Variation 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

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Part Two (Decision-Making Skills)

A second female experimenter then entered and informed the participants that she was interested in decision-making skills. An excerpt from the exact instructions is given below:

    Do I leave my boyfriend or do I stay? Do I choose a big university
    out of state or do I stay small and near my hometown? Decisions!
    Decisions! Decisions! We are interested in factors that are involved
    in decision-making. Clearly, this information could be used to study
    and/or explain judgmental processes. Many of the processes have
    major implications (e.g., an important criminal trial), thus it is
    important to determine the factors that might underlie such
    processes. You will read four brief passages. These passages will
    involve a number of different issues because we wanted to include a
    variety of potential decision-making situations.

The booklet contained three irrelevant passages that involved (a) a decision in a young man's wrongful death lawsuit, (b) a decision regarding a university cheating scandal that involved a young man, and (c) a decision regarding the probability that a young woman with a mid-B average would be successful at a prestigious university.

The passage of interest was labeled "occupational decisions," and it ostensibly involved an actual sexual harassment case. The story indicated that Sara Worthy was at an office Christmas party and she was "hanging out at the bar and drinking with her direct supervisor." He eventually asked her to step outside on the terrace so that they could "get a little privacy." Once they got outside, the supervisor engaged in one of three activities: (a) "he said, 'Your ass sure looks great in that dress.'" (verbal comment); (b) "he said, 'I sure would love to see your ass butt-naked in my bed.'" (verbal request); or (c) "he grabbed her buttocks and gave them a firm squeeze" (physical display). Ms. Worthy later filed sexual harassment charges. The passage also states that the supervisor acknowledged the activities, but he believed that she "was a willing participant." After reading the passage, the participant answered three questions on a 9-point Likert-type scale. The exact questions were: (a) How promiscuous was the woman in the passage? (1 = not promiscuous at all, 9 = extremely promiscuous); (b) How traumatic was the event for the woman? (1 = not traumatic at all, 9 = extremely traumatic); and (c) How responsible was the woman for the event that occurred at the party? (1 = not responsible at all, 9 = completely responsible). After all of the participants completed the questionnaires, the experimenter thanked them for participation, gave a debriefing, and passed out the credit slips.

RESULTS

Manipulation Checks

Twenty independent raters (10 men and 10 women) watched the promiscuous behavior compilation clips and the nonpromiscuous behavior compilation clips (5 men and 5 women watched each). After viewing the clips they were asked to answer the following questions: (a) How promiscuous were the women in the clips? (1 = not promiscuous at all, 7 = extremely promiscuous); (b) How attractive were the women in the clips? (1 = not very attractive, 7 = extremely attractive); and (c) How interesting were the clips? (1 = not interesting at all, 7 = extremely interesting). (5)