Attributions to discrimination in multiracial contexts: Isolating the effect of target group membership.

Historically, psychological models of how people make judgments of discrimination have relied on a binary conceptualization of intergroup relations, making it unclear how people make judgments of discrimination in diverse, multigroup contexts. We propose that groups can vary in the extent to which they fit the prototype for targets of discrimination and that this variation influences judgments of discrimination in ambiguous circumstances. The present research examined attributions to discrimination when job applicants are rejected for a white-collar position. People consistently made more attributions to discrimination (ATDs) when managers rejected Black American as compared to Asian American job applicants, and when managers rejected Asian American as compared to White American job applicants. People also made more ATDs for rejected Black American as compared to Latino American applicants, but ATDs were similar for Latino and Asian American applicants. Overall, similar patterns were observed in majority White American samples and a Black/African American sample; only an Asian American sample did not make more ATDs for rejected Black than Asian American applicants. Six experiments (N = 2,321) found strong support for the relative fit hypothesis and suggest that, in a white-collar employment context, White Americans are a distant fit to the prototype for targets of discrimination, Asian and Latino Americans are an intermediate fit, and Black Americans are a close fit. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Does he see what she sees? The gender gap in perceptions of institutional sexism.

Women are more likely than men to perceive institutional sexism. In the present study, we examined the gender gap in perceptions of a legal case in which a female plaintiff claims she was a victim of institutional gender discrimination by an employer. Participants were randomly assigned to receive information about institutional forms of sexism (or not) prior to learning the facts of the case. In addition, participants were randomly assigned to take the female plaintiff's perspective (or remain objective) while reviewing the case. In isolation, sexism awareness and perspective-taking both independently eliminated the gender gap in perceptions of discrimination. However, contrary to expectations, the gender gap reemerged among participants who were made aware of sexism prior to perspective-taking such that women perceived more discrimination than men. Implications for interventions to increase perceptions of institutional sexism are discussed.

Examining stereotypes in a dynamic social order: the stereotype content model in India.

Stereotypes are tools of social perception that attribute a superficial uniformity to individuals within a social group, providing an instrument to assess individuals and groups. The stereotype content model (SCM) provides a framework for understanding these dynamics. SCM explores how groups are stereotyped on competence and warmth. This research utilizes the SCM to study India, a heterogenous society with diverse social groups. The purpose of this paper is to study caste stereotypes using SCM within India while also comparing two distinct regions of the country - the north and the south. This study is unique because (a) earlier studies have not explored stereotyping while recognizing the regional variations "within" India and (b) it applies SCM to caste. We also include how caste perceptions are further defined for groups that fall under the affirmative action program. Using Amazon's Mechanical Turk, we recruited subjects who responded to questions that assessed stereotypes of different social groups. The results indicate the presence of more ambivalent stereotypes and higher belief in karmic ideology in the four southern states compared to the northern states. Possible explanations discussed.

Attributions to Discrimination Against Black Victims in a Multiracial Society: Isolating the Effect of Perpetrator Group Membership.

As the United States becomes more racially and ethnically diverse, interactions between Black people and other minority groups have become increasingly common. The present research examined how a perpetrator's group membership affects judgments of employment discrimination against a Black victim. Four experiments (combined N = 1,016) tested predictions derived from the prototype model of discrimination. Participants reviewed a case file where a Black, Latino, Asian, or White manager rejected a Black job applicant. Attributions to discrimination were much stronger for a Latino, Asian, or White manager compared with a Black manager. Attributions to discrimination were slightly stronger for a White manager compared with an Asian or Latino manager; however, effect sizes for these differences were small. Attributions to discrimination were similar for the Asian and Latino managers. Whether the perpetrator had outgroup standing relative to the victim was the strongest factor influencing attributions to discrimination for a Black victim of employment discrimination.

An educational intervention to improve women's academic STEM outcomes: Divergent effects on well-represented vs. underrepresented minority women.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this field experiment was to test the effect of a social psychological intervention on an ethnically diverse sample of first-year college women majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). We hypothesized that grade point averages in STEM courses would be higher in the intervention condition relative to the control condition. Furthermore, we tested competing hypotheses about the moderating role of belonging to either a well-represented (WR) or underrepresented minority (URM) ethnic group in STEM. METHOD: The sample (N = 199) included 115 women from WR ethnic groups and 84 women from URM ethnic groups who were randomly assigned to condition. Women in the intervention were educated about the harmful impact of gender stereotypes in STEM and provided with effective strategies for coping with stereotype threat. At the end of their first year, we obtained participants' academic transcripts. RESULTS: At the end of their first year in college, URM women in the intervention condition had higher grade point averages in their STEM courses than URM women in the control condition. The intervention had no effect on WR women. CONCLUSIONS: The present research demonstrates the importance of intersectional approaches to studying the experiences of women in STEM. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Ethnic variation in gender-STEM stereotypes and STEM participation: an intersectional approach.

Stereotypes associating men and masculine traits with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are ubiquitous, but the relative strength of these stereotypes varies considerably across cultures. The present research applies an intersectional approach to understanding ethnic variation in gender-STEM stereotypes and STEM participation within an American university context. African American college women participated in STEM majors at higher rates than European American college women (Study 1, Study 2, and Study 4). Furthermore, African American women had weaker implicit gender-STEM stereotypes than European American women (Studies 2-4), and ethnic differences in implicit gender-STEM stereotypes partially mediated ethnic differences in STEM participation (Study 2 and Study 4). Although African American men had weaker implicit gender-STEM stereotypes than European American men (Study 4), ethnic differences between men in STEM participation were generally small (Study 1) or nonsignificant (Study 4). We discuss the implications of an intersectional approach for understanding the relationship between gender and STEM participation.

System-justifying ideologies and academic outcomes among first-year Latino college students.

The present study examines the relationship between system-justifying ideologies and academic outcomes among 78 first-year Latino college students (21 men, 57 women, mean age = 18.1 years) attending a moderately selective West Coast university. Endorsement of system-justifying ideologies was negatively associated with grade point average (GPA); however it was positively associated with feelings of belonging at the university. In addition, system-justifying ideologies were negatively associated with perceptions of personal discrimination. In contrast, ethnic identity centrality was unrelated to GPA, feelings of belonging, and perceptions of personal discrimination once the relationship between system-justifying ideologies and these outcomes was statistically taken into account. The results of the present study suggest that endorsement of system-justifying ideologies may be a double-edged sword for Latino college students, involving trade-offs between academic success and feelings of belonging.

White Americans' opposition to affirmative action: group interest and the harm to beneficiaries objection.

We focused on a powerful objection to affirmative action - that affirmative action harms its intended beneficiaries by undermining their self-esteem. We tested whether White Americans would raise the harm to beneficiaries objection particularly when it is in their group interest. When led to believe that affirmative action harmed Whites, participants endorsed the harm to beneficiaries objection more than when led to believe that affirmative action did not harm Whites. Endorsement of a merit-based objection to affirmative action did not differ as a function of the policy's impact on Whites. White Americans used a concern for the intended beneficiaries of affirmative action in a way that seems to further the interest of their own group.

Perceived discrimination as worldview threat or worldview confirmation: implications for self-esteem.

In 3 studies, the authors tested the hypothesis that discrimination targets' worldview moderates the impact of perceived discrimination on self-esteem among devalued groups. In Study 1, perceiving discrimination against the ingroup was negatively associated with self-esteem among Latino Americans who endorsed a meritocracy worldview (e.g., believed that individuals of any group can get ahead in America and that success stems from hard work) but was positively associated with self-esteem among those who rejected this worldview. Study 2 showed that exposure to discrimination against their ingroup (vs. a non-self-relevant group) led to lower self-esteem, greater feelings of personal vulnerability, and ingroup blame among Latino Americans who endorsed a meritocracy worldview but to higher self-esteem and decreased ingroup blame among Latino Americans who rejected it. Study 3 showed that compared with women informed that prejudice against their ingroup is pervasive, women informed that prejudice against their ingroup is rare had higher self-esteem if they endorsed a meritocracy worldview but lower self-esteem if they rejected this worldview. Findings support the idea that perceiving discrimination against one's ingroup threatens the worldview of individuals who believe that status in society is earned but confirms the worldview of individuals who do not.

System-justifying beliefs and psychological well-being: the roles of group status and identity.

This research examined the relationship between endorsing system-justifying beliefs and psychological well-being among individuals from ethnic groups that vary in social status. System-justifying beliefs are beliefs that imply that status in society is fair, deserved, and merited; examples of system-justifying beliefs in the United States include the beliefs that hard work pays off and that anyone can get ahead regardless of their group membership. We found that endorsing system-justifying beliefs was negatively related to psychological well-being among members of low-status groups who were highly identified with their group but positively related to well-being among members of low-status groups who were not highly identified with their ethnic group. In addition, we found that endorsing system-justifying beliefs was positively related to well-being among members of high-status groups, especially among members of high-status groups who were highly identified with the group.

The social psychology of stigma.

This chapter addresses the psychological effects of social stigma. Stigma directly affects the stigmatized via mechanisms of discrimination, expectancy confirmation, and automatic stereotype activation, and indirectly via threats to personal and social identity. We review and organize recent theory and empirical research within an identity threat model of stigma. This model posits that situational cues, collective representations of one's stigma status, and personal beliefs and motives shape appraisals of the significance of stigma-relevant situations for well-being. Identity threat results when stigma-relevant stressors are appraised as potentially harmful to one's social identity and as exceeding one's coping resources. Identity threat creates involuntary stress responses and motivates attempts at threat reduction through coping strategies. Stress responses and coping efforts affect important outcomes such as self-esteem, academic achievement, and health. Identity threat perspectives help to explain the tremendous variability across people, groups, and situations in responses to stigma.

Stereotype threat and arousal: effects on women's math performance.

Theories of arousal suggest that arousal should decrease performance on difficult tasks and increase performance on easy tasks. An experiment tested the hypothesis that the effects of stereotype threat on performance are due to heightened arousal. The authors hypothesized that telling participants that a math test they are about to take is known to have gender differences would cause stereotype threat in women but not in men. In the experiment, each participant took two tests--a difficult math test and an easy math test. Compared to women in a "no differences" condition, women in the "gender differences" condition scored better on the easy math test and worse on the difficult math test. Men's performance was unaffected by the manipulation. These data are consistent with an arousal-based explanation of stereotype threat effects. Data were inconsistent with expectancy, evaluation apprehension, and persistence explanations of the stereotype threat phenomenon.

Using the implicit association test to measure age differences in implicit social cognitions.

Two studies investigated the use of the Implicit Association Test (IAT; A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998) to study age differences in implicit social cognitions. Study I collected IAT (implicit) and explicit (self-report) measures of age attitudes, age identity, and self-esteem from young, young-old, and old-old participants. Study 2 collected IAT and explicit measures of attitudes toward flowers versus insects from young and old participants. Results show that the IAT provided theoretically meaningful insights into age differences in social cognitions that the explicit measures did not, supporting the value of the IAT in aging research. Results also illustrate that age-related slowing must be considered in analysis and interpretation of IAT measures.