Implicit Self-Esteem as a Potential Link between Gender Identity Threat in Males and Attitudes towards Women in Managerial Positions

Marwa Makhlouf, Noha Ezz El-Din Fikry, Hana Hazem Hafiz, Ingy Farweez

Abstract


This experiment investigated the effects of male gender threat on implicit self-esteem, and how that in turn may influence prejudices towards women in managerial positions. The Self-Esteem Implicit Association Test (IAT) was administered to 82 male undergraduate students prior to and after a gender threat intervention using false results on a measure of gender roles. After the gender threat intervention and IAT, respondents answered the Women as Managers Scale. Results showed that participants who received the gender threat intervention did not show significant differences in attitudes toward women in managerial positions compared to participants who were randomly assigned to the group that did not receive the gender threat. However, there was a significant positive relationship within the overall sample between implicit self-esteem and positive attitudes towards women in managerial positions.

Keywords


self-esteem; gender

Full Text:

PDF

References


Banaji, M. R., & Greenwald, A.G. (1995). Implicit gender stereotyping in judgments of fame. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 181–198. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.68.2.181

Banaji, M. R., Hardin, C., & Rothman, A. J. (1993). Implicit stereotyping in person judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 272–281. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.65.2.272

Bem, S. L., (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42 (2), 155–162.

Boldry, J., Wood, W., & Kashy, D. A. (2001). Gender stereotypes and the evaluation of men and women in military training. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 689-705.

Bosson, J. K., Weaver, J. R, Caswell, T. A., & Burnaford, R. M. (2012). Gender threats and men's antigay behaviors: The harmful effects of asserting heterosexuality. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 15(4), 471–486. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1368430211432893

Connell, R. W. (1983). Which way is up? Essays on sex, class, and culture. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

Connell, R.W. (1987). Gender and power: Society, the person and sexual politics. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.

Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Cordano, M., Scherer, R. F, & Owen, C.L. (2003). Dimensionality of the Women as Managers Scale: Factor congruency among three samples. The Journal of Social Psychology, 143, 141–143. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224540309598436.

Cramer, P. (1998). Threat to gender representation: Identity and identification. Journal of Personality, 66, 335–357. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-6494.00015

Cunningham, W. A., Preacher, K. J., & Banaji, M. R. (2001). Implicit attitude measures: consistency, stability, and convergent validity. Psychological Science, 12(2), 163–170. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00328

Eagly, A. H. & Karau, S. J. (2002). Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders. Psychological Review, 109, 573–598.

Eagly, A. H., Johannesen-Schmidt, M. C., & van Engen, M. L. (2003). Transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership styles: A meta-analysis comparing women and men. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 569–591. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.4.569

Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological Review, 102(1), 4–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0033-295X.102.1.4

Greenwald, A. G., & Farnham, S. D. (2000). Using the Implicit Association Test to measure self-esteem and self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 1022–1038. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.79.6.1022

Greenwald, A. G., Klinger, M. R., & Liu, T. J. (1989). Unconscious processing of dichoptically masked words. Memory & Cognition, 17, 35–47.

Heaton, C. A. N., & McWhinney, G. (1999). Women in management: The case of MBA graduates. Women in Management Review, 14(4), 136–145.

Maass, A., Cadinu, M., Guarnieri, G., & Grasselli, A. (2003). Sexual harassment under social identity threat: The computer harassment paradigm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 853–870. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1037/0022-3514.85.5.853

Macmillan, R., & Gartner, R. (1999).When she brings home the bacon: Labor-force participation and the risk of spousal violence against women. Journal of Marriage and Family, 61, 947–958. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/354015

Munsch, C. L., & Willer, R. (2012). The role of gender identity threat in perceptions of date rape and sexual coercion. Violence Against Women, 18, 1125–1146. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1077801212465151

Rudman, L. A., Dohn, M. C., & Fairchild, K. (2007). Implicit self-esteem compensation: Automatic threat defense. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 798–813. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.93.5.798

Schein, V. E., Mueller, R., Lituchy, T., & Liu, J. (1996). Think manager—think male: A global phenomenon? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 17(1), 33–41.

Schnabel, K., Asendorpf, J. B., & Greenwald, A. G. (2008). Using implicit association tests for the assessment of implicit personality self-concept. In G. J. Boyle, G. Matthews, & D. H. Saklofske (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of personality theory and assessment (vol. 2; pp. 508–528). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Schrock, D., & Schwalbe, M. (2009). Men, masculinity, and manhood acts. Annual Review of Sociology, 35, 277–295. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-070308-115933

Simmons, A. L., Duffy, J. A., & Alfraih, H. S. (2012). Attitudes toward women managers: The influence of social dominance orientation and power distance on men in college. Gender in Management, 27(7), 482–498. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17542411211273469

Smurda, J. D., Wittig, M. A., & Gokalp, G. (2006). Effects of threat to a valued social identity on implicit self-esteem and discrimination. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 9(2), 181–197. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1368430206062076

Tafarodi, R. W., & Ho, C. (2006). Implicit and explicit self-esteem: What are we measuring? Canadian Psychology, 47(3), 195–202. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cp2006009

Tajfel, H., & Turner, J.C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. G. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of Intergroup Relations (pp.7–24). Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall.

Terborg, J. R., Peters, L. H., Ilgen, D. R., & Smith, F. (1977). Organizational and personal correlates of attitudes toward women as managers. Academy of Management Journal, 20(1), 89-100. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/255464

Willer, R., Rogalin, C. L., Conlon, B., & Wojnowicz, M. T. (2013). Overdoing gender: A test of the masculine overcompensation thesis. American Journal of Sociology, 118, 980-1022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/668417


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.