This work tested the following hypothesis: When powerful men stereotype their female subordinates in masculine domains, they behave in patronizing ways that affect the performance of their subordinates. Experiment 1 examined the stereotyping tendencies and patronizing behaviors of the powerful. Findings revealed that powerful men who stereotyped their female subordinates (i.e., those who were weakness focused) gave female subordinates few valued resources but much praise. In Experiment 2, low-power participants received resources (valued or devalued positions) and praise (high or low) from a powerful man. Subordinates who were assigned to a devalued position but received high praise (i.e., the patronizing behavior mirrored from Experiment 1) were angry. However, men performed better in the anger-inspiring situation, whereas women performed worse.
Objectification theory suggests that the bodies of women are sometimes reduced to their sexual body parts. As well, an extensive literature in cognitive psychology suggests that global processing underlies person recognition, whereas local processing
underlies object recognition. Integrating these literatures, we introduced and tested the sexual body part recognition bias
hypothesis that women’s (versus men’s) bodies would be reduced to their sexual body parts in the minds of perceivers.
Specifically, we adopted the parts versus whole body recognition paradigm, which is a robust indicator of local versus global processing. The findings across two experiments showed that women’s bodies were reduced to their sexual body parts in
perceivers’ minds. We also found that local processing contributed to the sexual body part recognition bias, whereas global processing tempered it. Implications for sexual objectification and its underlying processes and motives are discussed
Heavy drinking and sexual violence among college students represent serious societal and personal issues. Alcohol use on college campuses is high with more than 80% of college students drinking alcohol (Engs, Diebold, & Hansen, 1996) and 45% of college students reporting binge drinking in the past two weeks (Hingson, Zha, & Weitzman, 2009). Furthermore, 19% of college students meet the criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism, 2002). At the same time, sexual violence on college campuses is remarkably common. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2010) define sexual violence as "any sexual act that is perpetrated against someone's will." Whereas 11% percent of women indicate experiencing forced sex at some point in their lives and 3% of women report experiencing unwanted sexual activity in the past year (Basile, Chen, Black, & Saltzman, 2007), 20%-25% of women report experiencing an attempted or completed rape during their college careers (Fisher, Daigle, Cullen, & Turner, 2003). Corresponding to college women's reported experiences with sexual violence from men, 25% of college men report some involvement with sexual aggression in
Objective: This research developed and examined the psychometric properties of the 15-item Interpersonal Sexual Objectification Scale-Perpetration Version (ISOS-P). Method: Specifically, the ISOS-P was developed by modifying the original Interpersonal Sexual Objectification Scale (Kozee, Tylka, Augustus-Horvath, & Denchik, 2007) to assess sexual objectification perpetration. Results: Exploratory factor analyses revealed 3 correlated factors for both men and women-body gazes, body comments, and unwanted explicit sexual advances-with bifactor hierarchical structure. Confirmatory factor analyses supported bifactor structure with 3 specific group factors. Results did not support measurement invariance of the ISOS-P across women and men, suggesting that ISOS-P scores do not represent the same underlying construct across these groups. Supporting its construct validity, the ISOS-P was positively associated with self-objectification, other-objectification, and sexual violence perpetration, as well as hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, and enjoyment of sexualization. Conclusions: The current study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the objectification phenomenon that is inclusive of both victims and perpetrators of objectification.
This research examined the effects of the objectifying gaze on math performance, interaction motivation, body surveillance, body shame, and body dissatisfaction. In an experiment, undergraduate participants (67 women and 83 men) received an objectifying gaze during an interaction with a trained confederate of the other sex. As hypothesized, the objectifying gaze caused decrements in women's math performance but not men's. Interestingly, the objectifying gaze also increased women's, but not men's, motivation to engage in subsequent interactions with their partner. Finally, the objectifying gaze did not influence body surveillance, body shame, or body dissatisfaction for women or men. One explanation for the math performance and interaction motivation findings is stereotype threat. To the degree that the objectifying gaze arouses stereotype threat, math performance may decrease because it conveys that women's looks are valued over their other qualities. Furthermore, interaction motivation may increase because stereotype threat arouses belonging uncertainty or concerns about social connections. As a result, the objectifying gaze may trigger a vicious cycle in which women underperform but continue to interact with the people who led them to underperform in the first place. Implications for long-term consequences of the objectifying gaze and directions for future research are discussed.
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