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Industry: Email Alert RSS FeedVariation in the application of the "promiscuous female" stereotype and the nature of the application domain: influences on sexual harassment judgments after exposure to the Jerry Springer Show
Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, April, 2005 by Tara Ferguson, Jeff Berlin, Erica Noles, James Johnson, William Reed, C. Vincent Spicer
Prediction 1: Exposure Condition
Previous research has indicated that activation of the promiscuous female stereotype tends to elicit more promiscuous and/or negative perceptions of other women (e.g., Donnerstein et al., 1987; Donnerstein & Malamuth, 1997; Malamuth, 1987). Consequently, it was expected that, when compared to those in the nonpromiscuous behavior condition, those in the promiscuous behavior condition would make greater attributions of victim promiscuity, report perceptions of less victim trauma, and attribute greater responsibility to the victim.
Prediction 2: Harassment Type
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Previous research has demonstrated that any type of previously held biases or attitudes is less likely to affect perceptions of unambiguous behavioral information (Check & Malamuth, 1983; Johnson, Benson, Teasdale, & Simmons. 1997). In this study, the physical display condition involves an unambiguous physical act of sexual harassment. Thus, it was expected that, when compared to those in the physical display condition, those in the verbal comment and verbal request condition would report perceptions of less victim trauma and would attribute greater responsibility to the victim.
Prediction 3: Exposure Condition X Harassment Type
Previous research has shown that any type of cognitive bias, such as stereotype activation, tends to have less impact on perceptions of unambiguous information than on ambiguous information (e.g., Johnson & Jackson, 1988; Johnson, Jackson, & Smith, 1989). It was expected that perceptions of the incident would not vary as a function of exposure condition in the physical display condition. On the other hand, in the verbal comment and verbal request conditions, participants in the promiscuous behavior condition were expected to report perceptions of less victim trauma and to attribute greater responsibility to the victim than would those in the nonpromiscuous behavior condition.
Prediction 4: Mediational Role of Stereotype Application
Although it has received little previous attention by researchers, individual variation in the promiscuous female stereotype trait application was expected to mediate the impact of exposure on subsequent judgments of victim trauma and responsibility.
Gender Effects
Previous researchers have demonstrated that sexual harassment perceptions vary as a function of gender (Gutek, 1985; Jones & Remland, 1992; Popovich, Gehlauf, Jolton, & Somer, 1992; Summers, 1991), do not vary as a function of gender (Baker, Terpstra, & Cutler, 1990; Bursik, 1992; Jones, Remland, & Brunner, 1987), or vary on some issues but not others (Castellow, Wuensh, & Moore, 1990; Johnson et al., 1997; Jones et al., 1987). Consequently, no specific predictions were made for participant gender.
METHOD
Participants
Participants were 72 male (mean age = 18.65 years, standard deviation = 0.89) and 67 female (mean age = 19.12 years, standard deviation = 1.23) freshman introductory psychology students from a small university in southeastern North Carolina. The participants were all White and predominantly from southeastern North Carolina. They participated in the experiment for partial fulfillment of a course requirement.
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