard to evaluate sexual harassment claims. The authors report a meta-analysis of 62 studies of gender differences in harassment perceptions. An earlier quantitative review combined all types of social-sexual behaviors for a single meta-analysis; the purpose of this study was to investigate whether the magnitude of the female-male difference varies by type of behavior. An overall standardized mean difference of 0.30 was found, suggesting that women perceive a broader range of social-sexual behaviors as harassing. However, the meta-analysis also found that the female-male difference was larger for behaviors that involve hostile work environment harassment, derogatory attitudes toward women, dating pressure, or physical sexual contact than sexual propositions or sexual coercion.
Sources of variability in perceptions of and responses to sexual harassment
Sex Roles, 1992
Social exchange theory was used to explain sexual harassment interactions in terms of perceived or actual inequities in incurred costs or rewards between targets and perpetrators. A factorial experiment was conducted in which the effects of severity of harassment, target response, target gender, and rater gender on perceptions of harassment, perpetrator appropriateness and target appropriateness and suggested responses to harassment were examined. Ninety-four male and 116 female students from two eastern universities served as subjects. The sample was approximately 90% Caucasian and was composed of traditional (18-22-year-old) undergraduates. Results indicated that all independent variables affected perceptions of and responses to sexual harassment situations.
Sexual harassment proclivities in men and women
Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1993
Sexual harassment proclivities in both men and women were studied in 222 college students. They were administered the newly developed Sexual Harassment Proclivities Scale and their scores were compared with a large number of measures, including sex-role stereotyping, adversarial sexual beliefs, sexual conservatism, acceptance of interpersonal violence, rape myth acceptance, likelihood of rape, acceptance of feminism, empathetic concern, sexual activity, and sexual exploitation. Most of the results were statistically significant for both males and females, although correlations tended to be higher for males. A factor analysis of the Sexual Harassment Proclivities Scale yielded a one-factor solution for both men and women, supporting the view that the scale measures likelihood of sexual harassment.
Affective and Attributional Reactions to Sexual Harassment as Determined by Outcome
1987
In research on media depiction of violence against women, two variables that_have_been identified as important in predicting affective and attributional_responses are the sex of the subject and the victim's affective_reaction to_the outcome of sexual aggression. In_most previous research the act of sexual aggression has involved rape. In this_study, 54 male and II1 female college students read a brief scenario describing_an_incident of sexual harassment in which the female victim experienced_a positive_or negative affective or physical outcome. The_subjects' affective and attributional reactions were assessed by_their responses to a_series of 11-point scales. The results indicated_that_the positive affective outcome resulted in more responsibility_being attributed_to_the victim while a negative physical outcome resulted in more_controI being attributed to the harasser._A negative physical outcome_ _ resulted in the most unpleasant affective reactions experienced by subjects and the greatest willingness to report such incidents to others.