Linda A. Jackson

Gender and the Internet: Women Communicating and Men Searching

This research examined gender differences in Internet use and factors responsible for these differences. A sample of 630 Anglo American undergraduates completed the Student Computer and Internet Survey that contained questions about e-mail and Web use, and about potential affective and cognitive mediators of use. Based on a general model of Internet use, we predicted and found that females used e-mail more than did males, males used the Web more than did females, and females reported more computer anxiety, less computer self-efficacy, and less favorable and less stereotypic computer attitudes. Path analysis to identify mediators of gender differences in Internet use revealed that computer self-efficacy, loneliness, and depression accounted in part for gender differences, but that gender continued to have a direct effect on use after these factors were considered. Implications for realizing the democratizing potential and benefits of Internet use are discussed.

The Role of Threats in the Racial Attitudes of Blacks and Whites

This study employed the integrated threat theory of intergroup attitudes to examine the attitudes of Black and White students toward the other racial group. This theory synthesizes previous research on the relationships of threats to intergroup attitudes. Structural equation modeling revealed that for both racial groups, realistic threats, symbolic threats, and intergroup anxiety predicted attitudes toward the other group. To varying degrees, the effects of negative contact, strength of ingroup identity, perceptions of intergroup conflict, perceived status inequality, and negative stereotyping on negative racial attitudes were mediated by the three threat variables. The model accounted for more variance in the negative attitudes of Whites toward Blacks than in the negative attitudes of Blacks toward Whites. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Physical Attractiveness and Intellectual Competence: A Meta-Analytic Review

Meta-analysis was used to test hypotheses about the relationship between physical attractiveness and intellectual competence. in support of status generalization theory and implicit personality theory, attractive people were perceived as more competent than less attractive people. Attractiveness effects were stronger for males than for females, and stronger when explicit information about competence was absent than when it was present, in keeping with status generalization theory. In partial support of status generalization theory and expectancy theory, attractiveness was related to actual competence in children, but not in adults. Direct measures of competence were influenced strongly more by attractiveness than were indirect measures, as predicted by status generalization theory. implications for theory, organizational policy, and future research are discussed.

Race, Gender, and Information Technology Use: The New Digital Divide

This research examined race and gender differences in the intensity and nature of IT use and whether IT use predicted academic performance. A sample of 515 children (172 African Americans and 343 Caucasian Americans), average age 12 years old, completed surveys as part of their participation in the Children and Technology Project. Findings indicated race and gender differences in the intensity of IT use; African American males were the least intense users of computers and the Internet, and African American females were the most intense users of the Internet. Males, regardless of race, were the most intense videogame players, and females, regardless of race, were the most intense cell phone users. IT use predicted childrens academic performance. Length of time using computers and the Internet was a positive predictor of academic performance, whereas amount of time spent playing videogames was a negative predictor. Implications of the findings for bringing IT to African American males and bringing African American males to IT are discussed.

Does Home Internet Use Influence the Academic Performance of Low-Income Children?

HomeNetToo is a longitudinal field study designed to examine the antecedents and consequences of home Internet use in low-income families (http://www.HomeNetToo.org). The study was done between December 2000 and June 2002. Among the consequences considered was children’s academic performance. Participants were 140 children, mostly African American (83%), mostly boys (58%), and most living in single-parent households (75%) in which the median annual income was

Achieving positive social identity: Social mobility, social creativity, and permeability of group boundaries.

15,000 (U.S. dollars) or less. Average age was 13.8 years. Ages ranged between 10 and 18 years, Internet use was continuously recorded, and multiple measures of academic performance were obtained during the 16-month trial. Findings indicated that children who used the Internet more had higher scores on standardized tests of reading achievement and higher grade point averages 6 months, 1 year, and 16 months later than did children who used it less. Older children used the Internet more than did younger children, but age had no effect on the nature or the academic performance benefits of Internet use. Implications for the digital “use” divide are discussed.

Stereotype effects of attributions, predictions, and evaluations: No two social judgments are quite alike.

Three experiments examined 5 hypotheses of social identity theory ( H. Tajfel & J. C. Turner, 1979 ) concerning social mobility and social creativity strategies and how permeability of group boundaries affects strategy use. As predicted, members of negatively distinctive in-groups distanced themselves psychologically from the in-group (social mobility), rated the distinguishing dimension as less undesirable (social creativity), and rated the in-group more favorably on other dimensions (social creativity ) than did members of nondistinctive in-groups. Also as predicted, social creativity strategies were more likely to be used when group boundaries were impermeable rather than permeable. Permeability effects on social mobility strategies were more complex than predicted. Additional findings shed light on relationships among identity-enhancement strategies and on how dimensions are chosen to flatter a negatively distinctive in-group.

Components of Gender Stereotypes Their Implications for Inferences on Stereotypic and Nonstereotypic Dimensions

The effects of stereotypes on attributions, predictions, and evaluations were examined in 2 experiments. Black out-group targets and White in-group targets were described in stereotype-consistent or stereotype-inconsistent ways. Stereotype-inconsistent behavior (a) was attributed to external causes or to effort, an internal stable cause for the out-group; (b) undermined predictions of future similar behavior, but only for the out-group; and (c) resulted in more extreme evaluations in the direction of the inconsistency. Attributions mediated the relationship between race and target evaluations. A model is presented that emphasizes the importance of distinguishing among different types of social judgments in assessing stereotype effects

Information technology use and creativity: Findings from the Children and Technology Project

This study is a partial replication and extension of research by Deaux and Lewis (1983, 1984) in which a multicomponent view of gender stereotypes was described. Information about gender label, gender role behaviors and one aspect of physical appearance, attractiveness, was provided. Ratings of stimulus persons (SPs) on the gender stereotypic trait dimensions of instrumentality and expressivity and on the nonstereotypic dimensions of likability and adjustment were examined. Results indicated that gender label and gender role behavior information interacted to influence ratings on three of the four dimensions. SPs who endorsed gender role behaviors incongruent with their gender were more unfavorably evaluated, whereas SPs who endorsed both male and female role behaviors were rated as most likable and well adjusted. The importance of considering both the type of information provided and the nature of the linkage between that information and the required judgment in understanding the effects of gender stereotypes is discussed.

Height Stereotypes of Women and Men: The Liabilities of Shortness for Both Sexes

This research examined relationships between childrens information technology (IT) use and their creativity. Four types of information technology were considered: computer use, Internet use, videogame playing and cell phone use. A multidimensional measure of creativity was developed based on Torrances (1987, 1995) test of creative thinking. Participants were 491 12-year olds; 53% were female, 34% were African American and 66% were Caucasian American. Results indicated that videogame playing predicted of all measures of creativity. Regardless of gender or race, greater videogame playing was associated with greater creativity. Type of videogame (e.g., violent, interpersonal) was unrelated to videogame effects on creativity. Gender but not race differences were obtained in the amount and type of videogame playing, but not in creativity. Implications of the findings for future research to test the causal relationship between videogame playing and creativity and to identify mediator and moderator variables are discussed.