The Effect of Gender Threat on Implicit Sexism and Stereotyping

Gender threat occurs in situations in which one is threatened by the possibility of acting like the opposite gender (Vandello et al., 2008) and is most pervasive for men (e.g., “you throw like a girl”). This study examined the question of whether men, after being told they performed like women, would respond with negative implicit evaluations of women. In addition, competence threat (with no reference to gender) was examined to see if it would affect men in the same way. Women were threatened by being told they performed like men, although it was hypothesized there would be no effect of gender threat for women. Participants completed a line bisection task and received false feedback regarding how they performed. The feedback was manipulated in terms of threat (threat versus not threat) and gender salience (gender was salient or not). Participants then completed two Implicit Association Tests: one to assess implicit prejudice against women and one to assess endorsement of tradition gender roles. Men who were threatened (regardless of gender salience) showed more implicit prejudice against women than men who were not threatened. Women showed an interaction of threat, gender salience, and explicit sexism. When gender was salient, threatened women low in explicit sexism had less favorable attitudes towards other women. Women high in explicit sexism showed no significant difference between threat and no threat. No effects were found for implicit gender stereotypes for men or women. Implications for gender threat theory and future directions are discussed.

Grantor dc:publisher

UNF Digital Commons

Year dc:date

2016

Author dc:creator

• Speegle, Shelby

• Thesis; University of North Florida; UNF; Dissertations
• Academic -- UNF -- Master of Arts in Practical Philosophy and Applied Ethics; Dissertations
• Academic -- UNF -- Philosophy; Masculinity; gender; sexism
• Psychology
• Social Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/etd/621

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.unf.edu:etd-1652