Miguel Moya

Beyond prejudice as simple antipathy: Hostile and benevolent sexism across cultures

The authors argue that complementary hostile and benevolent components of sexism exist across cultures. Male dominance creates hostile sexism (HS), but mens dependence on women fosters benevolent sexism (BS)--subjectively positive attitudes that put women on a pedestal but reinforce their subordination. Research with 15,000 men and women in 19 nations showed that (a) HS and BS are coherent constructs that correlate positively across nations, but (b) HS predicts the ascription of negative and BS the ascription of positive traits to women, (c) relative to men, women are more likely to reject HS than BS, especially when overall levels of sexism in a culture are high, and (d) national averages on BS and HS predict gender inequality across nations. These results challenge prevailing notions of prejudice as an antipathy in that BS (an affectionate, patronizing ideology) reflects inequality and is a cross-culturally pervasive complement to HS.

Stereotype content model across cultures: Towards universal similarities and some differences

The stereotype content model (SCM) proposes potentially universal principles of societal stereotypes and their relation to social structure. Here, the SCM reveals theoretically grounded, cross-cultural, cross-groups similarities and one difference across 10 non-US nations. Seven European (individualist) and three East Asian (collectivist) nations (N=1,028) support three hypothesized cross-cultural similarities: (a) perceived warmth and competence reliably differentiate societal group stereotypes; (b) many out-groups receive ambivalent stereotypes (high on one dimension; low on the other); and (c) high status groups stereotypically are competent, whereas competitive groups stereotypically lack warmth. Data uncover one consequential cross-cultural difference: (d) the more collectivist cultures do not locate reference groups (in-groups and societal prototype groups) in the most positive cluster (high-competence/high-warmth), unlike individualist cultures. This demonstrates out-group derogation without obvious reference-group favouritism. The SCM can serve as a pancultural tool for predicting group stereotypes from structural relations with other groups in society, and comparing across societies.

Social Perception of Rape How Rape Myth Acceptance Modulates the Influence of Situational Factors

This study assessed the role of rape myth acceptance (RMA) and situational factors in the perception of three different rape scenarios (date rape, marital rape, and stranger rape). One hundred and eighty-two psychology undergraduates were asked to emit four judgements about each rape situation: victim responsibility, perpetrator responsibility, intensity of trauma, and likelihood to report the crime to the police. It was hypothesized that neither RMA nor situational factors alone can explain how rape is perceived; it is the interaction between these two factors that best account for social reactions to sexual aggression. The results generally supported the authors’ hypothesis: Victim blame, estimation of trauma, and the likelihood of reporting the crime to the police were best explained by the interaction between observer characteristics, such as RMA, and situational clues. That is, the less stereotypic the rape situation was, the greater was the influence of attitudes toward rape on attributions.

Sexismo ambivalente: medición y correlatos

ResumenEn los paises occidentales las formas tradicionales de sexismo son cada vez mas minoritarias, de manera que solo un sector muy reducido de la poblacion manifiesta una actitud basada en la supuesta inferioridad de las mujeres como grupo. Sin embargo, diversos indices sugieren que la igualdad entre hombres y mujeres dista mucho de ser una realidad. Esta situacion contradictoria ha llevado a formular la existencia de formas mas sutiles o encubiertas de sexismo. Segun Glick y Fiske (1996), el sexismo ambivalente conjuga las formas tradicionales con formas “benevolas”, que si bien tienen un componente afectivo y conductual positivo siguen considerando a la mujer de forma estereotipada y limitada a ciertos roles.En esta investigacion se presentan datos de 1110 varones, de diferentes edades, niveles educativos, estado civil, etc. que contestaron la version espanola del Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI), asi como otras medidas de sexismo tradicional y de amenaza a los intereses de los varones. Los resultad...

It's for Your Own Good: Benevolent Sexism and Women's Reactions to Protectively Justified Restrictions

Three studies examined womens reactions to ostensibly protective restrictions. In Study 1, only benevolently sexist women accepted a protectively justified (hypothetical) prohibition against driving on a long trip, but only when imposed by a husband (not a coworker). In Study 2, when womens actual romantic partners opposed their participation in a practicum counseling dangerous men, most reacted positively to a personalized protective justification (“I am concerned for your safety”), but only benevolently sexist women reacted positively when no justification was given. In Study 3, only benevolently sexist women accepted an explicitly group-based protective justification (“It is not safe for any woman”) for a partners imagined opposition to an internship that involved interviewing criminals. By fusing benevolence with dominance, protective paternalism can lead women (especially those who are high on benevolent sexism) to accept restrictions.

Why do superiors attend to negative stereotypic information about their subordinates? Effects of power legitimacy on social perception

Power can be defined as control over peoples outcomes. using this definition, we explored the impact of power on attentional processes involved in impression formation. Because powerful individuals may want to maintain and justify their position, powerful participants should pay particular attention to negative stereotype-consistent information about their subordinates. In contrast, powerless participants should devote their attention to stereotype-inconsistent information in an attempt to increase their control over the social context. Study 1 directly manipulated control by assigning participants to the role of leader or subordinate ina task group. Results showed that, compared to subordinates, leaders devoted more attention to negative stereotypic attributes. Study 2 manipulated the legitimacy of power and replicated the pattern found in Study 1 but only when power was illegitimate. Our findings suggest that the experience of power can be associated with feelings of threat, especially when power is illegitimate, thereby orienting impression-formation processes toward information likely to maintain the existing social structure. We discuss our results in the context of current work on motivated social cognition, social identity, and legitimisation. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

Close relationships, gender, and career salience

According to traditional gender roles and stereotypes, men are given the primary role of breadwinners (work orientation), whereas women are responsible for the nurturance of children and the maintenance of the family dwelling (family orientation). Therefore, it could be presumed that women and men with a steady romantic relationship give a different importance to their career. However, several factors may affect the relation between close relationships and career salience, namely, (1) characteristics of the individual (education and employment status, gender ideology, gender role identity), (2) characteristics of the relationship (e.g., dependence on the partner, presence or not of children), and (3) characteristics of the partner (e.g., gender ideology, educational attainment). Moreover, these factors may affect career salience differentially in men and women. Both members of 148 Spanish couples, all white and middle-class, answered an individual questionnaire. The results show that women and men obtained similar scores in career salience. However, women with children, a low educational level, and traditional gender ideology and those who were strongly influenced by their partners showed lower career salience than women with the opposite characteristics. Moreover, whereas career salience among men was unrelated to the characteristics of their partners, career salience among women was related to the gender ideology, labor situation, and educational attainment of their partners.

Don't Rock the Boat: Women's Benevolent Sexism Predicts Fears of Marital Violence

We examined how Spanish womens benevolent sexism (a sex-role attitude) affects their perceptions of whether a hypothetical husband will feel threatened by a wifes success at work. In a social perception study, female participants (N = 210) read a vignette in which a husband and his wife argued over her job promotion. Womens benevolent sexism (but not hostile sexism) predicted viewing the husband as more threatened by his wifes promotion and more likely to aggress against her (intimate partner violence). The effect of womens benevolent sexism was robust and not mitigated when specific information about the husbands attitude (traditional, egalitarian, no information) was provided. Belief that a husband would feel threatened by a wifes promotion partially mediated the relationship between womens benevolent sexism scores and their anticipation that the husband would become violent. Benevolently sexist women may embrace traditional roles in relationships in part to avoid antagonizing male partners, ultimately maintaining the status quo.

Atribución del comportamiento del agresor y consejo a la víctima en un caso de violencia doméstica

Resumen Numerosa investigación ha mostrado que niveles altos de dependencia económica de la mujer predicen la probabilidad de poder sufrir maltrato psicológico o físico por parte de su pareja. Sobre esta base, uno de los objetivos de nuestra investigación fue examinar el rol de la dependencia económica en la percepción de violencia de género y verificar si las actitudes hacia una situación de violencia pueden verse afectadas por el género del observador. La investigación psicosocial también ha confirmado la existencia de creencias sexistas en la sociedad que pueden ser utilizadas para legitimar y mantener este tipo de agresión. Así, el segundo objetivo de la presente investigación consistió en analizar la relación entre las creencias sexistas y la justificación de la violencia doméstica. Los resultados muestran la influencia tanto del género del observador, de la dependencia económica de la mujer víctima, así como de las creencias sexistas en las reacciones hacia la violencia doméstica.

Exposure to Sexist Humor and Rape Proclivity: The Moderator Effect of Aversiveness Ratings

The aim of this study is to explore the effect of exposure to sexist humor about women on men’s self-reported rape proclivity. Earlier studies have shown that exposure to this type of humor increases rape proclivity and that funniness responses to jokes are a key element to consider. However, the role of aversiveness responses has not been studied. In a between-group design, 109 male university students are randomly exposed to sexist or nonsexist jokes. Participants are asked to rate the jokes according to their degree of funniness and aversiveness. Participants’ levels of hostile and benevolent sexism were also measured. Results about the relationship between sexist attitudes and sexist humor and the relationship between sexist attitudes and rape proclivity are consistent with those of earlier studies. However, exposure to sexist humor affects rape proclivity only when aversiveness shown to this type of humor is low. The results are discussed in the light of the prejudiced norm theory.